Toshiba Tecra A8 Review

I got an email a while back from Toshiba asking if I would like to borrow a laptop for a week and review it. I thought this sounded like a good idea until they delivered it just the day after I got my wife & daughter home from hospital! It’s been sitting in a box for a couple of weeks and now is the time to get it unpacked.

The model provided is a Tecra A8 and I think these are the specs for this model

Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology featuring Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7200- Genuine Windows XP® Professional- 100 GB Hard Disk Drive- 1,024 MB DDR2 RAM (533 MHz)- 15.4″ WXGA TFT display- DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive

So what’s the verdict? Well it seems to be a decent laptop but like Kieron I don’t think it’s the best model for Toshiba to be sending out. I would have particularly loved to try out one of their tablet models as it would be a chance to experience something different. Perhaps because I’m already a laptop user it’s just too similar to what I use every day to impress me. I haven’t bought Toshiba before and while I’m not saying this is a bad laptop it just didn’t blow me away and it seems like a missed opportunity. However it’s still a great idea to send the product out for review so here are a few comments.

I don’t want to be too harsh as it’s a decent solid looking laptop with a good keyboard and a good screen. My Sony Vaio laptop has a very reflective screen which I hate so it’s nice not to see that here. However I wouldn’t buy a widescreen laptop again as I find the vertical resolution of 800 pixels to be a bit restrictive and unfortunately that’s the same here with the Toshiba.

One nice feature is part of the Toshiba software which detects any movement or vibration and moves the hard disk head to a safe position to prevent any damage. I managed to trigger this by sneezing while using the laptop and it seems like a clever little feature. I suppose on the other hand I’ve never managed to damage a laptop hard drive with a sneeze even when this system wasn’t in place but it might protect well against a more serious knock.

It was also a great reminder of how good an operating system XP is compared to Vista. I have to admit that I’m at the end of my tether with Vista and I either need to try and work out how to get back to XP or jump ship and buy a mac! The time my Vista laptop takes to boot compared to the Toshiba running XP is like the tortoise and the hare.

Overall I think the talkToshiba concept is brilliant and there are many companies that could learn a lot from the way Toshiba are trying to engage with bloggers.