At some point, the desktop form factor was deemed too restrictive to be useful, so all the major PC manufacturers jumped on the portable bandwagon. Now even 15.4-inch laptop models are being sold as desktop replacements. If they planned on just using them at desks, why didn't they just make desktops smaller and offer an optional battery and handle?
Features
The A200 is a strange beast, straddling the line between notebook, desktop, productivity and gaming, but because of this odd mix -- and while it's a fairly solid machine -- it doesn't really do any one task particularly outstandingly when put head-to-head with single-function specialist products.
The A200's feature set weighs in at around the middle of the pack with its 1.73GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory and a 5,400rpm 120GB hard disk drive. Granted to hit its modest AU$1,799 price point, sacrifices have been made, but it still represents good value for what's in the box. Unfortunately the first thing we noticed was that the system memory comes in a two by 512MB configuration, meaning those wanting to run 2GB for Vista will have no option but to junk both DIMMs and purchase two 1GB replacements to get to their goal.
Graphics are taken care of by NVIDIA's GeForce G7300 card, a step above Intel's own integrated product, and enough to run the Vista Aero interface, but pretty average for anything more intensive. The machine returned a score of 655 under 3DMark, and given Toshiba sells it as a desktop replacement primarily designed to sit powered by mains, something with a bit more grunt even at a greater price would have been more appreciated. If graphics are your biggest motivating factor, The PSPBGA-01X015 version of the A200 includes the bigger brother NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 for better 3D performance.
Because of its sub AU$2,000 price tag, this model forgoes flashy features like a next-gen optical format such as HD-DVD or Blu-ray. It's not strictly a gaming PC, but you shouldn't have any trouble running less demanding games from the last few years on it.
Like most consumer notebooks it includes a 1.3-megapixel digital camera built into the lid facing the user, a bit big brother, but handy for video conferencing with family and friends or recording YouTube clips of that cute thing your pet does that no one cares about.
Toshiba throws in a biometric fingerprint reader for added security; it's not a deal signer, but it is a nice little extra for the security conscious, or those with bad memories for passwords.
Design
The chassis is finished in a two-tone silver/black combination. The top of the lid is finished in a glossy bluish metallic paint and while attractive is a real fingerprint catcher.
Rather than being hinged by the top edge of the lower clam-shell as is often done, it's attached at the desk level and as a result means there's no room for rear I/O ports. The A200 isn't particularly legacy friendly (which isn't a huge loss unless you're still using with parallel printers or serial mice -- and if you are, get with the times!)
The left hand side of the chassis houses your video options with VGA and S-Video out, Ethernet port, two USB ports, a 4-pin FireWire connector and Express Card slot. The right has an additional two USB ports and the DVD burner optical drive. The latter ports are particularly handy for right-handed mousers looking to plug in an external device for long desk use sessions.
The touchpad while responsive is just a tad too small given all the unutilised space above the keyboard where the speakers and quick launch buttons live.
The screen is coated with a glossy finish, and does a good job showing off Vista's new user interface. Movies look great, although turning down the lights exposed some nasty contrast ratio and viewing angle issues with the display.
Performance
Returning just shy of 3300 PCMarks, it offers solid day-to-day functionality, and would suit office productivity applications and play on the side.
While the DVD playback was quite good in ambient lighting, dipping the lights accentuated the flaws in its contrast ratio and viewing angle -- blacks not quite true and some detail that went missing in poorly lit scenes if you tilted your head too far. That said, this model does offer something we can't often say about notebooks -- it has exceptionally good quality sound for a portable. We're pleased to say it lacks that horrible tinny sound we've come to expect, instead producing a clear and sharp movie soundtrack.
Given this product is designed to spend its life perched on a desk, with the option of portability; we didn't hold huge hopes for the battery run time. At maximum brightness and performance the A200 ran for just over an hour and a half, well short of finishing our DVD movie test. Dropping the display brightness to minimum (which is still quite easily read) and giving the unit an easier reader test yielded an extra hour, for a total of two and a half hours of run time. It's not stellar, but does offer enough juice to get some work or play done on the go.
In the end it tries to be everything to everyone, but trips over in all but a productivity setting. The A200 won't be winning any awards in the performance stakes anytime soon, but that's not what it's designed to do. It's not quite a gaming machine with only a small step above integrated graphics. The memory is about as little as you'd want to run Vista and does present an upgrade challenge, but for the cost it's a good all-rounder with plenty to offer those on a budget.
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av
22/09/2008, 08:21 AM
rating
8/10
so far so good.
Pros: very affordable.
Cons: heavy as hell.
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Dylann
17/09/2008, 02:03 AM
rating
9/10
I've got this laptop and have had it for about 4-5 months now and have had no problem with it mechanically what so ever yet, only small problem i've had was that my webcam sometimes says it's being used by other applications, but is simply fixed by running msconfig and under services disabling all, And than restarting and it works like a treat.
So overall im giving it about a 9 for the performance of mine, because it has not yet had one tiny problem with it.
Pros: Great working, Great battery capacity and memory. Also the screen is nice and large.
Cons: A tad of the heavy side, not to the point where it's a hassle, but it could be a lot lighter.
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marie
12/09/2008, 01:25 PM
rating
5/10
has anyone else had a problem with their Toshiba Satellite A200 saying that it can't load their user profile? what do i do?
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kelly
29/08/2008, 10:58 PM
rating
8/10
I've had my Toshiba A200 for over a year and it runs Vista Home Premium flawlessly and I have never had any problems with it until recently.
Pros: well priced
works well
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heccubus
19/08/2008, 12:52 AM
rating
1/10
I have had nothing but problems with this notebook since I got it less than a year ago. Constant crashes, blue screening at least once a week, and today it finally just stopped working altogether. It refuses to play nice with XP, which I had to install since it came with Vista and could BARELY function with that installed. The issues with XP are various: it seems to completely lose track of hardware (specifically the DVD drive and about 90% of the devices connected via USB) frequently, the wireless card simply loses its connections constantly, and the idea of playing anything but Flash games is completely out of the question.
For the price? If you absolutely can't afford a better notebook (like myself) then yeah, get it. Just don't ever, ever, EVER change anything or try to install any software. Chances are that whatever you try to do, it is going to screw up the computer in more ways than one.
Pros: Not overly expensive, but definitely over-priced.
Cons: Inefficient, lousy design, unreliable, sub-par in just about every conceivable way.
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kingofsages27108
01/08/2008, 12:14 PM
rating
1/10
I have had my Toshiba A200 MR5 laptop for nearly 2 months and have had to have it in a tech lab almost the entire time because something broke or i needed to have them check for a problem that was undiagnosable. For anyone considering buying a laptop i recommend avoiding the Satellite A200 MR5 unless you are prepared to take it back and
Pros: Somewhat portable and affordable
Cons: I have had to replace the Hard Drive (it broke) The graphics card (It was having temperature regulation problems) and I now need to replace the Motherboard because the CPU is having problems processing. The computer was recommended as a "Gaming Laptop" and when i purchased it it was unable to play a game that took 1/4 the ram and didnt even need a graphic card as powerful as the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600, yet when i went to launch the game the computer froze itself. The keyboard is also quite small with the size they give (tending to cause typing reports/essays difficult because the home, pg up/dn and end button are too close to the rest of the keys) and the wireless card has difficulty keeping itself connected to a wireless network and if you change the OS to XP the battery life goes down the toilet, from 3 hours to just over an hour at high performance and from 6 hours to 2 and a half hours sitting at idle
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able
24/07/2008, 12:25 PM
rating
3/10
Let me first be fair. I have used Toshiba in the past without any significant problems. This particular laptop, however, has been a constant source of frustration.
When it worked, i was able to do my work satisfactorily. I was also able to play some games, including some online ones.
The main problem I had is that periodically it appeared that the computer would not boot up. The lights would flicker and then stay solid with nothing appearing on the LCD. This happened at least 5 times in the past year. The first 4 times, the problem "self-corrected" (after I waited several hours). The last time, well it's been 3 days so far. Gave up and bought an HP laptop. Was told either the LCD was gone or the motherboard was fried (computer was barely a year old).
Other issues. Three times I received the error message that it could not load my user profile. Saw the blue screen of death at least 10 times. Lost at least 10 files on separate occasions (was there one day, completely vanished the next). Had a couple programs somehow uninstall themselves. And on various powerups, received the message stating that I had not shut down properly (to be generous a few times this was true - due to lockups; most of the time not true) and that a disk consistency check had to be performed (this may have been when I lost the files).
Bottom line. In general I think Toshiba makes a decent product. For this particular one, I should have sent it back ASAP under the warranty.
Pros: When it works, decent.
Cons: More errors/issues than even Microsoft Windows could account for
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tonydam
22/07/2008, 12:11 PM
rating
8/10
I have had my Toshiba sattelite a200 a7r 3 weeks it has been pretty good untill today i have managed some how to change the screen, to side ways so i have now to turn the lap top on its side to see it but the touch pad is still in flat mode how can i get it back to normaly any ideas Tony
Pros: so far so good
Cons: clear screen i like the picture behind picture viewer
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Yuri
21/07/2008, 03:23 AM
rating
6/10
If there is anybody in the world who is the same "technically challenged" person as myself, that person probably wants to know the answer to the question I asked recently. In order to open the machine, you should slightly move the button on the upper part of the computer to the right. The problem is that you cannot do that until you remove the cloth tucked inside. And you cannot remove the cloth until you cut it (even if they told you in the store not to destroy packaging materials). The cloth is attached to the same hooks which are supposed to move when you slide the above mentioned button and this is the reason why they don't move. Please excuse me for these two postings and ignore my rating which I put there just because it was required.
Yuri
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Yuri
20/07/2008, 11:58 PM
rating
1/10
I have just bought a new machine. My experience with it started with frustration. You may laugh at me but I have a problem that nobody has ever had before. I cannot open the damn thing! There is a button on the front of the upper half. I tried to press it, I tried to slide it right and left - nothing works. There is a piece of packing cloth tucked inside and I cannot remove it. User's manual says nothing about all this. Even such an idiot as I am does not want to break his new toy with a hammer and a chisel. Please help.
Thanks.
Yuri
Pros: n/a
Cons: n/a
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