Advantages: Light, versatile, packed with features
Disadvantages: It's still a laptop

...Let me make it perfectly clear right up front: I'm not overfond of laptops. They're relatively small, usually have rather fuzzy screens, come with small keyboards that make typing difficult, and have strange built-in mice that are nigh onto impossible to manipulate. Given my durthers, I'll take a full-sized PC any day. Despite all these disclaimers, my purpose here to review the Toshiba Tecra M2 notebook, kindly purchased for me by my company to make me more efficient and productive. Now don't get me wrong. I appreciate the sentiments and the logic of the new laptop, even though I use it far less often than my more powerful, less portable desktop. But I have to admit, my Tecra M2 isn't as bad as I feared. Talk about damning with faint praise! Perhaps I can improve a bit on that. There's one thing my Toshiba does remarkable... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, Great Graphics Chip, Light (2.6kg)
Disadvantages: Expensive, Sensitive to registry changes

...the S3 Savage MX graphics chip which is by far the best notebook graphics chip out there! This means that this machine can truely claim to be a desktop replacement as I can also play my favourite games. But note even with this chip, some games dont work, bottom line is if your main reason for a PC is to play games, then buy a standalone and not a laptop. The Tecra series is designed as a high spec (and therefore high cost) business machine which has all the features of a desktop with the portability (only 2.6kg) of a laptop. All in all a very good machine which probably costs a bit too much and can be a little sensitive to registry changes i.e. loading and removing lots of software.... Read review

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Advantages: Quality, great to drive
Disadvantages: No diesel automatic

...I needed to get a car as I wanted to get a bit more independence with an imminent baby. I ideally wanted a diesel automatic car as I like automatics, but couldn't find anything I liked as much as this very funky Audi A2, so I compromised on the automatic aspect, reckoning that I'd rather save some money on the fuel economy (and the road tax - a surprisingly refreshing 35 quid a year - bargain!). I also liked the relatively low emissions. I wanted something small, pretty cheap to run and very easy to drive, but also wanted the car to be a bit different. Since then I seem to see A2s everywhere, but I think that might just be because I'm noticing them more now! Something reliable was also imperative, as I know very little about mechanics and want to have an easy life! We were already a one-Audi family (hubby has an A4) and I thought... Read review

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Advantages: Versatility, great results, long battery life
Disadvantages: sluggish shutter speeds

...The A2 will work in RAW mode and its results although slow to record are of a very high quality. Overall it's a great camera and a good next step from your first digital experience. If you can afford the difference choose this over the A1 version just because of the viewfinder. Hope this helps you... Read review

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Advantages: Nippy, very fuel efficient
Disadvantages: No centre rear seat.

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Advantages: Desirable,looks modern and cool,equipment,alluminium body, noise, fuel economy,not fast but brisk.
Disadvantages: visibility, awkward setting off at first.

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Advantages: Light, sleek and stylish. Great performance and great value for money.
Disadvantages: Largest screen size is 14.1 Inches.

...Working in IT I get to test all the latest machines and I had the pleasure recently of using the Tecra 8100 1Ghz machine running with 256MB and I have to say I was very impressed. Firstly it is quite sleek and light which you want in a laptop and I think it looks very stylish. Now that the asthetics are out of the way we can concentrate on the important things like performance and stability. I have experience of many laptops e.g. Compaq Armadas, Dell Inspirons, Sony Vaios etc but so far the Toshiba Tecra has been th most reliable. The other brands I have mentioned seem to all have problems with the power management systems. Most use speedstep technology which means when the laptop is not plugged in the processor will clock down to save power. This is a pain on most of the other machines but not the Toshiba. Also the biggest problems... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight, In-Built Wireless
Disadvantages: Keyboard, Price, only 2 USB ports

...The Toshiba Tecra M2 is aimed squarely at the business market (I'm writing this review from my work Tecra laptop!) and is a good, if not brilliant, option for the mobile business worker. The 1.6Ghz processor, 512MB memory and 40GB hard drive (on the standard model) aren't going to give you the ultimate laptop gaming experience, but this machine is aimed squarely at the business market. For business users the main benefits are the in-built Centrino mobile processor, which avoids the need for any fiddly USB or PCMCIA card wireless add-ons and the lightweight design which makes this model particularly suitable for the busy business exec who regularly works away from the office. The standard OS build is Windows XP Professional Edition. On top of the standard XP utilities, Toshiba have bundled some useful tools included a wireless... Read review

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Advantages: Lens; picture quality; price; durability; features; zoom range; weight
Disadvantages: Non-removable lens; battery life; discontinued :(

...INTRODUCTION: I have bought two of these cameras - one for myself and one for work (I am a semi-pro photographer at a major public school), so pleased was with my own camera. The A2 was, in about 2003, just about the best of the 'prosumer' digital cameras available and won many awards. In the relentless cost-cutting that is so prevalent in this market, Minolta then kept the lens and image sensor, but cut the features and the price and renamed it the A200, which is still (Oct 2006) current. The A2 is the better camera - no question! I have read many internet reviews of this camera, SOME of which refer to 'purple fringing', which is a feature of the particular (Sony-made) image sensor used in this (and most other) 8Mp cameras. I can only report that I have scarely noticed it at all - whatever others may worry about, it is too... Read review

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Advantages: Economy, performance(ish), practicality, quality
Disadvantages: Visibility, cost (see op), otherwise just niggly things

...to squeezing into tight spaces in Edinburgh city centre. Reliability - being our only car, and living with little in the way of public transport in walking distance. So, after poring over car magazines for so long, VERY few cars came out of this testing set of requirements. Effectively, I was left with another Golf (probably a 130bhp diesel GTi) or an Audi A2 1.6 FSi. I knew what the Golf would be like because I'd test-driven it before - everything I liked about Golfs, but with a slightly gruff, noisy, over-torquey engine. I could live with it, though, I thought. The A2 looked a bit odd but the more I looked at it, the more I got used to its quirky looks, and in fact began to quite like them. So, I finally test-drove an A2 FSi. And I loved it. Coming from a sporty car like the Megane (which was effectively an enclosed go... Read review

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