BlueLabel
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Toshiba Satellite E305 (S1990) review
Now in its third year, Best Buy's Blue Label program is something of a time capsule for fickle consumer tastes. Being the behemoth that it is, the retail giant hands PC makers a wishlist of specs, design flourishes, and aggressive price points -- all with the promise of selling the finished product exclusively. The 14-inch Toshiba Satellite E305 has had more than a few facelifts since we reviewed the E205 last year, and reminds us that nowadays, shoppers prefer metal to glossy plastic, and seamless touchpads to large mouse buttons. The E305's got all that, along with a Sandy Bridge processor, USB 3.0, a Blu-ray drive, a 4G radio, and the second generation of Intel's Wireless Display technology. For $899, that all sounds dandy, but as we know, a laptop doesn't always equal the sum of its parts. Is it as much of a steal as you'd imagine it to be? Head on past the break and see for yourself. %Gallery-122842%
Best Buy slaps Blue Label on Sony and Toshiba laptops, packed to the exhaust vents with extras
That fancy new Toshiba E305 we checked out back in January is up for pre-order now, and it's brought along a friend from Sony (the VPCSC1AFM/S) to join the Best Buy-exclusive Blue Label party. In terms of specs the two machines are practically identical -- both boast a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hybrid hard disk, a Blu-ray drive, WiDi (and an adapter for your TV from Netgear), and a WiMAX radio. The big differences between the two PCs are price and size, with the 14-inch Toshiba weighing in just under 5 pounds and costing $900, while the Sony squeezes in under the 4-pound mark for $950. Considering the wealth of extras, including a year of Kaspersky anti-virus, 90 days of Geek Squad support, and an extended two-year warranty, the Blue Label machines are actually a pretty good bang for your buck and cost about $100 less than comparably equipped systems from their respective makers. If you don't care about things like Blu-ray or WiMAX, and distrust the Geek Squad though, you could save yourself some cash by skipping on these pre-configured models and going with a customized rig from Sony or Toshiba directly. PR after the break.
Toshiba's Satellite E305 packs a new Core i5 CPU and WiDi 2.0, coming only to Best Buy
Best Buy and Toshiba have always shared special kind of love with their Blue Label laptops, and now both are continuing that partnership to bring you the next one of those systems -- the Satellite E305. Like the previous E205 version, the system packs all the latest technology from Intel, including a new Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor and WiDi 2.0, which as you may know by now supports full 1080p video. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, Tosh has equipped the system with a hybrid hard drive system -- it pairs a 5GB flash drive for the OS and a 7200RPM hard drive. It also has a USB 3.0 port and Blu-ray drive. It pretty much has everything you've ever wanted except say for discrete graphics, but has drastically revamped the 5-pound rig with a alumnium finish, backlit keyboard, and new ClickPad. It's all great news until you realize that it won't actually hit those Best Buy shelves until the Spring. Sadly no word on pricing either, but hit the break for some nice hands-on shots. %Gallery-112653%
Toshiba's Intel Wireless Display-supporting Satellite E205 now shipping for $900
CES is great and all, but one of the bones we choose to pick with the show is the typically long gap between the Vegas introduction and the mass market ship date. Thankfully for us, Toshiba has no interest in keeping us waiting for one of the world's first Intel Wireless Display-equipped (or WiDi, as it were) laptops. The Satellite E205 -- which comes stocked with a 2.53GHz Core i5-430M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a dual-layer DVD writer, 14-inch display (1,366 x 768 resolution), 500GB hard drive and a Netgear Push2TV wireless display adapter -- is now shipping from Best Buy. Of course, you'll have to deal with integrated Intel graphics, but the inbuilt wireless display technology, multicard reader, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Ethernet jack and media buttons are nice inclusions when you consider the respectable $899.99 price point. So, what's the hesitation? %Gallery-83451%
Best Buy lets out the WiDi-enabled Sony Vaio S a week early
Looks like everyone who picked up the Push2TV a bit early can finally put the adapter to good use. We received a handful of tips that certain Best Buys were selling their Intel Wireless Display-compatible "Blue Label 2.0" laptops a bit early -- nowhere near us, unfortunately -- and now comes pictorial proof from the forums of Notebook Review. This 13.3-inch Sony Vaio S was allegedly caught wearing a $1,049.99 sticker and housing a 2.26MHz Core i5 with integrated graphics -- no NVIDIA GPU here, and we gotta figure that's hurting the displayed Windows Experience Rating. The official launch of the Best Buy-customized Vaio S is next week, along with a number of other WiDi-enabled laptops.
Exclusive HP / Toshiba laptops first in Best Buy's Blue Label lineup
Hey guys / gals, check this out. Best Buy is practically admitting that it is just now starting to "gather insights from customers and work with manufacturers to design products that address [consumers'] needs." In a rather odd release, the big box retailer is announcing two new laptops that'll be exclusive to its store: the 14.1-inch Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 (we which already knew of) and the 13.3-inch HP Pavilion dv3510nr. As for the former, expect a 1.2-inch thin frame, WXGA (1,280 x 800) panel, backlit keyboard, DVD burner, 5.5-hours of battery life and an $1,199 price tag. The HP (shown after the break) will include a LED-backlit WXGA display, up to 4-hours of battery life, inbuilt webcam and precisely the same retail price. Eventually, Best Buy is hoping to expand the Blue Label series to other product lines, though there's no word on where to find these elusive input cards that it's supposedly using to pick and choose wares.
