Product Reviews

The Toshiba Satellite X200 is something of a wolf in sheep's clothing. On the outside, it's a stylish and dignified machine, with a subtly mottled maroon casing protected by a useful leather bag. On the inside, this boardroom elegance is thrust aside by a gunmetal-coloured keyboard, a whopping 17 inch display, and performance that shames all but the most hardcore of gaming laptops.

Raw muscle is provided by an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, ably assisted by two GeForce 8600GT cards linked by nVidia's SLI dual graphics technology. Having two graphics cards in a laptop is a rare treat, and although the 8600s may not be able to handle the very latest games except on low video settings, the Toshiba breezed through our Call of Duty 2 benchmark at a playable 26 frames per second. In our general (2D) benchmarks it scored an impressive 161%.

Inevitably, there's a price to be paid for such blistering portable performance, and not just the one on the label, which is daunting enough. Like other 'desktop replacement' laptops, the X200 has limited battery life, lasting just over an hour and a half under light use and slightly less when playing a DVD. It's bulky, too, weighing just under 4kg and taking up a lot of space on your desk thanks to the huge screen. And, in fairness, the desktop is this laptop's natural home; 17-inchers are more for shifting between locations than using on the move.

Size does have its advantages. You get a full qwerty keyboard, complete

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with number pad, and it's sturdy, with little give in the keys unless you really put some force into your typing. As well as a 1.3 megapixel webcam, there's a fingerprint scanner to restrict access to the PC in case you have top secret work or just resourceful kids. Toshiba has also fitted in a very generous 320GB of storage, divided between two 160GB disks.

No less than four speakers sit between the keyboard and screen, and despite their tacky fascias they pump out decent sound. There's a panel of media buttons in the middle to control playback and volume, and a remote is included to complement the Media Center functions of Windows Vista Home Premium.

On the right track

The trackpad also boasts more features than average; a tap on the top right corner activates backlighting to illuminate the various function symbols, including email, browser and documents shortcuts and three customisable buttons. Sadly, the two mouse buttons feel rather lightweight.

The X200 comes with plenty of utility software. Toshiba's own programs exploit the included HD DVD player - you can also connect the X200 to an HDTV via HDMI - and a lot more: Bluetooth, disc burning and networking utilities sit alongside software for the integrated memory card reader. With all this installed, though, the X200 does take an age to boot up until you chuck some out.

That card reader accepts xD and SD memory, and six USB ports, divided between the two sides, ensure you won't run out of room to plug in peripherals. There's also Ethernet, a VGA monitor port, analogue TV out and an ExpressCard slot ffor add-ons. There are even a couple of free slots to double the supplied 2GB of RAM later if need be.

Features like those make the X200 a very attractive machine. The processor is fast, and the SLI-enabled graphics will get even better over time as drivers are optimised, though of course the latest games will demand ever more. Add the software bundle, HD DVD drive and expansion potential, and you have an excellent performance laptop - if you don't mind paying for it.