Toshiba use to be known for plain bulky systems that offered you a lot of power and no style. However over the past two years I have seen a trend at Toshiba, where they are more style focused and are now designing more and more stylish systems and quite honestly raising the bar.
The Satellite T235 is a perfect example of this trend at Toshiba. No PC maker that I can think of is delivering such a stylish product at an affordable price point ($630). Toshiba has done a magnificent job with the T235 as it’s beautiful and powerful. Available in three colors Gemini Black, Red and White the T235 has a etched metallic interior that Toshiba calls its Fusion Chrome finish.
The Satellite T235 has a nice 13.3 inch widescreen display (onboard Intel graphics) and is powered by an Intel Pentium U5400 processor, 4 Gigs (3.8 useable) of memory and 320 GB HDD. The system also has a webcam built in.
First thing I did with the T235 after turning it on was see if it could handle the day to day work load I put on my desktop. I treated it like a desktop because I think it is the best way to see how much a notebook can handle as I feel benchmarks can be deceiving. I personally do a lot of web browsing, constant emailing, Microsoft Office Excel with a 300 MB .xls file, Outlook checking my multiple email accounts and Word are open 24/7, and lets not forget I always have music playing.
So could the Satellite T235 handle it all? It did and surprisingly pretty well. It didn’t handle it as well as my intel core i7 desktop but it handled it. No noticeable slow down although it did take a bit to open the excel file, but then again it is a huge file. It handled pretty much everything I wanted it to do. I did try to burn a DVD, while encoding a movie and watching some YouTube videos and she began to lock up but so does every other system when you are taxing its resources in that manner.
I was really impressed by the power the T235 displayed although I was still a bit worried about the Intel integrated graphics, I am not a huge fan of the Intel graphics chipsets as I have had huge problems with the chipset in the past. But like Toshiba Intel has improved on their technology and the video quality is on the T235 is great, I stuck in a few DVDs and even attached an external Blu-Ray player and the picture quality was amazing. While the TrueBright LED display on the T235 is only 720P which is the lowest for HD, the PQ even for HD content was great. If you have 1080p content on your T235 it does come with an HDMI output which can connect easily to any HD Television or monitor.
I the decided it was time to install some games and see how well the T235 could handle gaming. The system has a Windows Index Rating of 3.0 which is sort of low but it handled the games I threw at it. From the Sims 3 to WoW, and batman lego it allowed me to play my games with no stuttering. While it isn’t the best system to game on for long periods of time, it can handle gaming for a 2 to 3 hour flight so that you can satisfy your craving for gaming while in the air.
Oh let’s not forget the webcam on the T235. I am using it right now as I type this review to talk to my friend in London on Skype She claims it makes me look more handsome than I normally do. So if your ugly get a T235 its webcam makes you look good too!
The Toshiba satellite T235 also comes loaded with some useful software. Before I continue I will point out that my desktop was not loaded with a huge amount of icons for programs I will never use, in fact the only icon on the desktop was Norton Internet Security. I did get the system on loan from Toshiba and typically they send systems end users will get so I feel it’s safe to assume the system is clutter free.
However the system did include some really cool and handy software; such as Toshiba ReelTime, which allows you to find programs and files you have recently used easily. No more having to remember where a file was saved or what you named it. Just remember when you used it and locate it right away.
There is also Toshiba Bulletin Board, which I really didn’t use much but it is a really handy tool if you can bring yourself to use it. It is a great tool to keep yourself up to date with what you have to do and help maintain organized. The reason I don’t use it is I already have my own little system for that and my system works for me. Although I do think Bulletin Board is useful.
Overall the Toshiba Satellite T235 is an amazing little system. Light and Thin, Beautifully designed and more than enough power for a heavy user, making it great for everyone, and we here at HardwareGeeks.com award it our 5 Star Gold Editors Choice Award for September 2010.
For more information on the T235 visit: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=478523
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