Toshiba Satellite A200
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Something for everyone. Home. School. Work. Community. How many roles do you play? The Satellite laptop PC is well dressed for any part, with a selection of processors, generous storage and memory options, plus a wealth of other features aimed at making you a star.

And the beauty of it is these mobile laptops offer great versatility plus major eye appeal, with a highly polished Fusion finish, handsome Horizon pattern, sleek flush-mounted touchpad, and feather-touch CD/DVD control buttons. Look on select new Satellite models. Then get ready to get the looks yourself.

Movies, music, photos and games. Who doesn't love being entertained? Of course, it helps that Satellite laptops come with a brilliant widescreen TruBrite display that puts a shine on almost any activity, offering incredible color and clarity, plus a widescreen format for more room to work and multitask.

The Toshiba Satellite line of notebooks is ready to help make your life better, right out of the box. The hardware, software utilities-even the design of the machine itself-are all meant to make things easy, regardless of the who, what, where or when. It's a laptop that works for you, with almost no work at all.

A versatile, easy-to-use mobile laptop computer that makes sense-without costing lots of dollars and cents. That's what Toshiba had in mind when they created the Satellite line of notebooks. So have a look. You'll quickly find a model to fit both your life and your budget.

Enjoy affordable, fundamental business computing with the Toshiba Satellite Pro A200 Series-an economical blend of productivity-enhancing features, providing the style, mobility and value that business

users need. Intel Centrino Duo processor technology, including Core  Duo processors, wireless* LAN (Wi-Fi), Fast Ethernet and enhanced graphics, all come standard, along with a brilliant 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen display* with TruBrite, and a DVD SuperMulti (dual layer) optical drive.

Toshiba has streamlined the Satellite Pro A200 to include only essential tools and applications required for simpler, easier use.

Notebook Computer Specifications

quicksilver has a clipboard plugin that stores up to x number of items. check your plugin screen in the preferences.

umm...how's quicksilver storing multiple clipboard items? enlighten me.

@RyanCastillo - QuickSilver's already on the list - you don't need another app for storage of multiple clipboard items. Growl rocks.

I'd like to see a real MacBook optimization article. In otherwords, how can I make my MacBook run faster when it already has 2GB of ram and seems slower than my ibook when I only have 8 programs open!

I have used a Mac and PC side by side for the last five years (as a graphic artist), and for me, I love the flexibility of the interface on the PC, and the apps I use run better on the PC, though I use them on both Mac and PC. However, it's truly the little things about the Mac interface that I really hate about it... Like why the heck are folders mixed in with normal files?! (The list goes on almost endlessly) Yes, it's the small things that irk me the most... Not to mention performance issues!

So again, a true Mac performance optimization resource (not Mac productivity optimization) is what I can use at this point.

Seems to me that a lot of this software can be used for not just macbooks, but desktops as well... just saying.

bookcat....stick with quicksilver. you'll make up your invested time.

I don't think you understand how _un_productive that there link made me. I'm futzing with my iTunes, setting up QuickSilver Triggers, entering my assignment sheets into to-do lists, basically doing anything but studying for my exam in 4 hours. Awesome!

I would suggest looking at a Lenovo/IBM thinkpad.

One warning from personal experience I'll share with everyone: I acquired a MacBook Pro not too long ago, and it's a really nice machine.

BUT... it dents *really* easily. It fell off my bed onto the wooden base of my lamppost. About a 2-feet drop, and it now has a nasty, unsightly groove in the back.

Wish I had an Undo button for it, but since I don't, take really good care of your MacBook Pros! (I don't know if the polycarbonate shell of the MacBook regular is prone to crackin.)

More relevant to this post, interesting macbook tips.

I personally use os x, win xp, and ubuntu/DSL/other varities. The combination of them fits my needs. For daily use for the basics, I do xp. It's quite and easy. For digital video and hard core stuff, os x (Ohhh S.o. Sex-y). Ubuntu and linux gets utilized when I'm feeling good and nerdy.

What's up with that soft porno looking advertisement? Goodness.

Wendy,

Can't wait to welcome you to the fold! I just made the switch myself and am documenting my discoveries at http://macswitched.blogspot.com. Like they say, once you cross over, you'll never want to go back.

To the list, I would add Desktop Manager, which gives you the ability to switch between different Desktops. http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Desktop-Manager.sht...

BTW, @paoconnel -- NeoPlanet is a better installer for OpenOffice. Right now, OpenOffice requires the X11 -- and it can be confusing to both install and run. NeoPlanet gets rid of that requirement.

I made the switch (to a entry-level MacBook) about 3 weeks ago. I have Parallels as well but haven't used it. Aside from the snickers at work (jealousy, I'm sure) I haven't looked back.

I have just made the switch.

Parallels is the program that makes me feel safe, so that my small bussines is never left out in the cold if something should require IE or something like SPSS wich is in it's latest version on PC, but not Mac.

For me it's just a matter of taste. I'm tired of Windows and all the thigs that I find slow and akward. So, learning a new OS was tops for me. Not hard, but rewarding.

Widows and OS X is two differet things, so I won't say that Mac is better. But I will say that I prefer it. Mainly cause of the little things, like sleep that is instant and excelent program integration. they work together!!!

ResearchZilla-

I just said that because it rhymed and sounded witty. I just want someone to love me. :(

narsil - once you go mac you never go back? are you kidding? i just got an mbp because i could run parallels with their new one click installation...i'm heavily invested in microsoft applications (mentally and financially) and i can't believe how incredibly well it runs...but i'm also cranking on mac apps too...it's truly the best of both worlds...and thanks for this awesome post, i just went crazy with the icon changer - was desperately trying to figure out how to do that because i like to put doc and file shortcuts all over the desktop and use unique icons to id them quickly...

Wendy, which model are you considering?

I'm torn between the mid-range MacBook and the mid-range MacBook Pro.

Another big consideration is the likelihood of big announcements on the 8th of January - almost certainly upgraded wireless to tie-in with the already announced iTV and, quite possibly, an early release of Leopard to trump Microsoft's consumer release of Vista; with only 7 weeks to go, might be worth holding off.

Zya--if you don't already own Office or WordPerfect, the [OpenOffice.org] package (at http://www.openoffice.org) is well worth downloading, as it's freeware, runs under the most common operating systems (Win, Linux, Mac) and can read and save files in a number of different word processor, presentation, and spreadsheet formats. Haven't gotten used to their MS Access equivalent, however.

A good virus scanner and software firewall (Microsoft's is inadequate). Have heard good things about the ZoneAlarm package, but just have the free ZA firewall installed.

Other handy tools: IrfanView (picture/photo manipulation), WinZip (file compressor/decompressor shareware, more flexible than what's in XP, cheap to register), Google Earth, Google Picasa (just downloaded, jury still out), Mozilla Seamonkey or Firefox/Thunderbird, Spybot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft AdAware.

I've been considering making the jump, too, but I have to get over the huge price premium over a Windows laptop. When I do, and I'm sure I will eventually, I'll have to get a macked out (no pun intended) Macbook Pro.

Anyway, this looks like a useful list, thanks.

Hmmm nice list, but I'm surprised it doesn't include Jumpcut (an app that allows you to keep more items in your clipboard and growl (a global OS X notification system).

I just purchased a laptop for my return to Grad School, so one of my requirements was, ahem, frugal software with full functionality to get me through my M.Ed.

So, to that end, here is my list of completely free and extremely useful software

1. OpenOffice. I have written huge papers and some tough spreadsheets w/ charts. Not even a hiccup. I have transfered files back and forth w/ Word and Excel and it has been great.

2. AVG free edition for virus protection.

3. Firefox (of course).

4. SyncbackSE from 2BrightSparks. I have used this to sync my files from my laptop to a flashdrive and from the drive to my main computer hard drive. Works fantastic to keep all of my files synced and safe.

5. Paint.NET for my simple graphics editing needs. The program does far more than I need.

6. CDBurnerXP Pro3. Burns a data CD easy and quick, and can do a lot more for me as well. Can't do DVD's, but I use my home machine for that anyway.

7. Adobe Reader. I know, everyone has this, but I use this more than any other piece of software for journal articles.

8. Finally, I use PWsafe from http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/ . I have used it since version 1, and it is very reliable and featured. Plus, I can swap the databases easily from my laptop to my home machine so my passwords are all synced also.

Us windowers will be sorry to see you go, but I guess once you go Mac you never go back.

*puts her little hand up and quietly says...*

how about a list of essentials for a... *cough* windows laptop *cough*

One of us. One of us. One of us.

"Portable mouse. I am such a fan of right clicking. It will work on the track pad when you click and press "ctrl", but whatever. Optical mice are easy to use."

You're taking tips from a guy who hasn't discovered that all recent Apple laptops allow you to right click by putting two fingers on the trackpad while clicking? You can also drag two fingers on the trackpad to scroll. This is so much easier than carrying a mouse around.