Toshiba's U305 is one of the tinier members of the Satellite family. Do good things come in small packages?
Review summary of the Toshiba Satellite U305:
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 Toshiba’s Satellite line has traditionally been known more for its affordability than its style or features, but the U305 is a 13-inch thin-and-light that’s a refreshing change from that trend. The 2-hinge LCD design borrows from Sony’s playbook and looks slick on this laptop. This isn’t the smallest, lightest or most powerful notebook in this category, but it is one of the most affordable. If you want a relatively inexpensive notebook that puts an emphasis on portability, the U305 is a solid all-around choice. Release: October 2007. Price: $1150.
Pros: Thin-and-light design, 2-hinge lid takes advantage of negative space, good battery life during DVD test, not over-priced
Cons: Plastic chassis collects fingerprint smudges, small TouchPad buttons, slow hard drive
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64%
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Full review of the Toshiba Satellite U305:
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Design - Very good
Toshiba’s 13.3-inch Satellite U305 is what you might call a "tweener" laptop. While significantly smaller than your traditional 15.4-inch notebook, at 4.6 pounds it’s still too heavy to be classified as a true "ultraportable", which typically weigh 3 pounds or less. Instead, it falls into the nebulous category of "thin-and-light".
The Satellite family is a large umbrella brand for Toshiba that covers both their entry-level laptops and wallet-busting 17-inch desktop replacements. The U305 is meant to be the stylish and portable member of that family, a general-purpose laptop for ordinary users who want all the features of full-scale laptop but in a size that’s more amenable to being lugged around.
Style-wise, the U305 shows vast improvement over earlier previous Satellite models, which were blocky in shape and had a flimsy chassis and an unremarkable design. With the U305’s sleek shape, curved corners and glossy black exterior, Toshiba's notebooks are seeing a refreshing style update. The chassis is black, glossy plastic, which looks futuristic, but also collects fingerprint smudges a little too easily.
The redesigned lid is probably the most noteworthy design feature of the U305 outside of its unique size. Taking a cue from Sony’s VAIOs, the LCD display uses only 2 hinges to connect to the main body. The negative space created by the 2 hinges adds a liberating feel to the form factor. It’s refreshing to see Toshiba show a greater degree of style consciousness.
Input - Good
The U305 relies on the usual suspects for input -- an 85-key keyboard, TouchPad and two TouchPad buttons. The buttons are atypically small, at only 4 cm x 4 cm, and seem stiff when depressed. Ideally you hope for a soft bounce when depressing key inputs, but it’s a minor flaw.
North of the keyboard is a row of 7 buttons that control the power and multimedia playback, along with an internet browser launcher. The only thing missing here is a volume control – there’s no set of buttons to adjust the volume up or down, only a mute button that requires some finger gymnastics to use properly. It’s an unusual feature to exclude, but a low-level omission.
Between the TouchPad buttons is a fingerprint reader to control user access before logging into Windows. Protector Suite’s software allows you to store up to 21 fingerprints, an additional layer of security that’s becoming an increasingly standard option on laptops.
Display - Good
At its native 1280x800 resolution, a 13.3-inch display might be difficult on those who have trouble reading small print. On your lap, it’s not a problem, but if this is your primary workstation, it will cause some wear and tear on your eyes when you stare at it for 8 straight hours. The good news is that the problem is not insuperable. If you want a bigger display when parked at your desk, splurge for a standalone monitor and connect it to the U305’s VGA output.
The 13.3-inch TFT LCD display uses "TruBite" technology, which is Toshiba’s marketing term for "glossy." It looks bright and clear. Above the display is a built-in webcam, which is available for videoconferencing purposes or to chatting with Skype, but its limited 320x240 resolution and awkward downward-pointing lens prevent it from being a serious option for enthusiasts. You’re better off spending $30 on a standalone camera if you’re interested in such features.
Performance - Good
Performance on the Satellite U305-S7467, the specific model we tested, is on the lower end of mid-range. The Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 is Intel’s second-fastest mobile chip behind the Core 2 Duo Extreme, although at 1.66 GHz, it’s one of the low-end implementations of the chip, which ranges from 1.60 GHz to 3.0 GHz. The U305 also uses the Santa Rosa platform, Intel’s fourth-generation Centrino platform, which provides a few extra performance bonuses, like Dynamic Front Side Bus Switching to save power during low usage, support for faster memory and dynamic acceleration technology, which allows single-threaded applications to execute faster.
For maximum battery life, Toshiba opted for integrated graphics, specifically Intel’s GMA X3100. It draws less power than discrete graphics and hence extends the battery life, but it’s not powerful enough to handle anything more robust than your average DVD. Discrete graphic cards drain the battery but enable you to play high-end games. For a notebook like this however, which is small and built for portability, integrated graphics are probably the right choice.
One area of performance Toshiba seems to have skimped on with this specific configuration of the U305 is the hard drive, which is of the slower 4200 RPM kind. Still, you get roomy storage at 200GB, and hard drives are one of the few things you can actually replace in a laptop, although a 2.5-inch 200 GB+ drive will cost you around $150.
Ports - Good
There are no surprises in the port offerings on this Toshiba-designed motherboard – 3 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, modem, VGA out, one 1394 FireWire "a" port and a 5-in-1 memory card reader. The integrated Intel graphics prevent you from outputting amazing-looking graphics, so while in general we’d prefer to see DVI-out ports replace VGA, you wouldn’t get much benefit out of it here. The only thing missing is a FireWire b port instead of FireWire a. Firewire b can transfer data at 800 Mbps, nearly twice that of a’s 480 Mbps ceiling, and is the preferred method for transferring large amounts of data, such as copying files to a backup hard drive.
Software - Mediocre
Toshiba includes two programs worth noting on the Satellite U305. The one you’re more likely to use is the DVD playing software, which lacks many of the advanced features you’ll find in any third-party program, but is serviceable and free.
The other is Toshiba Assist, a small but useful program that manages a lot of the laptop's built-in features. Toshiba’s HWSetup allows you to alter some of the BIOS settings from a Windows-based GUI, and a component diagnostic tool is supposed to give you extra information when something has stopped working.
Entertainment - Good
Some multimedia enthusiasts might turn up their noses at the prospect of watching DVDs on a small 13.3-inch screen, but for our money, it’s an enjoyable experience that’s not undermined in any way by the reduced real estate. As a 5-pound thin-and-light, this is a laptop you can carry around and actually fit in a coach airline seat.
DVDs on Intel’s integrated X3100 graphics and the 13.3-inch display are better than anything you’d find on your average $150 portable DVD player but inferior to most standalone setups. Colors seem a little dried out and the contrast wasn’t ideal, so while it may not satisfy the A/V purist, it’s still perfectly suitable for the average DVD fan.
The two built-in speakers, which sit above the keyboard, don’t deliver impressive sound. Expectations on something this small are low to begin with, but output, particularly the bass, sounds muffled. Overall the entertainment capabilities on the U305 are less than we'd like, but well within the tolerance range of the ordinary consumer.
Gaming - Mediocre
Five-pound thin-and-lights with integrated graphics aren’t designed at all to run games, and as you might expect it’s kind of a lost cause on the U305. Running 3DMark06 gave us a score of 539, which is about what we expected. Just for kicks we tried to install both Crysis and Halo 2 on the U305, but neither would run. Part of the problem could be Vista and DirectX 10, but nevertheless, this is not a machine you’d ever consider purchasing if you want to play high-end commercial games.
Web browsing - Good
The use of Santa Rosa means the Satellite U305 is compatible not only with 802.11 a/g but 802.11n as well. You’ll need an 802.11n router to take advantage of the technology, but with twice the range (about 200 feet instead of 100) and up to 4.5x the max data rate (248 Mbps instead of 54 Mbps) it’s worth it.
Productivity - Good
Windows Vista is the only configurable operating system for the U305. Even with Microsoft’s release candidate for Service Pack 1 now available, Vista still lags behind Windows XP in performance. Our notebook, the U305-S7467, came with Windows Vista Home Premium installed, which has the Aero glass interface (unlike Home Basic), Windows Media Center, Mobility Center and DVD Maker.
The U305 also comes with a 60-day trial of Office 2007, which we actually think is the best version of Office ever released. Fans of continuity have bemoaned the new "ribbon" interface, but we think it’s a long-overdue makeover that’s worth acclimating to.
Battery life – Very good
Our DVD battery drain test netted 2 hours and 42 minutes, which is an excellent number – about the length of two normal movies, or one painfully long one. This shows the benefit of picking integrated graphics and a CPU under 2.0 GHz; they’re not powerful enough to do front-line gaming, but they also draw far less electricity. Normal productivity applications – typing Word documents, surfing the web – will extend battery life beyond the 3-hour mark.
Value - Very good
For $1150, the Satellite U305-S7467 is a good deal. While there are smaller and lighter 13.3-inch notebooks, this thin-an-light still costs a lot less than comparable Sony VAIOs. Dell’s popular XPS M1330 is still probably the king of the 13.3-inch space, although when configured for similar components, it’s slightly more expensive than the Satellite U305.
Comparison
Compare the Toshiba Satellite U305 with similar products
Price and availability
Available in the U.S. in October 2007, the Toshiba Satellite U305 is priced at $1150 .
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