The A300 is a full-sized laptop with a high-gloss finish and a 15.4in WXGA display. Our review sample ran Vista Home Premium on a Core2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz processor with a hefty 4G of RAM and a 400G hard drive.

Pros: With specifications like this, you’d expect the A300 to perform well, and it did, acing our performance tests both for basic office applications and more hardcore efforts like video rendering and gaming. As with many Toshiba laptops, the keyboard is very good, with excellent key travel characteristics.

Cons: It’s certainly powerful, but there are some drawbacks to that. It’s physically huge – this is much more a desktop replacement machine than a portable machine. That much power also requires energy, and the A300’s battery life was distinctly average.

Verdict: A good match for those who want power in an attractive casing.