Laptops Arena

The business laptop range is extremely important in any manufacturer's portfolio. This is a proven fact by the market sales from the last couple of years. Toshiba know everything it need to about laptops and computing. It's probably one of the most respected laptop manufacturers, just below Apple and Dell. By looking and judging its portfolio, Toshiba is better than Sony Vaios laptops. The Tecra line offered by Toshiba brings three distinctive models, all of them offering exactly what business consumers might like. These three models don't just differ in design, but also in functionality and performances.

The first Tecra model reviewed, the Tecra M10, is the entry level business laptop, offering an average design with good productivity, average display, security features, all offered in an ultraportable design and for only $1.199 starting price. The next reviewed model, R10, brings excellent performances, and an epic set of high performances all packed in a small and light body for a starting price of $1.249. Therefore, what could possibly bring the Tecra A10? Tecra A10 is the business laptop that can easily replace your desktop, offering great durability and built in security features for an asking price of $1.249.

The A10 is a great desktop replacement, not only offering great performances but it also brings portability in a durable design. In terms of design the A10 looks pretty much like the M10, leaving the R10 to be the beauty in the Tecra family. So, A10 looks conventional, very businesslike, offering a titanium silver cover LCD that provides a nice feeling and keeps away the fingerprints and minor scratches.

You will find this titanium silver case inside the Tecra A10 surrounding the keyboard, and that's about it. In the rest you get a matte black plastic. With a height varying from front to rear 1.46 inches to 1.54 inches, wide of 14.2 inches, deep of 10.4 inches, Tecra A10 weights about 6.2 lbs depending on the configuration chosen. Overall, Tecra A10 looks nice and conservative and provides an excellent built quality.

On the front side you get the microphone input port, and headphone output port and also seven LEDs that provide status for different features. On the right side you get the bridge media adapter (compatible with Multi Media Card, xD memory card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital, and SDHC) located just above the Super Multi DVD (+ / - R double layer) that supports about 11 formats (such as DVD - RAM, DVD + R double layer, DVD + R single layer, DVD + RW, DVD - RW, DVD - R double layer, DVD - R single layer, CD - RW, DVD - ROM, CD - ROM, and CD - R).

Also on the right side of the Tecra A10 you can find three 2.0 USB high speed ports, and the Ethernet RJ 45 port. On the left side beside the cooling vent, you get the serial port, the volume scroll control, one eSATA / USB combo port with sleep and charge, the docking connector, and one PCMCIA type II card slot. Because the displays cover doesn't works as a hinge, you can find on the back side of the Tecra A10 the RGB monitor output port, the modem port, and the AC charger slot.

Once opened the laptop, you are going to see the contrast between the titanium silver case and the matte black plastic found on the keyboard and surrounding the display. If you were looking for a full keyboard, then you are looking at the wrong business laptop line. Toshiba doesn't offer for neither of its business laptop, a full keyboard. Even so the keyboard is identical to the one found on the M10, providing good sized keys with no flex when pressed. Also, the keys provide a good feedback and they inspire durability.

Under the good built keyboard you get the exact layout in the Tecra M10, four buttons that center the touch pad, while the lower two buttons also center the fingerprint reader. The control buttons, Toshiba assist button (for Toshiba assist control panel), and windows mobility center button, and the other buttons included around the keyboard work nicely, but the silver coating makes them a little too slippery. The same feedback you get from the touch pad also, but its coating is a little more matte than this buttons.

The overall quality offered by the Tecra A10 is solid. Toshiba included in Tecra A10 a brilliant 15.4 inches diagonal widescreen TFT LCD display with WSXGA+ resolution (1680 x 1050 pixels). This display is brilliant, offering great viewing angles, vibrant colors, and sufficient brightness under direct sunlight. Above the display, Toshiba included an integrated Webcam. The connectivity is ensured by the Intel 82567 LM 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet (Gigabit Network Connection with AMT 4.0), integrated Wi-Fi compliant wireless (Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 AGN 1 x 2 with 802.11 a/g/n), integrated Bluetooth version 2.1 with enhanced data rate, three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA / USB combo port with sleep and charge. Toshiba offers two basic configuration laptop models.

These two configuration have some identical specs, such as NVIDIA Quadro NVS 150M (256 MB Discrete graphic chipset), fingerprint reader, Bluetooth version 2.1, Mobile Intel PM 45 Express Chipset and security features. However, the first configuration available, A10 S3511 brings an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4 GHz, 3 MB L2, and 1066 MHz FSB), 2 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 SDRAM (2048 MB x 1), and a hard drive of 160 GB with 7200 rotations per minute.

This configuration is shipped with Windows Vista Business Service Pack 1 (either the 32 bit version, or the 64 bit version) for only $1.249. The second available configuration, A10 S3501 brings an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9400 (with 2.53 GHz, 6 MB L2, and 1066 MHz FSB), 4 GB PC2 6400 DDR2 SDRAM (2048 MB x 2), and a hard disk drive of 200 GB 7200 rotations per minute serial ATA hard disk drive with a 9.5 mm height. The Tecra A10 S3501 is shipped with Windows Vista Business operating system, with Service Pack 1 (either 32 bit version, or 64 bit version) for an asking price of $1.499.

Toshiba also added some extra safety in its Tecra models offering a shock absorbing design (HDD shock absorber), hard disk drive protection, spill resistant keyboard, Toshiba PC diagnostic Tool, multiple level passwords, fingerprint reader, Infineon TPM Software Professional Package, and many other more. Other software included in the Tecra A10 models, Toshiba Config Free, Toshiba DVD Player, Toshiba Speech System, Sun Java Runtime Environment as a third party application, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Desktop, Google Picasa and Google Toolbar. Also included, but as trial versions are the Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and the Norton Internet Security 2008.

Toshiba ships the Tecra A10 with a 5100 mAh Lithium Ion battery pack (six cell battery), which should provide about 3 hours and 10 minutes (bad battery life). Overall, Tecra 10 is a good desktop replacement. The Tecra A10 is not by far as mobile like the rest of the Tecra line, especially because of the bad battery autonomy. Even so, for using it indoors, Toshiba Tecra 10 provides excellent features and performances in an excellent business design, with a great quality build.