Artwork: Rick Rizner, John Goddard
The Toshiba Satellite P25-S670 serves both as a powerful notebook and as a one-stop digital media center that could fit into your living room as a TV replacement. Configured to run the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, it includes a TV tuner module that swaps into the front battery bay and a remote control so you can relax and watch the screen up to 10 feet away. It comes with all the equipment you'll need to connect the P25-S670 directly to a TV, including a short coaxial cable. To integrate the notebook into an existing cable-and-VCR setup, you'll need to buy a splitter.
You can watch live TV on the 17-inch screen, pausing it TiVo-like, or schedule programs to record and then watch later. The slickly designed Media Center interface, gorgeous in blue Microsoft hues on the big screen and easy to navigate with the remote, provides a convenient place to view high-resolution digital photographs, play music, and download movies from the Internet. The P25-S670 has the most powerful video components available for a notebook, including an NVidia GeForce FX Go5700 graphics board with 128MB of video RAM. Though the unit's full-screen TV picture was grainier than our standalone set's, it was fine for casual viewing and sharp in a small window against the background of an application. The notebook's built-in Harman/Kardon stereo speakers could be a tad louder, and a subwoofer (which the setup lacks) would have been a welcome addition on an entertainment unit like the P25-S670. Still, they provide rich sound that is loud enough let you watch movies or play CDs at a comfortable level.
In addition to having top-notch multimedia features, the P25-S670 makes a fairly good desktop replacement, starting with its having two front modular bays. You can record any flavor of DVD disc (+R, -R, or -RAM) in the multiformat rewritable DVD drive located in the right front. Need more storage than the primary 80GB hard drive provides? Buy another internal hard drive with a capacity of up to 80GB for use in either bay when you're plugged in or when you don't need the DVD burner or TV tuner. You get plentiful notebook connections--including four USB 2.0 ports and the S-Video and composite connections you may need in order to use a TV as a monitor--as well as a remote control for changing channels and recording shows. An on/off switch simplifies scanning for an 802.11a/g wireless connection.
In view of the P25-S670's bulk--1.8 inches of case height and 9.7 pounds without the power adapter--we were surprised to learn that the keyboard has only a 2.7mm keystroke, a bit short of the 3mm standard. But it didn't feel shallower than normal, and it provided comfortable action and a fine layout, except that the <Delete> key is buried in the bottom right row and the <Tab> key is a tad too small. Mouse buttons made of soft plastic and an extra-wide touchpad round out the typing conveniences. Overall, the P25-S670's upgradable parts are easy to reach. The hard drive obstructs access to the second of the two memory slots, however, so you must pop it out before tackling a RAM upgrade. When you're ready to travel, a sturdy blue lid closes on the big unit.
Like many desktop replacements, the P25-S670 uses a desktop processor that offers decent performance but is profligate with battery life. In our speed tests, the 3.2-GHz Pentium 4-equipped P25-S670 earned a PC WorldBench 4 score of 121, almost on a par with the average for notebooks equipped with a 1.6-GHz/600-MHz Pentium M processor; but battery life teetered on the brink of abysmal, at just 1 hour and 17 minutes. That's the shortest of any notebook we've tested recently, though a few other models have come close. In the documentation department, Toshiba has you covered with excellent manuals provided in print and on the hard drive.
Upshot:
The Satellite P25-S670 delivers just about everything that multimedia enthusiasts look for in a desktop replacement notebook. But plan on staying close to a power source, because the battery poops out faster than you can say "Where's the nearest outlet?" 
Carla Thornton
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