Toshiba Satellite E305-S1990X

When you buy a Best Buy Blue Label laptop, it guarantees certain amenities that you may not get with other Best Buy laptops. This includes a backlit keyboard, a Blu-ray drive, and the latest in Intel wireless technologies. The Toshiba Satellite E305-S1990X ($899.99 direct from Best Buy), a 14-inch mainstream laptop, is part of this exclusive program. In addition to the features, it also houses a powerful Core i5 processor and cranked out more than six hours of battery life. However, Toshiba needs to revisit these all-in-one clickpads.
Design
Despite all the good that's crammed inside the E305-S1990X, its looks are bit a dated in a category filled with beautifully made laptops like the Asus U41JF-A1 ($856 street, 4 stars), Asus U46E-BAL5 ($699.99 List, 4.5 stars), Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Thunderbolt) ($1,299 direct, 3.5 stars), and Samsung QX411-W01's ($899.99 list, 3.5 stars). The plastic enclosure is a bit behind the times, although it's topped with a silver glaze and dash of texture that did a fine job preventing fingerprint build-up. It isn't grotesque, but when the price creeps to this point, certain design expectations come with the territory. In terms of heft, the E305-S1990X hits the sweet spot at 4.6 pounds, which is lighter than the U41JF-A1 (4.7 pounds), QX411-W01 (5.1 pounds), and the HP Envy 14-1210NR ($999.99 list, 4 stars) (5.5 pounds).

The 14-inch widescreen is an ideal size for office productivity and media consumption (i.e. movies and photos), though its 1,366-by-768 resolution didn't stand out among its peers. If you wanted to experience a Blu-ray movie (played with the included Blu-ray drive) in full HD (1080p), you'd have to make use of the HDMI port. Its lovable chiclet-style keyboard is taken from its award-winning netbook line, and came closer to a perfect typing experience than the MacBook Pro 13-inch and Asus U41JF-A1. It's also backlit, a feature that comes in extremely handy in poorly-lit areas. The touchpad and mouse button combo, however, was unresponsive at times, like that of the HP 14-1210NR. Toshiba was better off with dedicated mouse buttons.
Features
The E305-S1990X has a feature set that you'd normally find in bigger laptops, like a desktop replacement. For one, a Blu-ray drive is usually appreciated on bigger screens, but Toshiba threw one in anyway. It's equipped with USB 3.0 technology, which is the blue-labeled port on the left side that transfers data at 10 times the speed of USB 2.0. Two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, and a card reader make up the other connectivity ports.

Specifications

Type

General Purpose, Media

Processor Name

Intel Core i5-2410M

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 Premium Edition

Processor Speed

2.3 GHz

RAM

4 GB

Weight

4.6 lb

Screen Size

14.1 inches

Screen Size Type

widescreen

Graphics Card

Intel HD Graphics 3000

Storage Capacity (as Tested)

500 GB

Networking Options

802.11n

Primary Optical Drive

DVD+/-RW DL with Blu-Ray

Intel's Wireless Display 2.0 (WiDi 2.0) technology and WiMAX are also bundled as part of the Blue Label program. WiDi 2 allows the laptop to connect to an HDTV, wirelessly, and the laptop comes bundled with the Netgear Push2TV HD (PTV2000) receiver (a $100 option if bought separately). The receiver is tethered to the HDTV, mirroring whatever's on the laptop. This includes protected content (Blu-ray and DVD movies), which was recently enabled by an Intel software update (firmware version 2.11.1.1). You can also find WiDi 2.0 in the U46E-BAL5 and QX411-W01. WiMAX is also known as 4G wireless; this particular kind spans an entire city (and is present in over 50 of them) and is more economical than 3G wireless contracts and many home DSL packages (as low as $30 per month). It's like a city-wide Wi-Fi connection, with throughput speeds of up to 5Mbps (download).
Performance
Toshiba didn't get too fancy with processing parts. The E305-S1990X is equipped with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M processor, which is powerful enough to handle almost any task. It and 4GB of memory helped the E305 (6,959) shuttle past the Asus U41JF-A1 (5,560) in PCMark Vantage—an overall performance gauge. By the same token, tests like CineBench R11.5 (2.62) and Photoshop CS5 (4 minutes15 seconds) also favored the E305-S1990X. What it lacks, however, is a graphics chip that will satisfy avid gamers. Although Intel's integrated graphics (HD Graphics 3000) can ably handle hardcore games at medium quality settings, the Nvidia GeForce GT 425M chip found in the Asus U41JF-A1 will let you crank up the resolution, as well as other settings.
A big 67WH battery is the second largest battery among the QX411-W01 (60WH), MacBook Pro 13-inch (63.5WH), and HP 14-1210NR (59WH). Thus, its 6 hours 28 minutes battery score was more than satisfactory. The Asus U46E-BAL5 (7:19) was about anhour better, since its parts weren't as demanding on the battery. The biggest battery, though, belonged to the Asus U41JF-A1 (84WH), and its 8:19 score reflected that.
Before you commit to the Toshiba Satellite E305-S1990X, it's worth strolling into your local Best Buy to investigate the click touchpad for yourself. Otherwise, everything else about this mainstream laptop is impressive, from its state-of-the-art features to performance and battery life. If you need a little more graphics oomph and 2 more hours of battery life, look no further than the Asus U41JF-A1. Or go with the Asus U46E-BAL5, the Editors' Choice in the mainstream laptop category.