Toshiba Satellite A75-S125

The Toshiba Satellite A75-S125 is a mainstream  notebook best suited for home users who split their time between productivity tasks and multimedia fun. For less than $1,200, this eight-pounder includes a stunning glossy display, a DVD burner, and a fast processor. As long as you can live without the latest graphics, the A75 offers pretty good bang for the buck.

The A75-S125 features a capable 3.2-GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of 333-MHz DDR memory, and a speedy, but small 5,400-rpm 40GB hard drive. We used this system with Windows Media Encoder, Photoshop, and Excel without a hitch. The A75 offers  about the same performance as a typical 1.7- or 1.8-GHz Pentium M-based laptop. PCMark04 had the same impression, giving it a decent, but unspectacular score of 3,554.

The great display and solid processing power make this notebook well suited for photo editing, but it lacks a memory card reader to import photos from your digital camera. You can add an adapter through the PC Card or USB adapter for less than $45, but not having it on board is an inconvenience. You can also import photos directly through the USB ports.

The modem and Ethernet jacks, along with two USB 2.0 ports, RGB monitor port, parallel port, and power input, are conveniently tucked away on the back of the system to avoid a mess of wires all over your desk. The third USB 2.0 port is placed near the mic and headphone jacks on the right side of the A75, perfect for connecting a flash drive or other portable USB device.

Unfortunately, this configuration lacks a FireWire port, but given the slow DVD write speeds of 4X DVD-R and 2.4X DVD+R, you probably wouldn't want to burn home movies on the A75 anyway.

Our favorite feature on this notebook is its Atheros Super G-enabled Wi-Fi adapter, which effectively doubles the data throughput of the 802.11g adapter and greatly extends its range. The Satellite A75 averaged 29.5 Mbps at 5 feet from our access point, twice the throughput of a typical notebook, and at 50 feet it actually increased its transfer rate to 33.7 Mbps, which is three to four times the throughput we normally see at that range. Keep in mind that your router will need to be enabled with Super G . D-Link and Netgear are among the more popular vendors that support this technology

Not surprisingly, this turbo-charged Wi-Fi adapter consumes  a bit of power, cutting our battery runtime from 2:28 to 2:11, which is below average battery life for a mainstream notebook. The system has a hard-wired Wi-Fi On/Off switch to disable the Wireless-G adapter when you don't need it.

The A75 offers a hard-wired volume control wheel, a welcome addition to any notebook. Despite their SRS TruSurround technology, the speakers provide the same tinny audio you'll get from most laptops, but we liked the set of handy CD playback controls. These are placed to the left of the keyboard, which is roomy and comfortable. The touchpad is mediocre, with small buttons, no scrollpad, and an aspect ratio that doesn't match the widescreen display.

 In addition to Microsoft Works, you'll find Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, and a handful of Toshiba's own utilities. The ConfigFree network connections tool makes connecting to Wi-Fi networks a snap. We also like the Voice Commands Speech System, but since the A75 doesn't have an integrated microphone, you'll have to supply your own.

The Toshiba Satellite A75 offers good performance, a great screen, and an excellent Wi-Fi adapter, but its lack of a memory card reader, FireWire port, and discrete graphics processor are sacrifices some multimedia mavens won't be willing to make. If you don't have a lot of money to spend, however, this widescreen system is a  good value. Just be sure to upgrade the hard drive.