Toshiba Satellite L20-C430 (Celeron M processor 380 1.6GHz, 256MB RAM)

We weren't particularly impressed with the Toshiba Satellite L20's performance or battery, and we prefer the identically priced Acer TravelMate 4060 series, which has a Pentium M processor compared with the Satellite's Celeron M chip. If you can look past Acer's limited tech support hours, the TravelMate is the better buy.

Editors' note : Some notebooks used in the review for comparison purposes may not be retailing in your region. Please check with your local distributor regarding availability.

Design
Weighing 2.67kg, the black-and-silver Toshiba Satellite L20 is a little heavier than the average thin-and-light laptop, and its measurements--332 x 270 x 36.6mm--are more in line with those of midsize-class machines such as the Acer TravelMate 2355LCi and the HP Compaq nx6110.

The Satellite L20's bright, 15-inch standard-aspect display, with a 1,024 x 768-pixel native resolution, is a pleasure to view, though its glossy finish can result in annoying reflections, depending on the screen's angle and the ambient lighting. That said, the glossy finish delivers a more vibrant image than that of traditional displays, and DVD movies display particularly well from wide viewing angles.

	Most of the ports are located at the flanks.

Features
The laptop's twin stereo speakers delivers adequate audio, though we had to turn the volume all the way up to hear it. As with many inexpensive laptops, headphones are your best bet for full sound fidelity. The Toshiba Satellite L20 lacks an external volume control; instead you must rely on the software controls in Windows as well as the particular multimedia applications you use to listen to CDs, MP3s, and DVDs.

The Satellite L20's keys are quiet and responsive, and they're comfortable to type on. The touch pad feels a bit cramped, however, and we wish it had a dedicated scroll zone. But we like Toshiba's nifty customizable Zooming Utility, which lets you open frequently used folders or launch programs by tapping the corners of the touch pad.

Housed in the Toshiba Satellite L20's nondescript case are all the ports and connections a basic user will need. There are three USB 2.0 ports, with two on the left side and one in the rear, as well as VGA and S-Video ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and a single Type II PC Card slot. For networking, there are modem and Ethernet ports and an integrated 802.11b/g adapter with a dedicated on/off switch. While that's all similar to the ports and the connections on the Acer TravelMate 2355LCi and the Toshiba Tecra A5-S116, feature-hungry users should note that the Compaq Presario V2000Z includes all of those plus a four-pin FireWire port and a flash card reader. Our Toshiba Satellite L20 unit had a DVD/CDRW combo drive.

Designed more for individual users than corporate ones, the Toshiba Satellite L20 ships with Windows XP Home. Its software bundle includes the full version of OneNote 2003 for taking and organizing notes, and the usual suspects of multimedia software, including InterVideo WinDVD 5 and some standard CD-burning apps.

Performance And Battery Life
The Satellite L20 is available in one lower-end fixed configuration that includes a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M processor, a paltry 256MB of slow 333MHz RAM, a decent 60GB, 5,400rpm hard drive, and an integrated ATI Radeon Xpress GPU. As a result, the laptop earned mediocre scores on CNET Labs' mobile benchmarks, running 8 percent behind the similarly configured Toshiba Tecra A5-S116 and a whopping 23 percent behind the Acer TravelMate 2355LCi. Still, the Satellite L20's performance should prove sufficient for basic business apps, email, Web browsing, and CD or DVD playback.