Toshiba Satellite A665-S6092 Laptop Review

Pros:

Great entertainment and multimedia features

Large display and keyboard but doesn’t feel bulky

Very good display and audio

Cons:

Off-center keyboard is awkward

Port location can be inconvenient

The sony VGP-BPS9A/S

is at the higher end of Toshiba’s wide-ranging Satellite line, which includes the NB-series netbooks, C-series student models, L-series mainstream machines, and T-series ultraportables. The Sony VGP-BPS10 A-series and more compact M-series offer full-featured entertainment machines designed for multimedia and some gaming.

The Satellite A665 features a 16-inch screen, Harman/Kardon speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio, and a choice of Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 CPUs. I reviewed the Sony VGP-BPS13AS

, which packs an Intel Core i7-740QM, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics.

The IBM 40Y6799



offers Toshiba’s Sleep and Charge feature, which lets you charge a phone, MP3 player, or other device from the Sony VGP-BPS21

laptop’s USB port even while the computer is off. The HP DV6000 Battery

also offers Sleep and Music, which lets you play your iPod, MP3 player, or phone through the A665 speakers (via the mic jack) without booting up.

The A665 is a big machine, but Toshiba did a good job of keeping it from becoming too bulky. Despite its 16-inch display, the laptop is not too thick, and it doesn’t feel that heavy (although it weighs in at over 6.5 lbs). The machine looks sharp, with rounded edges. Although the laptop Dell Latitude D600 Battery



feels plastic-y, it doesn’t feel cheap. The acer laptop battery replacement features Toshiba’s Fusion X2 finish, with a nice grippy texture on the flat surfaces, and a smooth, glossy finish on the curves. Toshiba claims that Fusion X2 is “less prone to fingerprints,” but you can’t prove it by me. The 6 cell acer batterytest unit picked up more fingerprints than a CSI field technician.

Open up the A665 and you’ll notice that the 16-inch display fills the top shell. When the laptop is off, the screen looks like it will be too glossy. But when the computer is on the display is crisp and bright with minimal reflections. The 9 cell acer battery display resolution is OK at 1366 by 768 pixels. In the acer 5100 battery bezel above the display, Toshiba has included a decent webcam as well (although I found the on-screen pop-out controls for the webcam to be annoying).

 

The keyboard on the acer 5050 battery is a full-size, backlit, “island” style. This means that each key is separated from its neighbors by a small gap. The keys have a square profile, not slanted like most other keyboards. I found that this acer 3680 battery shape would occasionally snag my fingertips as I typed. I’m just an advanced hunt-and-peck typist, so perhaps real touch typists won’t have this issue.

Accountants and ASCII alt-code geeks will like the A665’s full-size number pad. This can be a desirable feature, but to make it fit Toshiba shifted the rest of the keyboard to the left. I found the acer um08a73 off-centered keyboard very distracting and occasionally uncomfortable because I had to bend my wrists at an odd angle. It just felt off that the acer um09e71 keyboard and my hands did not line up with the display.

 

There is a row of nice multimedia keys above the BATBL50L6 keyboard, and the entire keyboard is backlit. The Dell Vostro 3300 Battery touchpad has a backlit strip as well, which is useful in dim environments. I developed a love/hate relationship with the back lighting as it often seemed too harsh after a while.

The multi-touch touchpad works well and feels good. It has just the right amount of texture for a good feel, without dragging or feeling abrasive. There is only one set of touchpad buttons, however, located below the pad. The buttons are OK, but I’m a top-button kind of guy and I missed the 9 Cell Dell KY265 set of buttons often found on other laptops.

Sound quality was very good, especially for a dell KY477 battery . Toshiba included its usual Harman/Kardon audio system, with Dolby Advanced Audio. There’s the dell R822G battery usual built-in microphone plus a mic input and headphone output.