Toshiba M110

Some of the best features of the Toshiba Satellite M110 aren't unique to this notebook at all, but are common features in the Toshiba Satellite range, which isn't a bad thing. Toshiba's Satellites offer a sturdy chassis, quality Harmon/kardon speakers, a media card reader, a remote control and built-in media controls, as well as the usual swath of connectivity ports for all the most common devices.

The M110 isn't the most powerful notebook available, using an Intel 1.73GHz T2250 Core Duo CPU and only 512MB of 667MHz RAM. Even with the small amount of RAM, it will easily handle everyday tasks such as email, Web-surfing and word processing and it's a good, affordable option for the casual user.

Toshiba's use of a Core Duo CPU, rather than a newer Core 2 Duo CPU means this notebook is only going to run the 32-bit version of Windows Vista and applications. However, the Core Duo processor is still a worthy unit and for most people the difference is not worth worrying about. We found the Satellite M110 ran smoothly through most of our tests and the 512MB of RAM can be upgraded to a maximum of 4GB if things start to slow down in the future. This notebook's prowess doesn't rest with its power. It doesn't have an overly impressive specification list, but it's good enough for all-round usage.

A 60GB (5400rpm) hard drive and a DVD re-writer have been included, which allows for a fair amount of music, movies and photos to be stored on the M110 or burned to disc as needed. Naturally the DVD drive will also play movies and the M110 is a good little unit for this task. Not only does the main body of the unit have media controls built in (play/pause, skip and stop), but there's an external volume control and a remote control that slots into the PC card slot when it's not in use. The Harmon/kardon speakers are among the best speakers you'll get in a notebook. Unlike most notebook speakers with average volume and a horrible, tinny sound, the speakers in the Satellite M110 reach loud volumes with a clear, even tone and will work perfectly for watching movies in bed. A headphone jack means you can switch to headphones if the situation requires it.

We drained the battery using a DVD rundown test, which the Satellite M110 endured for one hour and 48 minutes, a reasonable result but nothing incredible. The inclusion of a 5-in-1 media card reader means that photos can be easily transferred from SD, MS/Pro, MMC and xD cards, plus a FireWire port enables a camcorder to be connected. Four USB 2.0 ports are also available and there's a VGA and S-Video output in case a TV or monitor connection is required. There's a Gigabit Ethernet port and a 56Kbps modem, while Bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi 802.11 b/g take can take care of any wireless connection needs.