Toshiba Satellite M55

Hi. I chose the M55 Satellite because I wanted a ~thin and light "satellite" computer in addition to my desktop replacement Dell iXPS p4 notebook. So, I was expecting with my purchase a much more portable laptop that had decent battery life, average performance, and a low price tag.

The M55 satellite is very nice. I got mine from Circuitcity for $650.00 + tax = $720.00 w/ free shipping, (via $300.00 mail in rebate + 10% off e-coupon).

Overview:
Very bright screen, average wireless, large hard drive, and dual layer DVD burner. I was surprised by the dimensions, though. It has a very wide footprint, much wider than my Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 1. But, it's very thin. The weight is a little over 5 pounds, so heavier than an Apple 12 inch G4 iBook, but lighter than the 15 inch IBM T42 Thinkpad.
The laptop is also very quiet, usually silent. Toshiba included an acoustic management software for the hard drive and DVD player, which kinda works.

Screen:
The 14 inch screen is definitely smaller than any 15.4 wide aspect LCD, but Toshiba makes up for this with the glossy finish and Trubrite tech. When I sat the M55 next to my Dell iXPS, there was a very noticeable difference in brightness. All my friends agreed that Toshiba's Trubrite screen was brighter by a long shot. (With the brightness turned to lowest, the Trubrite still felt as bright as the brightest setting on the Dell 15.4 WUXGA screen.... although I know Dell came out with their glossy screens as well).

Sound:
Finally, the sound is pretty good on the M55. Toshiba pre-installed this audio driver that allows you to change the output type, i.e. headphones, internal speakers, external speakers, etc. It makes a big difference if you set the configurations appropriately, and the SRS surround sound has a noticeable effect on sound quality.

Gripes:
So far, I love every part of this laptop, except for the very wide dimension (wider than my Dell iXPS 15.4 widescreen notebook). It's also slightly heavier than I had anticipated a thin-and-light should have been. One last gripe:... the bottom of the laptop gets very hot! I have the Celeron M 370 (1.5 ghz). I don't know why, but the temp is comparable to my Dell iXPS's 3.4 ghz P4 Extreme Edition. Another note: the laptop memory came as 512 mb occupying 1 DIMM under the keyboard, so I don't know why the bottom would be as hot as the Dell, which has 2 512 mb memory chips installed on the bottom. I have the 6-cell battery, and the battery lasts about 2 and 1/2 hours - 3 hours.

Overall, I recommend this laptop. It looks very stylish, (I have the peacock blue color), and definitely looks more expensive than the retail price.

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Toshiba Satellite M55-S135, 1.5 ghz Celeron M 370, Trubrite 14'' WXGA, 80 g 5400 rpm hd, 512 mb memory 1 DIMM, 802.11 b/g Atheros wireless, Super DVD+/-R Drive, 6-cell battery pack, Intel Accelerated graphics ~ 128 mb.

Dell Inspiron XPS, 3.4 ghz P4 Extreme Edition, 15.4 WUXGA, 128 mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, 60 g 7200 rpm hd, 1 gig dual channel memory 2 DIMMs, Dell 1450 a/b/g wireless, gigabet ethernet, Truemobile Bluetooth, DVD+R Drive, 12-cell battery pack.