Toshiba Satellite 2455-S305

WHAT'S HOT: The bright blue lid of Toshiba's new Satellite is a real head turner, and its rewritable DVD drive and accompanying video editing software will have you making movies in no time (if you have a digital camcorder). Got a PDA or other gadget equipped with a Secure Digital memory slot? Then sharing information with the 2455-S305 should be a snap, because the notebook has its own SD slot located on the right side of the case. This model also offers performance with a kick--it notched a PC WorldBench 4 score of 117.

WHAT'S NOT: The 2455-S305 is a chunky 2 inches thick and on the heavy side at 7.9 pounds, not including a floppy drive or its power adapter. Some consumers with legacy peripherals may not appreciate that it's missing the older parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports. A port replicator is not available, so the ports cannot be added.

WHAT ELSE: The notebook lacks the dramatically beveled lower casing sported by some of its Toshiba siblings, but it still looks stunning. The hard plastic lid recalls the glossy hood of a sports car and is complemented by a blue lower casing and a semitransparent keyboard.

At first glance, the 2455-S305 promises to offer the musical chops of other Satellites. It sports the same music controls, including a snazzy-looking two-tone panel of buttons on the front for playing CDs and a recessed thumbwheel for adjusting volume. An impressive-looking set of Harman/Kardon speakers sprouts from the rear corners of the keyboard. However, the stereo sound just doesn't match that of other Satellites we've tested recently, despite the subwoofer outlet on the bottom of the notebook. The speakers were loud but sounded scratchy at the highest volume.

The notebook's wedge shape gives the large, touchpad-equipped keyboard a nice typing slant for those who like a backward tilt. Three reprogrammable shortcut buttons at the top make opening your favorite files, programs, or Web sites a snap. A full complement of the latest ports, including one FireWire port and three USB 2.0 ports, should take care of just about any connection need.

Although it's not documented, the 2455-S305's hard drive is easy to remove (just take out one screw and the bottom panel). Reaching the memory sockets under the keyboard is a little more challenging--you pry off a panel, remove three holding screws, and lift another plastic cover. The optical drive also is removable; in its place you can insert a second hard drive for extra internal storage.

This Satellite also has embedded antennas and sports an on/off switch for 802.11b wireless scanning, but strangely, you can't order it to come with the necessary wireless Mini-PCI card. To make the machine completely wireless ready, you must take it to an authorized service provider to get the $100 card added, or have the card installed by a retail dealer before you take the laptop home.

Aside from some missing information here and there, the Acrobat user's manual does an okay job of covering the 2455-S305's features. The only major black mark is the index, which for some annoying reason is not hyperlinked to the referenced pages.

In addition to a handful of games, Toshiba bundles Microsoft Works 2002. The notebook's battery life is not as impressive as its performance, but it was better than that of many notebooks in our tests, at 3.1 hours.

UPSHOT: With its polished hood and frisky performance, the Satellite 2455-S305 wouldn't look out of place at an Indy 500 for notebooks. Now if only it could offer an equally superior stereo system, like those in its sibling Toshiba multimedia stars. No matter: This is a stylish workhorse for the small creative office, where you can churn out home-made DVDs.

SUMMARY

Toshiba Satellite 2455-S305 $