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Background;
This is my primary work system, and I'm in the office about 50% of the time, and in cramped, cold, loud places the rest (server rooms). I have been carrying IBMs and Toshibas (for work purposes) for about 12 years now. The last few have been toshiba "desktop replacements" (Toshiba Satellite 2430, etc..) and "portables" (Tecra A4, etc..) This system is a replacement for my old Toshiba A4.

My needs were pretty simple. It has to run everything. At the same time. The "portables" (A4's and such) just didn't cut the mustard. The Sat 2430 really has become the stick that I measure other laptops by.

Understand, that my needs are not necessarly the same as yours, but the Sat 2430 was the best fit (until now?).



Specs;
In my sig under Work, but listed here for the scroll impared.
Precision M90 CoreDuo T2500 (2GHz) - Unknown 17" WXGA - 1GB Dual Channel RAM - 256MB Quatro FX 1500M - 80GB 5400RPM HD - 8X DVD+/-RW - Intel 3945 b/g Internal Wireless - Dell 350 Bluetooth - Win XP Pro - D/Port replicator

These should more than meet my needs. There was very little "bloatware" on the box when I fired it up for the first time. I was happy and suprised. I ran AquaMark3 real quick before loading any programs;
GFX score: 13557
CPU score: 9276
AquaMark score: 78326
Not to shabby as far as I was concerned. I didn't have any other benchies handy, so sorry I didn't get a 3dMark.

Dimensions;
No doubt about it, this is a large box. (Just FYI, the old ruler I'm using in these shots is 15.5" long.)



So, lucky for me the thing is 15.5" wide.



And 10.5" deep.



The D/Port rasies it a bit in the back. (That's a cable management tube the wires are bundled into BTW, not a snake attacking the D/Port.)



At the back the keyboard stands about 1.5".



And at the front it stands about 1.25".

This gives it a nice tilt. As I use the keyboard every day, and the display is my only display, I tend to be picky about odd stuff. Like the delete key. It's in the wrong place on every Dell keyboard. Toshiba has this right. I know, it's a little thing, but I spend 10+ hours a day on this thing, and little things add up.

Look, Feel, Fit, and Fininsh;
Absolutely no major complaints so far. My XPS feels like a snap-together model compared to this thing. this has the best Dell laptop keyboard I have ever used. Bold statement, but true. It's still no Toshiba, but it's better than any other Dell. The gliedpad is nice but the throws on the buttons are a bit long, and "mushy" for my taste. The one thing this nice is the third pad button (the one in the middle Sherlock). That is a very nice feature that should be standard on all laptops. I use an external mouse, so as long as I stop dragging my thumb across the glidepad while typing, it's not a big deal.

This system has a solid feel, not much flex. It snaps on to the port replicator firmly with no shake or "give". It's hard to describe, this thing is just solid as a rock. It's also about as heavy as one too. Weight isn't a big concern for me, and the included backpack is just fine for lugging this thing to the car, or thru the airport. You wouldn't want to plan a hike in the mountains, but an afternoon running for planes is no biggie.

Everting seems to be well made and the tolerances are better than most laptops. Things fit the way they should, where they should. No major complaints here.

As far as looks go, that's pretty subjective. One mans Monet is another mans finger painting. I like it. It has a "not a toy" look with the brushed top, and the grey on black looks good. I have had a chance to whip this out in a few meetings, and most people either ignore it or lust after it. So it's eaither the prettiest thing in the world, or butt ugly. You choose.

Operation, Sound, and Display;
I have quite a bit of stuff running on this system most of the time (4 webservers, 5 databases, 6 - 10 network monitoring applications, various office tools/apps, browsers, etc..) and It's handled it all smoothly. No major heat issues that I notice. It churns all my apps, and lets me surf porn, er websites, with no problems. I could probibly fire up HL2 in the background and be just fine. I may give it the oblivion test later.

The sound was suprisingly good. I mean really good, for a laptop. This is much better than any other system I have carried. And the nice thing (for deaf people like me) is that it will get LOUD. On most of my previous systems, in the office was ok, but in non-quiet environments, you couldn't hear anything. This is a nice feature. One compalint is about the media buttons on the front. The volume control isn't fine enough, you can go from too faint to too loud in one press.

The display, where do I start. It's good, and makes my day-to-day much easier (the move from 15.4" to 17" is night and day). Not so much eyestrain at the end of the day. That's the main reason I went with the WXGA (1440 x 900), it's much easier on the eyes. The system came with the brightness on the max setting and I have grown to like that. (okay, I bumped it down opne tap.) Nice and bright. Like my DS Lite. No dead pixels, and the light bleed seems minimal. Overall I can't compalin about the screen at all. Color seems to be good, and the response is nice.

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Overall, after 2 weeks with the system I really like it. This may become the new "measuring stick".

I would not steer someone away from this system. If you are sitting on the fence on this one, let me know what you wonder about, and I will try to answer (or make up something that sounds real good).

Thanks to everyone here who posts insightfull info and opnions. You have helped me, really you have.