Go to Windows 7 Insider GuideToshiba Satellite A505-S6980
Manufacturer: Toshiba Part number: PSAT0U-00M001
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Good design and some really nice-sounding speakers round out the Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980, a very affordable mainstream laptop with excellent battery life for its size.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Buy |  | See Site | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 12/03/2009 |
CNET editors' review
Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980 price range: $629.99
- Reviewed by: Scott Stein
- Edited by: Dan Ackerman
- Reviewed on: 11/04/2009
The good: Large screen, great speakers; excellent battery life.
The bad: Heavy; massive battery; no Bluetooth.
The bottom line: Good design and some really nice-sounding speakers round out the Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980, a very affordable mainstream laptop with excellent battery life for its size.
Editors' note: This review is part of our 2009 Retail Laptop and Desktop Holiday Roundup, which covers specific fixed configurations of popular systems found in retail stores.
You can't argue with a large-screen, value-priced laptop when it delivers good performance, and looks nice to boot. We appreciated the Toshiba Satellite A505-S6960 when we reviewed it in our 2009 back-to-school retail roundup, liking its affordability, large screen, strong battery life, and excellent-sounding speakers. Just a few months later, we find ourselves with a nearly identical model in the Satellite A505-S6980. The difference is mainly that Windows 7 is preinstalled in the new model rather than Vista, but the S6980 also has a slightly faster processor and a hard drive bumped up to 500GB--all for $20 less than the S6960. We liked it before, and like it even more now.
| Price as reviewed / Starting price | $629 |
| Processor | 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 |
| Memory | 4GB, DDR2 800 MHz |
| Hard drive | 500GB 5,400rpm |
| Chipset | Mobile Intel GM45 |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 4500MHD |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
| Dimensions (WD) | 15.1 inches wide by 10.2 inches deep |
| Height | 1.6 inches |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 16 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter | 7 / 7.8 pounds |
| Category | Mainstream |
Toshiba uses its Fusion Finish on the A505-S6980 just as it did with the S6960, calling it a "sonic pattern in black onyx." It's a stylish look, with a light-gray, wavy, pin-stripe pattern on a glossy black background on the lid, palm-rests, and speaker grills above the keyboard. The Harman Kardon speakers sound great, exhibiting a quality usually found only in laptops that cost significantly more than the S6980's budget price.
The keyboard is comfortably large, with a full number pad on the right end. We appreciate that the edge-to-edge space is fully utilized. The large keys are flat and placed close together, but are also somewhat slick, making the keyboard slightly unsatisfying to type on. Due to the glossy nature of everything, the laptop also collects a lot of fingerprints. A row of touch-sensitive media controls above the keyboard and a Webcam and mic above the screen round out the package.
The A505 has a thick body made thicker by the extended-life battery that comes with this system. The 12-cell battery adds weight and bulk compared with a standard 6-cell pack and lifts the back of the keyboard off your lap or work surface. This provides better airflow under the notebook, as well as an improved typing angle, but will make it a tighter squeeze into some laptop bags; it's like a laptop riser you can't remove.
The 16-inch wide-screen LCD offers a 1,366x768 native resolution, which is typical for its size. As we've come to expect from Toshiba's laptops, it's a quality display, with good color, contrast, and brightness. The wide screen has plenty of real estate for laying out two documents side-by-side, and videos looked and sounded great.
| Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980 | Average for category [Mainstream] | |
| Video | VGA-out, HDMI | VGA-out, HDMI |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 3 USB 2.0, 1 USB 2.0/eSATA sleep-and-charge, multiformat card reader | 4 USB 2.0, SD card reader |
| Expansion | None | ExpressCard/54 |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi | Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN |
| Optical drive | DVD burner | DVD burner |
The I/O, port, and jack connections are what we expect from a laptop in this price range, though we were happy to find Toshiba's sleep-and-charge eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port and HDMI in attendance. Unfortunately, most of the connectors are crammed into the front half of the left side to accommodate a large heat vent. If you plug in peripherals at a desk, there's a good chance you'll have all manner of cables snaking from that area. The only thing we really found lacking is built-in Bluetooth, but at this price it's not a shocker.
The Toshiba Satellite Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980 is a retail-only fixed configuration. However, the memory and hard-drive compartments are easily accessed through the bottom of the case should you want to do post-purchase upgrades.
The 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 processor is a small step up from the 2.1 GHz T6500 in the previous retail version, and it basically adds up to a nearly identical experience. While it's a budget version of the Core 2 Duo, it has plenty of horsepower to accomplish nearly all basic tasks a normal user would want to do. While the S6980 doesn't have discrete graphics, meaning it's not really able to play many games, most casual browser-based games will run just fine.
 Juice box |
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| Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980 | Mainstream (Avg watts/hour) |
| Off (60%) | 0.44 |
| Sleep (10%) | 0.85 |
| Idle (25%) | 10.02 |
| Load (05%) | 44.06 |
| Raw kWh Number | 44.3 |
| Annual Energy Cost | $5.03 |
The A505-S6980 ran for 6 hours and 2 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 12-cell battery. That's a really excellent number for a machine this size, and should have plenty of juice to fill a good part of a day's computing. The only drawback to the battery is its size, so if you're not traveling with the laptop and just need extra lap time without a power cord, this is a good option. Plus, our battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect all-day life from casual Web surfing and productivity tasks. This notebook is also Energy Star qualified.
The Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980 is backed by an industry-standard, one-year warranty. Support is accessible 24-7 via a toll-free phone line, an online knowledge base, and a Web site with driver downloads. While retail shops are happy to sell you an in-store extended warranty, they are often expensive and hard to use, so we don't recommend them.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
System configurations:
Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
500GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Asus K60IJ-RBLX05
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.1GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 32MB (Dedicated Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
320GB Seagate 5,400rpm
Toshiba Satellite T135-S1309
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.3GHz Intel Pentium SU4100;
3072MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 128MB (Shared Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
320GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
HP Pavilion dv4-2045dx
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.2GHz AMD Turion II Dual-Core M500;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 320MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200;
320GB Western Digital 5,400rpm
Dell Inspiron 1545-4374
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.1GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 32MB (Dedicated Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Gateway NV7802u
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600;
4096MB DDR3 SDRAM 800MHz; 64MB (Dedicated Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm
Sony Vaio VGN-NW240F/T
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
320GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm
Gateway NV5207u
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.1GHz AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-65;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200;
320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Toshiba Satellite L455-S5975
Windows 7 Home Premium; 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900;
2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
250GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Asus UL50AG
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.3Hz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 ULV;
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 32MB (Dedicated Video) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD;
500GB Seagate 5,400rpm
User reviews
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Prepare to be entertained (and at a good price to).
by JHop19 on November 5, 2009
Pros: Great processor, nice *multi-touch* mousepad, keypad on right hand side (handy), on-keyboard touch buttons for video and song options (play/pause, skip etc..), amazing speakers, sweet design (black-onyx..very cool-looking), HOURS of battery life.
Cons: Fingerprints..they stay unless you clean them off, kind of slippery keyboard which can be nice for very fast typing but not really good for general things, a little clunky cuz of the battery.
Summary: Great system overall. The keyboard is really the only downside, mainly because of the grease that will rub off your fingers and create fingerprints on the board. The multi-touch mousepad ...
Summary: Great system overall. The keyboard is really the only downside, mainly because of the grease that will rub off your fingers and create fingerprints on the board. The multi-touch mousepad is great once you can figure out how to use it :P
My favorite part is the battery. It kind of helps itself, because it has 12 cells inside, so it's really big, but since it's big it lifts the computer up as to create for some nice airflow. This makes the battery last longer.
The screen is really nice. It's TruBrite, I know HP uses that in a lot of their laptops, and those laptop screens are amazing. This is the same, and with HD it's even better. It is truly a great screen.
Speakers typically are not as good as the ones that come with this system. They're located on the keyboard in the top right and left. Wonderful quality, and they look nice too. Makes the laptop look like it's built for entertainment (and yeah, it is), which brings us to the processor and RAM...
The processor is like an added bonus. It's a little upgraded from the previous version, and works great. With 4gb of RAM, this thing will get you through all the apps you have to run.
The whole system really is made for entertainment. With the on-keyboard touch buttons to navigate easier and great speakers, it's truly built for media. This PC will display great HD movies on the screen, and will even load 100 more movies at the same time thanks to the RAM and processor.
It's got enough USB ports, with one port being a multi-port type thing.
I have tried playing games on it (some 3-D and graphic-intense games), and it surprisingly works well. Browser games are a breeze for this PC, nothing to worry about there.
Overall, this is great for some gaming, entertainment, all kinds of media.
Prepare to be entertained ;)2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Powerful, efficient, sleek, tactile, quality notebook
by andrapaige on November 3, 2009
Pros: Fast Processor
Efficient Eco power option
Big RAM and hard drive
Beautiful sleek look
Good tactile keyboard
Good Speakers
Amazing priceCons: Like most laptops it has a glossy finish on the keyboard, which makes fingerprints show up--minor but noticable
Summary: Brilliant Buy! If you don't need a light portable 10-13" this is a nearly perfect machine worth all 7.2lbs.
Summary: Brilliant Buy! If you don't need a light portable 10-13" this is a nearly perfect machine worth all 7.2lbs.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Enjoyable lap top with minor quirks
by Centurion68 on December 3, 2009
Pros: Large screen, tilt from large battery, long battery life, easy set up, Windows 7 great improvement over Vista, good speakers, number pad on side
Cons: Finish is too glossy - leaves smudges, loud beeping noise made by volume control on keyboard
Summary: Have had this laptop for about a month and it gets heavy use due to my graduate school work, net surfing, and movie watching. First Toshiba product I've used ...
Summary: Have had this laptop for about a month and it gets heavy use due to my graduate school work, net surfing, and movie watching. First Toshiba product I've used and very impressed so far, truly enjoy Windows 7 over Vista and XP. The battery life is as advertised so far, very reliable!
The biggest negatives are the extremely loud beeping noise created by the volume control on the keyboard, haven't figured out how to stop that noise so I use the toolbar volume control instead. Still learning on hand placement because for some reason this keyboard increased my tendency to hit the wrong key while working in Word. Have to be careful because it sometimes causes edits I don't want! Highly recommend using a mouse instead of the touch pad if you are doing any Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. General web surfing is fine for using touchpad. The high gloss black does leave alot of fingerprints but that's not a big deal to me really. The zoom/pan function of the touchpad is nice too, just takes some finessing to get it right.
The price was good and the laptop functions are more than sufficient for my use so I would recommend this computer at this point. Not a computer for heavy graphics creators or anything but for the normal person's use very good fit. Like the review says, it is a little heavier than the average laptop so may be a consideration if this is intended to be carried around alot. Not a problem for me, but my petite wife would tire of the weight. My last Dell went 3.5 years before it started it's death spiral so hope to get equivalent use from this Toshiba. -
Bought one today seems good.
by jocoirbhin on November 29, 2009
Pros: Good looking, nice speakers, fast.
Cons: I noticed when playing a downloaded movie that when I moved the laptop the movie stopped or jumped, don't know if this is normal. It did'nt happen on the last laptop I had a S350 series, which fell out the window by the way, hense the new one.
Summary: good for the money
Summary: good for the money
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4 computers in 5 weeks haven't worked. Do not buy!!!
by uther72 on November 27, 2009
Pros: Looks nice and has Windows 7 and 64 bit processor. Large hard drive.
Cons: One computer had no sound. Second had very little sound. Third could not read disk drive. Fourth computers hard drive crashed. All four were very slow booting up and shutting down. All four would freeze up.
Summary: I tried 4 computers in 5 weeks and had to return each one. Geek Squad has no idea what's wrong. I spent so much time battling these things I ...
Summary: I tried 4 computers in 5 weeks and had to return each one. Geek Squad has no idea what's wrong. I spent so much time battling these things I never got a chance to use them. None were able to do the simplest tasks. I would not reccomend anyone even consider buying one.
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Excellent Value for home networking
by TopGun_1_1998 on November 17, 2009
Pros: We bought a pair of these for home networking. They are perfect for 99% of home applications such as facebook, online accounting and email.
Cons: Windows 7 takes some getting used to. The zoom and mouse functions will throw you and I recommend a wireless mouse as part of your purchase.
Summary: Functionality and smoothness of operation along with speed (for most applications. The battery life is excellent for a home unit. I would like to have seen a backlit keyboard. Overall ...
Summary: Functionality and smoothness of operation along with speed (for most applications. The battery life is excellent for a home unit. I would like to have seen a backlit keyboard. Overall we are impressed with the unit. As an aside note I would recommend going to AVG to the virus program. No need to buy the installed one in my opinion. There is already a Win 7 version at AVG's website. Also, if purchasing from a major retailer which offer install/uninstall services for an extra fee, if you are computer literate at all I would advise saving your money and completing (e.g. recovery disk) at home.
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I've always loved the quality and value of Toshiba
by delsho on November 15, 2009
Pros: amazing battery life/hard drive space! harman/kardon speakers is a huge selling point! they're clear and extremely loud!
Cons: i have owned a satellite in the past and have appreciated the fit and finish on that model. this model seems lacking some of that quality. the ac power plug feels loose when plugged. the USB metal seems of poorer quality too. (feels tight and rough)
Summary: although there are some things i'm not in love with the value is well worth it and i already have allot love for Toshiba
Summary: although there are some things i'm not in love with the value is well worth it and i already have allot love for Toshiba
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Best Laptop ever this is all I need
by bilalghali on November 2, 2009
Pros: Screen is amazing, keyboard is awesome, battery is 12 cell it lasts more than my netbook. veru fast processor
Cons: none so far
Summary: I love my toshiba. It has everything I need
Summary: I love my toshiba. It has everything I need
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Toshiba
- Part number: PSAT0U-00M001
- Bottom Line: Good design and some really nice-sounding speakers round out the Toshiba Satellite A505-S6980, a very affordable mainstream laptop with excellent battery life for its size.
General
- Width 15.1 in
- Depth 10.2 in
- Height 1.6 in
- Weight 7.2 lbs
- Color Black onyx
- Notebook type Budget, Mid-size laptops (6-7.5 lbs.)
Processor
- Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 / 2.2 GHz
- Data bus speed 800 MHz
Cache Memory
- Type L2 cache
- Cache size 2 MB
RAM
- Installed Size 4 GB / 8 GB (max)
- Technology DDR II SDRAM
Storage Controller
- Storage controller type Serial ATA
Storage
- Floppy Drive None
- Hard Drive 500 GB
- Storage Removable None
- Hard drive type Standard
Optical Storage
- Type DVD+/-RW
- CD / DVD read speed 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD)
- CD / DVD write speed 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD) / 6x (DVD Double layer)
Display
- Display Type 16 in TFT active matrix
- Max Resolution 1366 x 768
- Features TruBrite technology
Video
- Graphics Processor / Vendor Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
- Video Memory 128 MB
Audio
- Audio output type Sound card
Input Device(s)
- Input device type Keyboard, Touchpad
Networking
- Data link protocol Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
Expansion / Connectivity
- Expansion Slots Total (Free) Memory, Memory card reader
- Interfaces 4 x USB 2.0 - USB 2.0, 1 x Ethernet - RJ-45, 1 x HDMI
Miscellaneous
- Cables Included Power cable ( 1 pcs.)
- Features 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN, Camera
Battery
- Technology Lithium ion
- Installed Qty 1
Operating System / Software
- OS Provided Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
- Software Drivers & Utilities, Microsoft Works 9, Microsoft Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Sustainability
- Greenpeace policy rating (Sept 2009) 5.7
Manufacturer info
- Toshiba
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Toshiba products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.toshiba.com
- Address:
9740 Irvine Blvd., Irvine, CA 92618 - Phone: 1-800-316-0920
