• Tag Archives Toshiba

  • Digital Archaeology: Toshiba Satellite L355-S7905

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Toshiba Satellite L355 was available from a number of retailers in slightly different configurations (mostly with CPU variations). My particular model is the L355-S7905. As far as I can tell, the numbers are pretty random but that seems to be the case with most model numbers like this.

    This particular model includes the following hardware:

    • CPU: Celeron 585 @ 2.16 GHz
    • Memory: 3 GB DDR2-667 (PC2-5333)
    • Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Integrated Graphics
    • Hard Drive: ATA WDC WD1600BEVT-6, Western Digital Scorpio Blue 160GB 5400RPM
    • Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50N

    For more detailed specs, see https://www.megalextoria.com/DigitalArchaeology/da_Satellite-L355-S7905/hardinfo_report.html

    This was a low-end laptop when released but it has some interesting features for a low-end laptop. First off is the large screen. With a 17-inch screen, this laptop was definitely on the large side. While the resolution is not full HD, it is a respectable 1440×900. The other somewhat interesting features is the CPU. It is a single-core Celeron which was pretty low end for the time as most CPUs by this point were dual core. However, it ran at 2.16GHz which was a good clock rate for the time. I would imagine this would have been a decent CPU for games at the time since most games still weren’t optimized for multiple threads. It also had 3 GB of RAM.

    Since this laptop shipped with a 32-bit version of Windows Vista, 3 GB is pretty close to the max it could use. 32-bit Windows operating systems could typically only use about 3.5 GB so if 4 GB was installed, at least some would be wasted. The max that this particular model supports is in fact 4GB but it’s only worthwhile to move from 3GB to 4GB if you are running a 64-bit operating system.

    The rest of the features were pretty typical of a low end laptop. The DVD burner, 160GB hard drive and integrated Intel graphics would have been fairly common. While the CPU probably would have been sufficient for the games of the time, the lack of a dedicated 3D accelerator would have made it pretty useless for major releases at the time. I’m sure it would work fine for older games.

    The large physical size is a mixed blessing or at least it comes down to personal preference. Obviously, it is large and bulky so it isn’t the greatest choice to lug around. On the other hand, the large screen is a nice feature and it has a full size keyboard including numeric keypad that is nice to type on. The large size also helps it to run cooler and therefore quieter as well. Overall, from a retro usage perspective, I would say the large size is definitely a plus. It’s not like you are going to be carrying it around for a business trip today or anything.

    As with every machine I own, this one runs BOINC and does work for various projects, including Einstein@home, MilkyWay@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home and World Community Grid. You can check out how this machine is doing at the links above or how it is doing overall at BOINCStats or FreeDC.


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  • Digital Archaeology: Toshiba Satellite L305

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Toshiba L305 was a low-end laptop series sold in the 2009 timeframe. This particular one, the L305-S5919 is possible the very lowest end model. It was already obsolete when it was released and was compared to netbooks more than other laptops. While performance was comparable to netbooks of the time, it did have the advantage of a better keyboard and bigger screen.

    Specs include:

    • CPU: Celeron 585 (Merom, 64-bit, single core)
    • Chipset: Mobile Intel GL40 Express
    • Memory: 2 GB PC6400 DDR2 (supported max 4 GB)
    • Hard Drive: 160GB 5400 RPM Serial ATA
    • Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti +/-R double layer (supporting 11 formats)
    • Display: 15.4″ TruBrite TFT LCD at 1280×800 (WXGA)
    • Graphics: Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (128MB-830MB)
    • Coms: Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, Atheros 802.11 b/g
    • Expansion: 2 Memory Slots, ExpressCard Slot, SD/Memory Stick/MMC Slot
    • Ports: VGA, Microphone, Headphone, USB 2.0 x 3, RJ-45, RJ-11

    The Celeron 585 is essentially a Core 2 Duo with half the cache and half the cores. It runs at 2.16 GHz which was pretty fast at the time. It’s a 64-bit chip so it can run a 64-bit OS but with Windows it is probably better to stick with 32-bit Windows XP. It can also theoretically address more than 4 GB of RAM but good luck finding a laptop that actually supports that with this chip. This was among the lowest end chips of the time, consisting of only a single core and lacking even multithreading.

    For a low-end laptop the build quality really isn’t too bad. Everything is plastic and it has a very utilitarian design but the keyboard is nicer than I would expect. I would take this over a similarly priced netbook of the time any day. Despite the low-end CPU, in some ways it is better than the newer AMD E-300 series. It’s faster for single core workloads and also upgradeable though it lacks the GPU capabilities.

    Speaking of upgradeability, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the RAM is limited to a maximum of 4 GB. This is a limit of Intel’s bottom of the barrel GL40 Express chipset. The news on the CPU front is better. Theoretically, you should be able to stick in any 800 MHz bus (or below) Core 2 Duo so up to a T9500 which would give you a significant MHz bump as well as doubling your core count to two. However, the RAM limit means you probably want to stick with Linux or Windows versions below 10.

    Check out the full hardware specs as reported by hardinfo here.


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  • Fleet of 4.77MHz LCD laptops with 8088 CPUs still alive after 30 years

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

     

    Reader “Holrum” says he has “a couple dozen Toshiba T1000 laptops from the mid 1980’s still fully functional (including floppy drives).”

    The T1000 was introduced in 1987, but that’s long enough that we’ll forgive Holrum the slight lapse, not least because the machine was one of the very first computers to use a clamshell form factor.

    While the T1000 was ahead on that front, it also offered a rather archaic LCD display as illustrated above (here for readers on mobile devices and in this manual that Toshiba thoughtfully keeps on the web.

    The machine ran MS-DOS 2.11 on a ROM, an oddity at the time when booting from removable media was commonplace. Toshiba seems to have figured out that carrying around an OS disks was not going to be a hit with mobile users, so made the extra investment. The computer came with a colossal 512KB of RAM (enough for anyone!) and a single 3.5-inch floppy drive.

    Holrum says the T1000s are taken offline every few years for just the few minutes required to replace the NiCad batteries and give them a clean, before they are returned to duty as process monitoring terminals.

    That’s not the only oldie Holrum has running: he says he mailed us on a 2005 Mac Mini G4 Power PC machine and typed on an original IBM PC/AT keyboard with an AT to USB adapter. “The keyboard is borrowed from my still working IBM PC/AT purchased the week before they were released to the public (it has a low three digit serial number).”

    Source: Fleet of 4.77MHz LCD laptops with 8088 CPUs still alive after 30 years • The Register


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