Toshiba enters the Centrino Duo fold with three new notebooks
-- the Tecra A6, Tecra A7 and Satellite Pro P100 -- but its most
interesting offering is the P100 due to an impressive array of
multimedia features.
Upside
One aspect of Toshiba's notebooks that continually impresses us
is their superior audio hardware. The P100 uses the Intel High
Definition Audio sound chip like most Centrino Duo products, but
Toshiba has gone the extra mile with its integrated speakers,
adopting a premium Harmon/Kardon set. If onboard speakers matter
to you, the P100 should definitely be on your shortlist.
Thankfully, the notebook's visual features look just as impressive as its audio options, with Toshiba adopting a 17-inch SXGA+ display that offers up a high 1680x1050 widescreen resolution. Driving said display is an Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics chip with 128MB of onboard memory, which should handle most games without issue. The processor used is a Core Duo T2400 (1.83GHz), which seems to be the most common Core Duo chip, judging by the notebooks we've seen so far.
Your storage needs are catered for by a 100GB SATA hard drive, while backing up files is trouble free thanks to a dual-layer DVD writer that supports all of the major optical media formats.
Those requiring additional security will be pleased at the inclusion of a fingerprint sensor that can biometrically lock down all data. This feature has previously been exclusive to business notebooks, so it's great to see it filtering down to multimedia products as well.
Rounding out the package is a one year parts and labour warranty that includes a complimentary courier pick-up and return service.
Downside
We were less impressed with the memory configuration adopted by
Toshiba. The P100 includes 512MB DDR2-533 memory, but we would've
liked to have seen this upped to 1GB given the increasing demands
of today's applications. It's also strange to see Toshiba still
using DDR2-533 memory, when the Centrino Duo platform supports
the faster DDR2-667 standard.
The P100 weighs in on the heavier side at 3.3kg, but this is to be expected from a 17-inch desktop replacement.
Outlook
Toshiba's Satellite Pro P100 is a competent multimedia workhorse
that could easily replace most regular desktop PCs. It boasts
powerful graphics and storage subsystems, while the Harmon/Kardon
integrated speaker set beats most competing offerings
hands-down.
Toshiba Satellite Pro P100
Company: Toshiba PC
Price: AU$3,410
16%
7%
I recently purchased a P100 and it worked wonderfully for about one week, and then one day it just wouldn't boot. I took it back to the store and they couldn't get it to work either. So they replaced the faulty unit with another new one. After again spending many hours loading my software and configuring this machine it also decided to stop working. I took it back to the store and they refunded my money, and I vowed not to buy another Toshiba. I understand they are now being made in the Philippines (http://pc.toshiba-asia.com/tip.jsp) and obviously their quality control is deficient.