You can’t talk about computers these days without hearing Toshiba this and Toshiba that.
A lot of that can be chalked up to brand loyalty. We’re all geeks here, we can go ahead and admit it: We like to tell everyone that our favorite company is invariably the best company for everything!
Within that kind of devoted fanboy debate, though, we do manage to make some good points. Mac really does make some of the world’s best multimedia rigs, Windows really is easy to use, and Toshiba, well, they do put out some impressive products.
But let’s try to look at this as objectively as possible. What you’re reading now was written on an Apple desktop and formatted into Microsoft Word with a Dell (something of an antique, but it gets the job done), so there’s no personal preference going on here when we say this: Toshiba may well be the king of the hill for the time being when it comes to putting out great hardware.
Let’s just take a look at a couple of their flagship notebooks and show how they compare to everything else on the market right now…
Toshiba Tecra A9
This one is a couple years old, but still going strong as a good, up to date, capable high-end laptop. Here’s the basic specs for the Toshiba Tecra A9…
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4MB L2, 800 MHz FSB)
Mobile Intel P965 Express Chipset
256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 130M
Bluetooth 2.0 built in
VGA Out
15.4 inch widescreen TFT LCD display, at 1680×1050
A common complaint regarding the Tecra A9 is simply the casing. The casing feels, as some reviewers say, a little bit, well, cheap. It has a bit too much “give” for a high-end laptop, and the design itself is a bit boring to look at. However, the hardware itself is definitely up to par, and better than most, and it comes packaged with Windows Vista Business, and not a downgraded version like so many laptops. If you want an all around, high end laptop that can handle basic use as well as current games and multimedia, you certainly won’t regret getting a Tecra.
Toshiba G35-AV600
This one is Toshiba’s general purpose multimedia and gaming rig, so the question is: How does it compare to Apple and Alienware?
Well, with a nice seventeen inch hi-def display, NVIDIA GeForce GO 7300, and dual 80GB hard drives, it definitely gets the job done. But, it seems to spread itself just a bit thin. It aims to be an all in one entertainment console. A gaming laptop and a multimedia rig, and while it does both well, it does neither spectacularly. If you’re into machinima videos, where you take footage of games and make your own movies out of them, the G35-AV600 has you covered on both ends, but if you only need one or the other, you might want to shop around for something just built around that.
Here’s our take: For the time being, Toshiba is definitely having its day in the sun and putting out some of the best products available… That said, make sure you do some research before buying a Toshiba. Every company has a few weak products in their line up, and while Toshiba is generally geared for all around use, Sony and Mac still reign supreme when it comes to multimedia, and Alienware can’t really be topped for gaming notebooks. You won’t be disappointed with a Toshiba for general purpose use, but if you have more specific needs, you’ll need a more specific ntoebook.
