Toshiba Satellite 1100-Z3

Toshiba has launched the Satellite 1100-Z3 notebook, and it's a snip at £899 inc VAT.

Inside the Satellite 1100-Z3 there's a 1.3GHz Tualatin Celeron processor running on the Intel 830MG chipset with 256MB of memory.

Performance is slightly lower than we might expect with a Sysmark score of 95, and the integrated Intel graphics only achieve 636 in 3Dmark.

While we don't expect gaming performance from a notebook, a battery life of one hour 18 minutes was disappointing, and the only real letdown, albeit a big one.

The Satellite 1100-Z3 is aimed at the home user, rather than the professional market, so the software package consists of Windows XP Home Edition and Microsoft Works.

On the right-hand side are two PC Card slots plus microphone and headphone sockets. On the left is the DVD drive and on the back there are three USB ports, modem, parallel, VGA and S-Video connectors.

There is a blanked network socket on the rear too. At the front is the floppy drive and a volume control but, unusually, there are more controls on top.

The 14.1in screen is smaller than the base, so when the lid is closed the front of the base projects slightly. The base carries DVD playback controls so the DVD drive can be easily used without opening the lid.

The keyboard has decently sized keys, but for some reason the Windows key is on the top right-hand side, which is a little irritating.

This is decent notebook at a very fair price. Pity about the battery life.

DETAILS
Price: £899 (£765.11 ex VAT)

Contact: Dixons Store Group 0845 601 4901
www.pcworld.co.uk

SPECS

• 1.33GHz Celeron 256MB of memory Intel 830MG chipset 20GB hard disk 8x DVD-Rom 14.1in TFT screen Windows XP Home Edition Microsoft Works 1yr on-site warranty