Toshiba Tecra A3

...Windows XP Home Edition
Toshiba Utilities
Microsoft Office


~*~ Battery power ~*~

It claims that the battery will last for 3.8 hours, however, in reality I have found that when left on standby, or using programmes such as word that use little memory the battery lasts for around 3 hours, this will go down to 2.5 hours if your using programmes that require more memory.

Toshiba have power ...
...battery power slightly.


In conclusion, I paid £499 for this notebok and there are far better laptops available for that price. Having said that I have had no problems with the laptop. I have had it for nearly a year now and it has been running perfectly! So I would recommend this to consumers, but as a student laptop, it's not really suitable for gaming  ... more

I decided to use a laptop as I'm constantly running from college, to uni to home to london! I needed a laptop that would be easily transportable, with long enough battery life to last. I chose this laptop as it was simple and came with Microsoft Office and Anti-Virus. I would only be using it for my college/uni work so it seemed to suit my needs

It is relatively low-spec, although you can buy additional memory but I would not use it for gaming, essentially its a student laptop.

It is quite light (2.7kg) and it's relatively small (33.8cm x 28cm x 3.7cm) this all adds up to make it very easily transportable. I havent bought a carry-case for it because Ive had no need for one, it is small enough and light enough to fit nicely under my arm.

It is very robust, even with the amount it has been transported it has only a few minor scratches on the top, although these are not bad enough to affect the way it looks and the screen still remains completely undamaged. Due to the fact that i use it a lot at home it hasn't been treated with the best of care and the screen has been kicked a few times! I worried about how this would effect the hings but it remains very stable and, unlike previous laptops I have used, does not seem to have loosened at all

The laptop comes with built in wireless connection. This has come in very useful as we have wireless set-up at home and I have had no problems connecting to any other networks away from home. There is however, if you need it, still the option of using dial-up or broadband if thats what you use at home.

The sound quality is good, I often listen to the radio from my computer and have not noticed any interference and it does not seem to have the 'tinny' sound that you can get with other computers.

The fan in this laptop can get fairly loud, but the computer remains cool no matter how long you leave the computer on for. The fan is quieter if you have it on a flat surface, I tend to use my computer on my lap and that may be why it makes so much noise

The laptop has a touch pad that acts as a mouse, this took me quite a while to get used to as it is just below the middle of the keyboard and so learning to avoid it took a while! Having said that, I have bought a mouse that I can attach to the computer through the USB port but often choose not to as I now prefer the touch pad

The keyboard has many different features including mute, screen brightness up/down, enable wireless LAN and computer lock (this will basically lock the keyboard and mouse until you use the same key to unlock it, you need to press two keys at the same time so it is hard to lock the keyboard by accident!),

~*~ Specification ~*~

1.5GHz Intel Celeron Processor
504MB RAM
80GB Harddrive
DVD ROM Drive

~*~ Common Specification ~*~

~*~ Front ~*~

Volume Control
Switch for built in Wireless
LED Display (AC state, Power State, Battery State, Harddrive Activity and DVD Activity)
Microphone input
Headphone input

~*~ Left ~*~

PCMCIA Slot (for wireless card)
Fan Output

~*~ Back ~*~

Parallel Port
AC Power In

~*~ Right~*~

DVD Drive
3 USB Ports

~*~ Software Included ~*~

Windows XP Home Edition
Toshiba Utilities
Microsoft Office

~*~ Battery power ~*~

It claims that the battery will last for 3.8 hours, however, in reality I have found that when left on standby, or using programmes such as word that use little memory the battery lasts for around 3 hours, this will go down to 2.5 hours if your using programmes that require more memory.

Toshiba have power settings which are fuly customisable and these may increase the battery power slightly.

In conclusion, I paid £499 for this notebok and there are far better laptops available for that price. Having said that I have had no problems with the laptop. I have had it for nearly a year now and it has been running perfectly! So I would recommend this to consumers, but as a student laptop, it's not really suitable for gaming 

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