Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872

For those of you who follow me in Plurk, many of you already know by now that my laptop, a Compaq Presario C714NR died on me last week. Now you know why I haven’t updated or published new posts during the past week. Anyways, I took my laptop to BestBuy and had the Geek Squad check it. After doing a series of tests, they determined that it was the motherboard. I wasn’t that convinced because the guy I talked to didn’t sound too confident with his answers. I thought about asking a second opinion from another computer repair shop but since the laptop is still under warranty, I’m sending it back to HP/Compaq so they can check and/or repair it. I’ve already contacted them and they’ll be sending a box for shipping. I’m hoping that the initial diagnosis is wrong and that it’s not the motherboard that’s broken but something minor that can be easily repaired and is covered by the warranty because it only has a 1 year limited warranty.

Since I initially thought that the laptop was no longer under warranty and that I couldn’t have it fixed/repaired, I went ahead and looked for a new one to replace it. I searched online for the best deal I could find and found one over at BestBuy. It was for a Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 which was on sale for $599 (regular retail price $749). Because I used a BestBuy credit card to purchase it, I was able to avail of an 18-month no interest financing offer.

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 Specifications:

  • Intel® Core2 Duo Processor T5800 with 800MHz frontside bus, 2MB L2 cache, and 2.0 GHz processor speed
  • 3 GB PC6400 DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM
  • 250 GB SATA HDD (5400 rpm)
  • DVD-SuperMulti with Labelflash drive
  • Harman/Kardon® stereo speakers
  • 15.4″ WXGA high definition LCD widescreen display with TruBrite® Technology
  • Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with up to 128MB-1294MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
  • Built-in wireless LAN Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n)

Additional Images:

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872

The Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 was only available online so it wasn’t available for store-pickup and I had no choice but to pay for shipping. I bought it Wednesday afternoon and got it Monday afternoon. I’m glad that I was able to get it while it was on sale because a couple days after I bought it, it was back to its original retail price. I’ve only had this Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 for a couple days now and I haven’t tried all of its features like the webcam, media card reader and other stuff so I can’t write a review right now, but for sure I’ll be able to write a review in about a couple weeks time so watch out for that.

On a side note, now that I have this to work with, I’ll be doing a lot of catching up in the next few days – publishing new posts, blog hopping, replying to comments and emails. I’m also working on a new blog design/layout which I hope I would be able to finish and implement soon.

Thank you for your time and have a good day!

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62 Comments

  1. I have a Satellite A305-6858 since 2006. Recently I brought my computer into Best Buy for service. Two issues came up – one they resolved – a virus. The other issue they tried to tell me was also from the virus, but it is still happening. Sometimes when I turn on my computer, the power comes on but I get a black screen. I have to power it down almost 8 times before it will come on. I read some articles and found that it could be the mother board. Does this sound correct? My warranty is out in September, so I will be bringing it back. I also read that this is common for Toshiba laptops. Thanks.

  2. Hello,
    I am trying to connect my toshiba satellite a305-s6872 laptop to my plasma tv. There is a spot on the outside for an S video cable but it is still covered. Can I install an S video card in this?

  3. i have one but it has windows vista
    and i want to change it to widows XP but i don’t know how and also i don’t have the drives of the laptop

    please answer me quickly

  4. I’ve got the A205 S6872. I’ve had it for less than a year. No big drops or anything that could mess things up. Sometimes when I move the screen to see better it will turn white and my laptop will restart. Sometimes it will just come right back after the white screen and say the display driver has stopped working. Has anyone had problems with that?

  5. Muzaffar Abassays:

    Graphics card is not up to the mark to play latest games and i dont like the design either but yes i used toshiba laptop n works very good as compare to accer or compaq.

  6. Hello I have the toshiba satellite A305-S6872 and my dog go to it and bit some parts where is the best place to buy parts for this laptop??

  7. if its haven’t bluetooth,then why there is a bluetooth stack inside it?
    im so confused bro.
    would you tell me why please?
    i glad if you send to me an email.
    thanks before

  8. @Daman – Sorry for the late reply. Anyways, regarding your question bout the media card reader not working..when you tried it, was the laptop plugged in to a power outlet? This happened to me the first time I used my laptop and I found out that I couldn’t use the media card reader if the laptop was only running on batteries. Try it if it works. If not, then maybe there really is something wrong with your media card reader and you’ll have to have it checked.

  9. Hey JayPee,
    I am glad you’ve been helping Toshiba owners with their problems.
    Here is another user seeking help. I bought this A305-S6872 in December 2008 and did not realise that it doesn’t have S-video slot until I opened the seal. Also I was trying to use its media card reader a couple of days back but it never read anything at all. An led blinked when i inserted the card but then nothing happened. I tried it many a times. Can you help ?

  10. @Michael – Really? This particular model runs on batteries for 4 hours. Maybe the one you read about is a newer model using a newer type of battery. I wish my laptop lasted that long on batteries. :D

  11. how long can you use it running on batteries? because i read a magazine about a toshiba laptop that can run up to 12 hours, i don’t know if it’s true.

  12. Hi, I bought a Satellite A305-S6872 the last January, I think that is the best buy that I could do. But I have a doubt, I don´t know which is the best bluetooth device for my computer, May you recommend me someone?

  13. hey i installed xp pro on my laptop
    god its givin me a big headache..aint able 2 find the drivers..d drivers listed on toshiba website dont work at all!!!!!!!!!
    in big need of the drivers..especially display drivers..could u plz help me out on this one???

  14. @Linda – Hi! A friend of mine who recently bought a HP laptop from BestBuy also asked me the same question. I told him he didn’t have to, and that I can do it for him. In your case, if you have someone who can optimize (remove preinstalled software/trials) and install antivirus, spyware removal, firewall and other utilities on your laptop, then I’d tell you NO.

    However, if you have no one to do it for you, there’s no choice but to have GeekSquad do it for you. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for stopping and have a nice day!

  15. I just previewed the Toshiba S6872 at Best Buy today for 599.99 and am considering getting it. Would your recommend the 279.00 package for the Geek Squad to come out and work its magic? I am NOT computer saavy, but don’t want to through needless dollars away. Thanks. Linda

  16. thanks for the advance tips.. I’ll keep on touch.. i really haven’t got it right now..but it’ll be soon…till then!

  17. @Andrea – Your dad made a very good choice. I have no regrets on buying this laptop and I was fortunate that it was on sale when I purchased it. To make it work better, you’ll have to optimize it and remove bloatware (unnecessary preinstalled programs) and remove some of the start up items so it would load faster.

    I’m sure you’re very excited to get it. Let me know if you need any help with it later on. Thanks for dropping by! :)

  18. hi! my father have bought me this laptop in Europe. I haven’t seen it yet, maybe on february…i hope it’s really okay and on high performance!

  19. @jacky – Hi there! Nice to meet you. I’m sorry but I don’t quite get your question. Btw, I’m planning to write a review of this laptop where I’ll discuss some technical aspects and my hands-on experience with it soon so watch out for it. Thanks for the visit! :)

  20. nice to meet you,Jaypee!
    Mayby as to you i am a special one appear in your webside ~I come from China and I bought the same laptop(toshiba A305 S6872)as you just now.BUT I AM NOT SURE WHETHER I CAN HANDLE IT~well,you have used it for several months,yes?can you tell something I should do or shouldn’t do with my laptop?and if you can tell me more about your experience when you use it,I will be appreciate your help!THANK YOU!
    陈海涛 GUANGZHOU, CANTON, CHINA

  21. @Alex – I don’t think it has to do with the laptop but with your web browser and the flash plugin it uses. What browser are you using?

    I’ve had this issue before with Firefox when viewing YouTube videos. What I did was to uninstall and install the Flash player. Try to do that and see if that fixes the problem. Let me know if it works or not. Hope that helps. :)

  22. I was wondering on TOSHIBA SATELLITE A305-S6872 why i cannot view FULL SCREEN when it comes to video/music trailers (e.g movietickets.com, under "view trailer") More importantely when i click on FULL SCREEN the screen goes blank/dark while audio is running?????

  23. @jhay – I’ve been working with Toshiba laptops for very long time. I just don’t know why I never thought about buying one before. Anyways, I’ve seen and proven that Toshiba laptops are the most durable. I have a friend who bought a Toshiba laptop back in 2001, he still has it with him and everything still works. :)

    Congratulations on your new toy dude! You deserve it. Have fun! :D

  24. I’m not that familiar with Toshiba laptops but obviously it’s kick-ass rig. You definitely got a great deal on this one.

    Btw, you’re not the only one with a new toy dude :P

  25. @archondigital – Haha..that’s right it does match and rhymes very nicely. I think they provided the cleaning cloth not only to wipe off the smudges and fingerprints but also to wipe off drool. :D

  26. @Aja – Yep, it does. I was a bit concerned at first on how it might look coz it didn’t look that nice from BestBuy’s product page. But when I opened the box and saw it, love at first sight. :D

    Regarding the weight and size, well I don’t travel a lot and I rarely use it as a “laptop” so the weight is not much of an issue. For screen size, I like this better than a 14″ display. It’s not too small and not too big, just the right size for me.

  27. @K – Haha is that so? Don’t you love the smell of a new laptop/gadget? :D

    Yes, the moment I opened the box I got busy uninstalling the bloatware, installing programs and uploading files. I always have fun doing this may it be for a new machine or even after a reinstall/reformat. :)

  28. I could still smell it right back here.

    Now you have all the reason to get really busy – updating all those nice applications to your new toy is fun to do at the moment, don’t you think?

  29. @dante – Yes, it is definitely much better than the previous laptop in all aspects. Not only for hardware specifications but also in performance. The other laptop is still under warranty so I’m sending it to Compaq so they can check and if possible repair it as long as the service/parts are covered by the warranty.

    Thanks for sharing. :)

  30. Wow, your new laptop is much better that your old one. The microprocessor of Compaq Presario C714NR is only dual core while your new lapotop is core 2 dou which is must better. Don’t mind to restore the old. For me, laptop is not serviceable and has a rare spare parts you have to return to the manufacturer if you got a problem. So go for your new laptop.

  31. @Lloyd – Thanks man! Yup, it had the best specs with it’s original retail price and getting it $150 lesser was more than a bargain. Haven’t tried playing video on HD yet but will check it out. Thanks for the info.

    Battery life? The one I got has a 9 cell battery so it lasts about 4 hours which is more than double the battery life of my previous laptop. I’ll talk more about it when I write the review for this laptop. :D

  32. Congrats of your new laptop! Nice specs as well for the price. You should get a nice HD playback as well because of the hardware acceleration it gets from Intel’s new 4500M.

    How the battery life? I was using a Toshiba Laptop when I was in the US, sadly battery life is not their best forte.

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