Toshiba offers a wide range of machines; with the Toshiba Equium A210-171 (£409.97 inc. VAT) it's direct market offering for home users on a budget. It has a standard chassis that is available with a range of specifications. So, while our review unit has a budget price tag, you'll be able to find an Equium that suits your budget and needs.

This laptop has a great look with a glossy black lid that is held in place by a single large hinge. The main body of the machine is silver with a black trim, while the keyboard is grey. With 25mm speakers mounted above the keyboard and a row of media buttons resting between them, Toshiba is pitching this laptop as a multimedia laptop.

Impressive screen

The 15.4-inch Super-TFT panel is bright and far sharper than that found on the Acer, which is also billed as a media machine. Even when running on battery power, it looked impressive. As with the other machines in this group, the price point means the graphics solution is integrated. So, while you'll be able to watch DVD movies, you won't be able to play 3D games on this machine.

With an overall weight of 2.8kg, this machine is very much in keeping with the others in this group, being semi-portable. You won't want to carry it around everyday but for shorter trips, it's more than usable. The build quality is impressive with thick plastic used for the main body and lid.

The keyboard sits neatly in the centre of the main body and has keys that are of a good size. While not as robust as the Sony and HP, in terms of quality the keyboard may rattles more as you use it but we found it more comfortable than the Acer.

When it comes to performance, the Equium, like the HP, uses an AMD solution. With a 1.9GHz clock speed of the Turion6 X2 processor and 2048MB of memory in support, we found this a reliable and quick system for daily tasks. The Windows Vista Home Premium edition loaded quickly and applications ran smoothly. While you won’t want to use this laptop for high-end tasks

When it comes to extra features, you'll find the standard array of peripherals on the sides of the casing. As with the Sony, you can boot this machine straight into DVD mode, bypassing windows, which can help save time and battery life. You’ll find a VGA-port for connecting to analogue source, such as data projector, as well as S-video for linking your laptop to your television.

The Toshiba Equium A210-171 is a good all-round machine and represents great value for money. While its components didn’t stand out from the other on test, we found it a comfortable and pleasing machine to use.

BOXOUT
S-video
The name actually stands for Separate Video and is an analogue video signal that carries the data as two separate strands (brightness and colour), unlike composite video that carries the signals mixed in one line. It delivers a standard transmission image of 480i or 576i lines.

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PROCESSOR AMD 1.9GHz Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-58
MEMORY 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM
HARD DRIVE 160GB (5400rpm)
SCREEN SIZE 15.4-inch Super-TFT
DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1280 x 800 (WXGA)
GRAPHICS CARD ATi Radeon X1200
DIMENSIONS 363 x 248 x 43mm
WEIGHT 2.8kg
WIRELESS LAN 802.11g
ETHERNET 10/100
MODEM Yes
USB PORTS 4
FIREWIRE 1 (mini)
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Vista Home Premium
STANDARD WARRANTY 1 yr C&R P&L

VALUE FOR MONEY 8
PERFORMANCE 7
FEATURES 7
BUILD QUALITY 8
OVERALL 7

BATTERY LIFE
MOBILEMARK 2007
3DMARK 2003 1453