Toshiba Satellite U505-S2940

The glossy screen can make for tricky viewing in some lighting conditions, but the machine's powerful brightness, contrast, and color controls offset such issues. Overall, it's a good-looking and easy-to-read screen at it's native resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. The default color settings were excellent to begin with, but with a few necessary adjustments, videophiles can get the right color balance. For external video output, the U505 has both a VGA port and an HDMI video-audio output for hi-def graphics.

Toshiba's latest addition to the Satellite laptop line, the U505 S2940, isn't just a good-looking notebook, it also has some excellent design features that will please anyone needing a portable for general computing and entertainment. Coming in under $1000 (our review unit sells for $949 as of 9/1/09), the U505 offers just enough juice for multitasking without feeling cramped. On the other hand, at 5.6 pounds, it's a bit heavier than other notebooks with a 13.3-inch screen.


With a balanced selection of ports, the U505 isn't just an office companion; it's also a good media system. While the U505 series comes sans Blu-ray, it's still a capable and convenient entertainer. In our testing, we did have to further adjust the video and audio settings to optimize home theater performance, but, once set, it performed well. Computing screens were razor-sharp on HDTVs, and DVDs had good video quality with acceptable black levels.