Laptops Arena

The average laptop consumer is always in search for that perfect laptop that provides the best union of business features with multimedia features all included into one conservative but modern design. Of course, you might say that the market provides with such laptops, but then again at what cost? Is not about finding this laptop, but is also about affording it. As you may recall the more average business laptop line in Toshiba's portfolio is the Satellite Pro. This line is appreciated by the customers just like the Satellite line. Both these lines provide excellent features with plenty of designs and configurations from which you can choose.


The first model of Satellite Pro with looked at, S300M, boasted a 14.1 inches display, over average processor, excellent memory (both read only, and random access), and an average graphic chipset. Its main feature was the medium asking price. The main disadvantage is the old design. To compensate any disadvantages, which some customers might find in S300M, Toshiba launched the L300.

This family provides something about five different configurations. Toshiba markets this line as providing the business essentials. I believe that, although L300 is cheaper (depending upon configuration) than S300M, the L300 is definitely a better choice.


Toshiba L300 provides the straight forward business features, merged with excellent connectivity all delivered in an attractive design. Esthetically, L300 is more attractive than S300M will ever be. With the titanium silver LCD cover, L300 provides an excellent impression keeping away the fingerprints and scratches, and also providing a visual impact because of the silvery Toshiba logo over the titanium lid. When you look on the outside and inside you will understand that L300 is a business model. It sports the same titanium look, only around the keyboard. The rest of the body is made out a matte black plastic.

The overall impression made by L300 is quite impressive. This laptop not only looks great, and keeping the design conservative, but also you can feel ensured that its build quality is flawless. No flex of lid, no weird noises, everything works as planned, offering a nice user experience.

On the left side, L300 sports the Super Multi DVD (+ / - R double layer) with 11 formats support (DVD - RAM, 5x, CD - ROM, 24x, DVD - R single layer, 8x, DVD - R double layer, 6x, DVD - ROM, 8x, DVD + R single layer, 8x, DVD + R double layer, 8x, CD - RW, 24x, and others). On this side you can also find one 2.0 USB port, and the power input jack. On the right side you can find beside the cooling vent, the RGB monitor output port, one 2.0 USB port, and one eSATA / USB combo port with sleep and charge.


Also on the right side, you can find the Ethernet port and the Express card slot with both Express Card 54 and Express Card 34. Although the LCD cover doesn't act like a hinge when opened, the back side of the L300 lacks any ports. However, the front side sports the microphone input port, headphone output port, the sound volume control dial, and the Bridge Media Adapter with several memory card compatible, such as Multi Media Card, Memory Stuck, Memory Stick Pro, and Secure Digital. Once opened, the L300 will reveal its common Toshiba keyboard. However, this keyboard looks much nicer than the rest of Toshiba keyboards.

Maybe because of the extreme dark keys, or the silvery finish under the keyboard, any way this keyboard has something more in matters of design. You have to expect excellent build quality. Toshiba know how to build keyboards and this is obvious since every laptop made by them lacks any flex from keys and provide excellent feedback.  Above the keyboard you can find two stereo built in speakers. The sound provided by these speakers is average. It is loud but plain, lacking serious bass power. Under the keyboard you get the touch pad, which also provides good feedback. A little slippery are the two buttons under the keyboard. Even so the functionality is not affected.

Toshiba included in L300 a 15.4 inches diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display with a WXGA resolution (also known as 1280 x 800 pixels). This display is truly stunning, offering excellent clarity and vibrant colors. Also, a significant plus is the viewing angle which allows you not to stay right in front of the L300's display in order to see what it shows. The connectivity is well ensured by the integrated Wi-Fi compliant wireless LAN (Wi-Fi Link 5100 AGN with 802.11 a/g/n), 10 / 100 Ethernet, Express Card, RGB monitor output, three 2.0 USB ports. Toshiba offers five configurations for the L300.


All these configurations have a few common features, such as the Mobile Intel GM 45 Express Chipset, and the Mobile Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 4500 MHD (with up to 1024 MB dynamically allocated). The first L300, EZ1521 is offered for an asking price of $499. It sports an Intel Pentium Processor T4200 with 2.0 GHz 1 MB L2 and 800 MHz FSB, 2 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 SDRAM (configured as 2 GB x 1), and a hard drive with 160 GB (5400 rotations per minute). This configuration is shipped with Windows Vista Home Basic Service Pack 1, 32 bit version.

The second configuration, EZ1522, has an asking price of $579, and provides an Intel Pentium Processor T4200 with 2.0 GHz 1 MB L2, 800 MHz FSB, 2 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 SDRAM (2 GB x 1), and 250 GB serial ATA hard disk with 5400 rotations per minute. The best seller of this family, the L300 EZ1523, provides an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5870 with 2.0 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB, the same random access memory as EZ1522, and 250 GB serial ATA with 5400 rotations per minute.

The last two configurations, EZ1524 and EZ1525 sport the same processor and RAM memory but differ in the storage department. Therefore, both models come with the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6670  with 2.2 GHz 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB, and the 3 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 SDRAM (configured as: 2 GB plus 1 GB).  The EZ1524 sports for $679 a 250 GB hard drive with 5400 rotations per minute, while the EZ1525 includes a 320 GB hard drive with 5400 rotations per minute at an asking price of $729. All these configurations have a height of 1.3 inches to 1.5 inches (from front to rear), wide of 14.2 inches, deep of 10.5 inches; L300 weights about 5.49 lbs depending on the configuration.

Toshiba included in the L300 a six cell Lithium Ion battery with 4000 mAh that will not provide more than 3 hours autonomy. This line of laptops doesn't include the famous Toshiba Safe Guard. Even so, Toshiba ships these laptops with both branded software and 3^rd party applications, such as Toshiba Configure, Toshiba Disc Creator, Sun Java Runtime Environment, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Desktop, Google Picasa, and Google Toolbar. The most expensive models also come with Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (the 32 bit version), and the trial version of Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and Norton Internet Suite.

Overall, Toshiba L300 has to offer enough features in software and hardware department to make you wonder what configuration suits you. Even so, do take into notice that all these configurations are opened for further customizations depending on each and every one of us, potential customers. My educated guess is that on the long run L300 with get an update and will probably replace in the near future the S300M and even the S300.