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Technical specifications aside, the Toshiba Satellite 5100-501 is a visually impressive system.
It uses the same chassis as Toshiba's Satellite Pro 6000 but, instead of being black, the Satellite 5100-501 comes in metallic blue and has silver covers over the Harman Kardon speakers, which give it a stylish appearance.
The front edge of the system is also silver and houses controls for the DVD-Rom/CD-RW drive. Sitting between the buttons is a small display that glows blue when activated and shows the system's remaining battery life, plus hard disk drive and charging indicators.
Unlike other Toshiba notebook PCs, the Satellite 5100-501 comes in two pre-set configurations and doesn't have any interchangeable parts. A two-spindle device, the system has a Toshiba 24/8/4/8-speed DVD-Rom/CD-RW combo drive and a Toshiba 40Gb 5,400rpm 2.5in hard disk drive.
For additional storage, it comes with a USB floppy disk drive. The system is supplied with Microsoft's Windows XP Professional.
To accompany the Pentium 4-M, the Satellite 5100-501 uses 512Mb of DDR SDRam rather than SDRam. Together, these increase the device's performance, making it the fastest notebook PC that we've tested to date.
However, the most interesting part of the system is its graphics chip: nVidia's brand new GeForce4 440 Go, which has 64Mb of DDR SDRam that connects to a 15.1in ASV UXGA display with a native resolution of 1,600 by 1,200 pixels.
The Satellite 5100-501 has a wide range of expandability, with two stacked Type II PC cards, an SD and SmartMedia reader, three USB ports and one four-pin IEEE 1394 port.
It also has both a V.90 modem and an Intel 10/100Base-T NIC. As with many current notebook PCs, the Satellite 5100-501 also has wireless functionality with built-in 802.11b and Bluetooth connectivity.
The system uses a Synaptics cPad, which is an LCD-equipped touchpad that doubles as a secondary display. This unusual device has the regular left and right mouse click buttons and a third button that launches a set of preinstalled applications.
It communicates with the PC via a standard USB interface, which is fully compatible with the standard Microsoft mouse driver. Pressing the application button launches six icons which are then activated by pressing them.
It has to be said that Toshiba's Satellite 5100-501 is a very impressive system. The combination of the 1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4-M, DDR SDRam memory and GeForce4 440 Go chipset all help to make it the fastest performing notebook PC we've tested.
Price: £2,176 (ex. VAT)
Specifications:
OS: Windows XP Professional
Processor: Intel Pentium 4-M 1.7GHz
Memory: 512Mb DDR SDRam
Graphics chipset: 64Mb nVidia GeForce4 440 Go
Hard disk: 40Gb
Optical drive: DVD-Rom/CD-RW
Display: 15in UXGA
I/O: 3 x USB, IEEE 1394, V.90 modem, 10/100Base-T
Contact: Toshiba 01932 828828
www.computers.toshiba.co.uk
See also:
If you're looking for an ultra-portable notebook PC, this is the one to go for. 21 Aug 2002
An impressive Pentium 4-based notebook ideal for anyone looking to replace their desktop PC. 23 May 2002
This first 2GHz Pentium 4 notebook offers cutting-edge power and portability. 15 Mar 2002All Notebooks & Tablets PCs
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