Toshiba Satellite 110CS

Toshiba Satellite 100CS Overview Features Intel Mobile Pentium 90Mhz CPU (soldered to the mainboard, not replaceable) 11.3-inch DSTN color LCD (800x600 resolution, 30:1 contrast ratio, 256 colours palette) Chips&Tech CT65548 video controller (1MB VRAM, 16bit colour capable, but only on external VGA screen) ESS1688 Audio Card, SoundBlaster 2.0/Adlib capable emulation 8 MB EDO RAM (standard) up to 40 MB Max (32MB on Toshiba proprietary format RAM module) 810 MB Toshiba HDD 3.5 inch FDD (unreliable, belt driven platter rotation system) placed in a removable bay or CD-ROM Drive (optional, can replace the FDD in the removable bay) Other 2xPCMCIA Slots VGA Output Proprietary Docking port and docking station NimH rechargable battery Single PS/2, Serial, Parallel ports Built-in 110-240V power supply Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 support, MS-DOS Sound Blaster Pro emulation

ThinkPad T60 14.1"

Review

A mid-range laptop, features wise, with a poor LCD screen with very low contrast even for its time. The screen has only two brightness levels, standard and energy saving, and a contrast knob that has to adjusted from time to time, for darker or lighter screens. Response time is very high, with lots of ghosting, making the laptop best suited for office use. Overall, the screen is the biggest drawback. Unfortunately, the screen cannot be easily replaced with a similar era TFT one.

It is quite fast due to the CPU being used, with a reasonably fast video controller. The CPU does get warm and the cooling system is not that great, but the laptop handles constant heat quite well. The keyboard has reasonable tactile feedback but it is far from being the best, with quite a long key travel and a mushy feel. The Accupoint cursor system (mouse compatible) is reasonably accurate but the cap disintegrates and the click buttons rubbery face does so just as well, in time, becoming sticky. The laptop's plastic case is quite durable but not the best.

The FDD drive was a very poor choice, since the belt driven disk rotation fails after many years, belts are harder to find and replace. The removable disk bay is very good for a laptop of its generation and the rechargeable battery can be easily removed or replaced. There were many Toshiba laptops that used the same battery and working with a removed battery does not affect stability or aesthetics. There are two more internal rechargeable NimH batteries inside the laptop that may leak and are somewhat harder to replace (not the typical CR2032 3V button cell).

The standard HDDs supplied by Toshiba have a known tendency to have their heads stuck when old, making the drive fail to start. Careful internal dissassembly is required to unstick the heads from the parking position. Use care and touch only the drive arm near the center pin to slowly unstick it.

Software support is great in DOS and Windows 3.1, making the system feel snappy. DOS sound capability is great, with good Adlib compatibility and Sound Blaster Pro emulation. It does not require any TSR or configuration to enable DOS support. In Windows 95 you start to feel the sluggishness of the system as the video controller has insufficient acceleration and low screen scrolling performance. Basically Toshiba used the same platform on 486 and Pentium laptops which kept RAM and Video performance from being as high as it could. Although the video controller is faster than some Trident models, it is far from Neomagic ones.