Carla Thornton

Toshiba Satellite Pro 6000

The Satellite Pro 6000 comes ready to hop on to 802.11b wireless networks, with a built-in antenna and wireless circuitry. It also sports a slot for a Secure Digital card--one of several types of expansion cards that PDAs and other devices use to store data--and a composite-out port for sending images to a TV. The Satellite Pro also provides plenty of storage, with a top-of-the-line 40GB hard drive.
Toshiba gives no printed documentation with this notebook, and it charges $99 extra for a USB floppy drive.
Toshiba calls the Satellite Pro 6000 a "stealth" design, presumably because of the all-black case and sloped front. In fact, it's an uber-conservative, wireless-enabled version of Toshiba's more colorful and more entertaining consumer Satellite line of notebooks. Except for a floppy drive, the Satellite Pro 6000 has all the expected legacy notebook connections and features, including a parallel port. Most of the connections reside on the back beneath a drop-down door. The hard drive and the RAM slots are easy to access. The DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive sits on the left, which is a somewhat unusual location for a one-bay notebook. You can remove the drive and pop in a second battery or a weight-saving module--a nice option, since the Satellite Pro 6000 is a little heavier than most other notebooks in its class. The right side is blank except for the end cap of the removable hard drive. The keyboard feels springy, but the mouse buttons (two stacked crescents) have a wobbly feel. Two smaller buttons near the crescents serve as application shortcuts. Compared with more-decked-out models in the Toshiba stable, the Satellite Pro 6000 is a Milquetoast multimedia box. It has the same small exterior speakers (sprouting at either corner of the keyboard) as other Satellites do, but their sound is not as rich or full-bodied. The Satellite Pro 6000 is an uninspired performer as well. Its battery life is about average at a little over 3 hours, but its PC WorldBench 4 score of 99, while fast, is about 10 percent behind the average for laptops equipped with the same processor and amount of memory. At 7.7 pounds, the Satellite Pro 6000 is heavy for a one-bay laptop, but it boasts a 15-inch screen, which most one-bay models don't.
Those who prefer an eraserhead but can't afford an IBM ThinkPad might be happy with the Toshiba Satellite Pro 6000, a wireless-ready portable that's a bit heavier than most one-bay notebooks.

Buying Information

Toshiba Satellite Pro 6000 PC WorldBench 4 score of 99, 1.2-GHz/800-MHz Pentium III-M CPU, 256MB of RAM, 512MB L2 cache, Windows 2000 Professional, 15-inch active-matrix screen, Ali/Trident CyberAladdin-T graphics chip using main memory, 40GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/4X/24X CD-RW combination drive, built-in V.90 modem and network adapter, eraserhead pointing device, 7.7 pounds (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, free unlimited 24-hour toll-free technical support. $ 2199 PC WorldBench 4 score of 99, 1.2-GHz/800-MHz Pentium III-M CPU, 256MB of RAM, 512MB L2 cache, Windows 2000 Professional, 15-inch active-matrix screen, Ali/Trident CyberAladdin-T graphics chip using main memory, 40GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/4X/24X CD-RW combination drive, built-in V.90 modem and network adapter, eraserhead pointing device, 7.7 pounds (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, free unlimited 24-hour toll-free technical support. http://www.csd.toshiba.com 800/867-4422