Toshiba A300-1BZ Laptop Review, Specification And Offers
May 20, 2008
Toshiba A300-1BZ
If you are looking for a decent multi media laptop that will not break the bank then we have the model for you. The Toshiba A300-1BZ is a true heavy weight for the price of a middle weight laptop, it boasts a generous 3 giga bytes of RAM and a powerful intel core duo 2 processor. This is great for playing your favourite games or watching movies on the move or at home.
The Toshiba a300ibz has built in media keys for quick access to sound and dvd functions (play, skip, stop etc) and also includes some decent Harman Kardon speakers for clear sound quality. This laptop has a larger than nessesary hard drive weighing in at 250 gb’s.
The 15.4 inch widescreen is crystal clear and is great for what ever you use your laptop for, the machine is also quite light so you will not find it to difficult to transport. In summary this is a great laptop with real high end features, it is not just great for the money but it is great at twice the price.
As always if you have any questions please feel free to ask below.
Full Specification
- DVD Super Multi ReWriter
- 15.4″ TruBrite Widescreen Display
- Face recognition software, webcam
- Harman Kardon speakers, wireless enabled
- touch sensitive media keys
Buy now from pc world
I like the Toshiba A300 1BZ but are unsure about the lack of an HDMI port. Is the S-video sufficient for output to 32″ LCD TV or is worth waiting for a model with an HDMI port?
i was reading several reviews before wanting to purchase this awsome looking laptop, and alot of them say that the glossy black finish is annoying and requires frequent cleaning of fingerprints ect… would you agree?
The piano black gloss does collect finger prints but to be honest it is no chore to clean, I use a lint free cloth to lean mine (like a glasses cleaner). The looks are amazing so I would not let it put you off. Hope this helps
Well thanks for that Richard, one other thing, before the buy, is there and down points towards this laptop? like small annoying things like tinney speakers or it over heating??
Ollie don’t be a tubby wally and just do it. now.
I have had no problems with it overheating mate. And no niggles that I can think of really
I like the looks of this laptop, what is the battery power like?
I read in a review that the touch pad controls (play, rewind etc) light up and this is annoying when using the laptop in dark lighting, do you find this to be an issue?
(I ask as I would obviously watch dvds in the dark and do not want a glare from the controls)
The battery lasts around 4 hours and a half and have not had any problems with the glare to be honest
Great, thanks so much for your quick response. Now to convince my dad it’s a good choice!!
Had this laptop for one day now, so these are very much first impressions. Firstly the bad side. the glossy finish. Looks great but is actually awful. It collects marks like no bodies business and requires frequent wiping with a soft cloth to keep clean. the keyboard is the same and much more difficult to keep clean. A matt finish would have been so much better.
The 250GB hard disk came split into two partitions, each of about 120gb (something gets lost in the partitioning). The E drive parition holds the backup and is used to install the operating system onto the c drive at first boot. It seemed completely pointless to ship it like that, took almost an hour before it was usable, and whats the point of storing backups on a partition on the same hard disk - a hard disk failure will lose your recovery software too. They should have supplied one large 250gb hard disk and supplied installation disks or recovery software on dvd. At the earliest point i shall use Partition magic to change the hard disk partitions and burn off the recovery software to a dvd.
The hard disk was so full of preinstalled junk software - you name it there was a trial version on it that it took me ages to uninstall everything and then defrag the hard disk. this saved me about 15GB of HD space.
Once up and running though it was impressive. The sound is good even from the built in speakers. It didnt get too hot even after 6 hours of constant running. battery life looks good, and the maximum life isnt achieved until youve done a few charges. I got 4 hours out of the first charge today. It took about 2 hours to fully charge out of the box whilst running the machine. Its fast to boot and fast to shut down too.
Its real test will come tomorrow when i start installing my specialist software. First impressions are good though and i managed to get £30 knocked off the price at PC World. Their prices were roughly the same as internet prices - give or take a few quid, so its not worth shopping around. be warned though that there are a lot of model variations of the A300 and at first glance many online seem a lot cheaper, but when you dig you will find they have reduced specifications.
What speed is the hard drive ? and is it possible to get this laptop without partition ?
I have 12 volt ( cig lighter plug in) Auto - Air Adaptor Input = 11 - 16 vdc 8 amp max Output 20v 3.5a can this adaptor be used with toshiba A300- 1BZ
Hey, I am about to buy a laptop for uni and am in two minds between these Toshiba A300-1BZ and HP DV6855
the specs seem pretty similar but it will be my 1st laptop and i dnt know much about them. One thing is the graphics card… I’m not exactly a hardcore gamer or anything but would like a decent one to play some games. How is the toshiba games card? Apart from that, jus want it 2 be super fast really, any opinions are very much appreciated!
The Toshiba is a lovely looking machine and the spec is pretty good too. The graphics card is 128 MB dedicated card so it will be perfect for playing dvd’s and some games. What sort of thing will you be wanting to play? The HP is also a nice looking machine, the spec is very similar (same size hard drive, same processor, same ram). It is however more expensive!
It would just be general games like sims lol embarassing, although it would be nice if it was capable of playing games such as call of duty but its not a necessity. I wonder why the hp is more expensive when they’re so similar :s I’m drawn more towards the toshiba coz of price and prettiness, it’[s just i was recommended the HP. thnx for ur help!
Does it have it’s own graphics card??
Yes it is a dedicated 128mb graphics card on the toshiba.
Natallie:
I would say it would be perfect for the sims but if you are wanting a proper gaming laptop you would have to spend a lot more. The toshiba is a powerful machine that should suit 99% of everyones needs (as is the HP but it is dearer), it is NOT a gaming machine though. However an xbox or PS3 is
toshiba a300 1bz is amazing very quick not sure about looks but performance wise better that HP dv series
ahh im so indecisive its just i noticed the hp 1 has 1535 Mb graphics memory whereas the toshiba only has 128 so surely that means the hp is better? im seeing my uncle today who should be able to help me decide, then its off to pc world on sat
oh yeh and i wish on the PS3! lol thnx 4 all ur help! U all seem more keen on the toshiba so it will probs be that 1
Well i just though people might like to know i actually went for the toshiba A300d 15b which seems to be a step up from the other toshiba 1300-1bz. Thanks for all your help, can’t wait to get it now! :D:D