Panasonic DVD-CV52 5-Disc DVD Player

Panasonic DVD-CV52 5-Disc DVD Player
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Product Type: CE

Editorial Review:
Product Description
Welcome to the incredible world of DVD! As a leader in digital technology, Panasonic made possible and forever changed the face of home theatre. Panasonic has packed big-screen excitement into the world's smallest and lightest DVD players. Come and experience the ultimate in home theater entertainment.The DVD-CV52 is a super slim DVD-video changer with CD-R/RW, MP3 and WMA playback. It includes the popular combination of features known as A-B-C-D - which stands for Advanced Virtual Surround Sound, Bass Plus, Cinema Mode and Dialogue Enhancer - all designed to improve the movie viewing experience. The DVD-CV52's twin laser pickup flawlessly plays through the microscopic disk defects and layer changes that often cause budget players to stumble. A remote control is provided.

Average customer rating: 3.0

Value computer for All-Rounded work
An Absolute Nightmare
A good machine for basics

Toshiba Satellite L25-S121 15" Notebook PC (Intel Celeron M Processor 380, 256MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive)

Manufacturer: Toshiba
Product Group: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers
ASIN: B000E71EVI

Related Categories:

Notebooks

Refurbished Notebooks

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Amazon.com Product Description

The Toshiba Satellite L25-S121 is an affordable option for those seeking mobile productivity. It offers a large 15-inch LCD display with TruBrite technology and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive so you can enjoy movies and music wherever you are. It's powered by a fast 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron M processor 380, which provides battery-saving technology to keep you working longer. This notebook also features a 60 GB hard drive, 256 MB of installed RAM (expandable to a 2.0 GB maximum), Atheros 802.11b/g wireless LAN, and Windows XP Home operating system.

The Basics
<ul>

Hard Drive: The 60 GB hard drive (5400 RPM, EIDE) is the average size for notebook PCs, providing enough capacity for storing documents, digital media files, and productivity software.

Processor: The Intel Celeron M Processor 380 is designed specifically for mobile computing, offering a balanced level of mobile-optimized processor technology, good mobile performance, and exceptional value. The 1.6 GHz speed resides near the top of the spectrum for this processor (as of February 2006). It also features a 400 MHz front-side bus (FSB) and large 1 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.)

Memory: The 256 MB of installed RAM (PC4200, 533 MHz) will get you out of the gate, but is not powerful enough to handle today's demanding multimedia and productivity suites. This desktop has a good 2 GB maximum RAM capacity (2 x 1 GB).

CD/DVD Drive: With the included DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, you'll be able to watch DVD movies as well as burn data and your favorite music mixes to CD. It has 24x write, 4x rewrite, and 24x read speeds for CDs, and a 16x DVD read speed.

Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has an 84-key keyboard with 13 function keys and a two-button touchpad. </ul> Screen, Graphics and Sound
The L25-S121 has a 15-inch TruBrite TFT active matrix LCD screen with a 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. Video is powered by the ATI Radeon XPress 200M IGP video/graphics card, which delivers good, though not high-end, 3D graphics. It delivers 32 MB of video RAM shared with the system memory, which is configurable up to 128 MB. ATI's HyperMemory technology allows the chipset to run in either Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) mode or with dedicated frame buffer memory to enhance graphics performance. It also features an integrated audio card with microphone and headphone jacks.

TruBrite Screen Technology provides a brighter, more vivid visual experience whether watching home movies, viewing DVDs or playing games. It also extends the viewable range of the notebookÕs display, allowing images to be seen clearly from a wider angle than most notebook screens.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The L25-S121 integrates both the Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG and Atheros 802.11ag chips for wireless connectivity with the widest array of routers. It comes with a basic selection of connectivity options, including: <ul>

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players

1 VGA monitor port

1 S-Video out

1 headphone jack

1 microphone jack </ul> It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Professional Edition (which adds Microsoft's IIS Web server, back-up and recovery utilities, Remote Desktop, and other enhanced business features) with Service Pack 2 featuring Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. Other preloaded software includes Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, Microsoft Works 8.0, InterVideo Win DVD, and SonicSolutions RecordNow.

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 13 x 1.4 x 10.6 inches (WxHxD) and weighs 5.7 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 4-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which provides an average of 1.4 hours of battery life.

What's in the Box
This package contains the Toshiba L25-S121 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a three-year limited hardware warranty and one-year battery warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Value computer for All-Rounded work.......2007-05-19

I bought this laptop at a local Office Max or one of those places last year. The only real reason I bought it was because it was on sale for like $650 or something.

I really liked the processor, built in wireless (it's not in the way), plug ins, keyboard, bigger screen.

The 256MB RAM it starts off with is pretty terrible though; you REALLY need to upgrade it to atleast 1GB (2 500MB chips,) or 2x1GB chips. It improves performance greatly.

The hard drive is not so great at only 40GB, but I bought a 120GB external hard drive and I'm alright.

It's well rounded for gaming, photo works, music, work-projects (power point, word, excel) or personal-projects (making music files, editing photos, etc...)

It's a pretty good primary computer because of it's a little bit larger; easier to read the screen, and the keyboard is nice.

Toshiba can be difficult sometimes, but if you take care of your computer like I do you'll be fine.
I highly recommend buying the extra warrenty on ANY laptop you buy, because you never know when you'll spill coffee on it or drop it one morning.

I guess if I had say the things I DIDN'T like about this laptop...
The screen seems overly reflective at times, seeing things behind me while I type or watch movies can be distracting (seems a little more reflective than other computers)
The screen also seems a little floppy, so when you fold it up and walk around it seems to kind of bend and be wimpy... though it's not, it's just kind of awkward.
The 40GB hard drive is not enough space for me, as I do a lot of advanced computer work and have massive files, along with photos and movies.
It's a little bit bigger than other computers, as nice as that is when you're at home typing on your desk, it's a little awkward carrying it to other places and feel like a tank taking up a little more of the table.

An Absolute Nightmare.......2007-05-12

Last year I purchased a Toshiba Satellite L25-S121 at my local Office Depot. I chose Toshiba because I'd had one before and had very few problems.

The Satellite L25-S121 has been an absolute nightmare. I brought it home and began using it for both my grad school and my freelance work. A month after I purchased the Toshiba, I was working, and a message popped up, telling me that my system had no more memory. I began deleting files to make more room. The computer crashed. When I turned it back on, I got a black screen.

I called Toshiba. My hard drive had just died. Only ONE month after I purchased the laptop. The Toshiba tech support guy was certainly not very helpful, only saying "I see" after everything I told him.

I took the laptop into the local authorized Toshiba dealer and had to find another computer to use in the meantime. A week later, I had the Toshiba back. The hard drive had been replaced, but of course, I'd lost all of my information. To have it retrieved would have cost me several hundred dollars.

The laptop seemed to work well for a few weeks when the power supply cord stopped working consistently. If I moved or breathed while I was using the power supply cord, the cord turned off and the battery turned on. Then the keys on my keyboard starting sticking.

A few weeks after that, and only a month after I'd had the hard drive replaced, the Toshiba was AGAIN at the Toshiba authorized dealer. This time it took more than a month for all the repairs - among the parts that were replaced were the power supply cord and the keyboard. It would have been much faster and easier for Toshiba to give me a new computer, but that's not how it works, I was told. And because I'd bought the Toshiba laptop through Office Depot, I had absolutely no recourse in disputing the charge through my credit card.

I had to purchase yet another laptop - this time a Dell - while the Toshiba spent weeks being repaired.

More than a year later, I know I will NEVER purchase and will never recommend Toshiba to anyone. Several months ago, the power cord started acting up again. (I'd barely been using the Toshiba at this point because it was such a hassle.) So, I purchased a new one. It worked for a few weeks. Then it, too, stopped working.

I called Toshiba. At the time I was in Kansas for a few months, and the closest authorized Toshiba dealer was three hours away. I asked tech support if I could send it via UPS as it was still under warranty. Sure, he told me, but I could only send it via an authorized UPS dealer. The closest UPS authorized dealer was more than an hour and a half away.

I gave up with Toshiba and gave the laptop to my dad. He took it to a recommended computer repair specialist. I've had the Toshiba back AGAIN for less than two weeks, and the power cord is again acting up. Ask Toshiba, and you'll be told it's the power supply cord. It's not. There is something wrong with the actual computer (besides the fact that it's a lemon), but will it get fixed? No. Toshiba got their money, and now they want nothing to do with the laptop.

After I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, a Toshiba representative responded by offering me a $100 certificate for my troubles. (Apparently I was one of many, many people who were having the same trouble with my Satellite L25-S121 laptop.) I never did receive the certificate, but I don't want to purchase anything from Toshiba ever again. So, in the end, it makes no difference.

I'm now using the Toshiba, and the power supply cuts in and out as it wants. If I move ever-so-slightly it stops working and might take another five or ten minutes to get it to work. I'm logging off of the Toshiba now and going back to my Dell.

The only person a Toshiba is suitable for is a masochist. It's been beyond frustrating and has cost me hundreds of dollars and valuable time.

A good machine for basics.......2006-03-10

I begin with a short bit of history to establish whatever credentials I have for reviewing a notebook. My first purchase of a "laptop" computer was something called an Epson HX-20 back in 1984. It had no disk drives of any sort, only a cassette recorder for storage but with a slot for a cartridge which I used for a word processing program. It had 16K of RAM, a painfully slow dial-up modem, yet it was so new, small and light, that even airline pilots would come over and take a look at it.
My next machine was a Tandy 1400, I believe it was called, which did have disk drives, two floppies to be exact, but no hard drive. It had more RAM than the Epson, and it was much heavier, about 11-12 pounds if I remember correctly. But it was a workhorse and I kept mine for eight years before going into a desktop era with a Dell and my current machine, a Sony VAIO.
I didn't think I could afford both a desktop and a notebook but when I saw a deal for this Toshiba Satellite L25 at a local Comp USA I bought. Compared with the portables I had previously this machine is amazing. I couldn't even have imagined using a wireless modem in 1986 when I first went on-line. Compared with what else is currently out there, the L25 may not offer much to many people. I don't have a CD-DVD burner but I can use the desktop for that. The CD-DVD player which you access in the lower right corner, seems a bit flimsy, but perhaps this would be true of the drives in many laptops and notebooks.
I find it does what I wanted it for, to give me a chance to send e-mails, log on to the Internet, keep up with my finances, do spreadsheets, etc. when traveling or to do computing at home when someone else in the family is using the desktop.
What others have said about the battery life is quite true. The installed battery gobbles up power seemingly almost as soon as you have started up. At the most you are going to get an hour to an hour and a half. I ordered the 8 cell upgrade from Toshiba. Counting shipping it came to about $90.00. I can now get about 3 hours of battery life. I try to stay close to an AC outlet!
Before I even booted up the first time I also installed 256 MB extra memory. Even so I am usually using more than 70% of available memory and you aren't going to be able to run too many programs at the same time. But, as I said, I am not going to be too demanding of the L25.
The point is that even with discounts on the battery and the memory I put in more than $100 to the purchase price in order to have what I considered basic capacity for even limited needs. So this L25 is only a relative value. You've got to add on a bit to even begin to bring it up to the level of other computers out there.
Let me also defend Toshiba and the manual. I recall at least one reviewer saying that the manual doesn't make very clear that you need to turn on the wireless. I found those directions in more than one place and very definite and precise. The orange light is at the front of the machine and it is very obvious as to whether or not the modem is on.
In summary I am happy with this notebook. I am trying to be gentle with it but I would advise getting the warranty upgrade with Toshiba just to give yourself some added peace of mind.

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