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More…A frustrating keyboard mars the Toshiba Tecra A8-S8314, a budget business laptop with an otherwise good design.
Toshiba Tecra A8-S8314 1.83GHz Core Duo T2400, 15.4-inch
- Spec Navigator
- Processor
- Memory
- Display
- Storage
- Battery
- Dimensions
- Other Features
- Networking
- Multimedia
- Software
- Interface Connections
- Included Devices
Storage
| Total HD Size | 100 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/-RAM |
| Optical Drive Speed | 2.4 |
| Removable Optical Drive | No |
| Slots | SD Card |
| Number of Media Slots | 1 |
| PC Card Slots | Yes |
Battery
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Standard Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Type of Batteries | Lithium ion |
| Vendor Rated Battery life | 357 |
Networking
| Bluetooth | No |
| Included network card | Gigabit ethernet |
| Modem Type | V.92 |
| Wireless LAN Type | 802.11a/g |
Software
| Included Software |
|
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Laptops »
Pros
Includes a fingerprint reader
Cons
Keyboard feels cramped
Bottom Line
This budget business laptop includes dual pointing devices and a decent design, though the keyboard is uncomfortable.
Toshiba Tecra A8-S8314
Tecra A8-S8314 1.83GHz Core Duo T2400, 15.4-inch Review, by Carla Thornton November 20, 2006
Dubbed "the hallmark of quality" on Toshiba's Web site, this 6.3-pound unit is indeed a good performer and competitively priced. Our $1350 (as of 11/6/06) review unit included a 1.83-GHz Core Duo T2400 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 15.4-inch wide-aspect screen, a 100GB hard drive, a double-layer DVD burner, an SD Card reader, a FireWire port, three USB ports, integrated video memory, a fingerprint reader, and Microsoft Works 8.5.
The Tecra's WorldBench 5 score of 91 outpaced a Gateway 255-E with a 2-GHz Core Duo T2500 processor that scored only 90. The Tecra's battery lasted 3 minutes shy of 4 hours, well above average.
Toshiba is one of the few major players left that offer notebooks with two pointing devices, a nice extra for companies that want to give their mobile employees a choice. This notebook's pointing stick worked well. However, the very top edge of the already small touchpad is unresponsive to finger swipes, which makes the unit hard to use without looking down at your hand.
The keyboard is poorly thought out as well, and is more cramped on the left side than on the right. When reaching for the undersize Tab key or the keys at the lower left of the keyboard, I often bumbled into a nearby panel of shortcut buttons, and again had to look down and reposition my hand.
This misstep is unusual for Toshiba, and it would be a shame if the company dropped out of the dual-pointing-device market altogether. Here's hoping that the next iteration of this model gets the keyboard it deserves.
Carla Thornton
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
-
73
-
74
-
75
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Laptops
73
71
70
67
Performance
| ACD Systems ACDSee | 666 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 355 |
| Adobe Premiere | 455 |
| Ahead Nero | 782 |
| Battery Life (Office Applications) | 3:57 |
| Discreet 3ds Max DirectX | 366 |
| Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL | 616 |
| Doom 3, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 5.6 |
| Far Cry, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 10.33 |
| Microsoft Office XP | 569 |
| Mozilla | 420 |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | 547 |
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Roxio VideoWave | 288 |
| Windows Media Encoder | 329 |
| WinZip | 416 |
| World Bench 5 Score | 91 |
| World Bench 5 Word Score | Good |
WorldBench Tests
| Multitasking | 506 |
User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Toshiba Tecra A8-S8314 1.83GHz Core Duo T2400, 15.4-inch
1 Review Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 1 review
-
Reviewed by: Hotlanta
Duration of ownership: 4 Months
Strengths: None; absolutely none.
Weaknesses: Instability, loss of harddrive, bad keyboard, extremely poor under-warranty service, no discs shipped with PC.
Overall: Since owning this Tecra A8, it has been in the shop 25% of the time and is currently out getting its 3rd harddrive. The keyboard failed as well. Toshiba didn't even bother to send discs, so I can't tell if my Windows XPPro is a problem or not. "Express" warranty service means it is in the shop 2-3 weeks for each repair. Even the techs working it consider it a piece of garbage and express deep sympathy for my having purchased it. Telephone customer and technical support often miscommunicates, puts me on indefinite hold, or hangs up on me. From a work standpoint, the machine is USELESS to me. I would strongly urge anyone considering a TOSHIBA to PURCHASE ELSEWHERE.
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