Anyone considering the Toshiba Satellite X205-SL14, would be well advised to slip across to Slash Gear and read possibly the most comprehensive review since the dawn of web 2.0! The review progresses well: “Needless to say, the X205 can handle just about any program or task you throw at it. Whether you’re a gamer, a video editor or just like to have more processing cycles than you know what to do with, optical drive aside it’s unlikely that the Toshiba would fail to satisfy”. It would be fair to say though that the boys over at SG are not completely convinced though.

After all, with Toshiba pulling out of the HD-DVD market – does this mean that this laptop’s 17-inch WSXGA+ TruBrite display capable of 1680 x 1050 720p HD and four harmon/kardon speakers and subwoofer are wasted? It would seem not, and as those popcorn-munchers amongst us celebrate the potential of being blown away by ‘300’ or ‘Transformers’ by this machine. “Compared to Sony’s PS3, fan noise during HD-DVD playback is slightly better on the Toshiba, fairly acceptable for a dedicated home theatre setup” - which can only be an added benefit.

And there’s plenty more as well: The Vista-multimedia features can be accessed via remote control which is ideal for “watching video or listen to music without going to Vista” while the fingerprint reader will “will make sure that your buddies won’t be messing up with your games’ saved data”. And there’s plenty more too, but you’ll really have to take a look at the comprehensive review. So, in conclusion, two thumbs up - but with one major reservation. “While there’s no doubting that the rest of the specs make this a monster of a home media and gaming machine, that HD-DVD drive is a big black mark against the Toshiba.”