Toshiba U505 Satellite Laptop

I have had a blast working with Toshiba this summer (more reviews coming).  I toted my little pink laptop all over the place on family vacations, to Blogher'10 in NYC and more.  The Satellite U505 ($689.99) really is quite stylish and travel-friendly.  Despite its size it is a full-featured laptop that suited my needs perfectly. My four year-old daughter had a case of 'love at first sight' due to its bubblegum pink color.  It is available in a chic brown, red or white finish as well, if pink isn't your color.  One of my favorite things about the U505 is its ability to have a lot of programs running at once without lag time.  If I shut it and forgot it the programs came back up without any issues even a day later.  The battery (6-cell) life is amazing!  I have never had a laptop perform this well in terms of battery life.  Additionally, the power cord is incredibly long and I found that quite handy when traveling and outlets were not as abundant as they are in my home. 

The Satellite U505 comes with the Toshiba Bulletin Board feature which enables the user to organize their busy lives by personalizing their desktop with schedules, extracurricular activities, job interviews, etc. I used it for scheduling and daily reminders and found it intuitive and easy to format and create.  Other standard features include the following:  Intel® Core™ i5-430M processor, Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD, 4GB DDR3 1066MHz memory hard drive, Slot-Loading DVD SuperMulti (+/- Double Layer) with Labelflash®, 13.3" widescreen that is incredibly clear and works well indoors and outside, a microphone jack (mono), standard stereo speakers, built-in microphone, S/P DIF output port (shared with headphone port), Headphone jack (stereo) and Skype that just needs registration.  In five minutes I was up and running and my kids were talking to their grandmother who had just had surgery and was unable to visit for a while. 

Overall, I did fall in love with the Toshiba Satellite U505. In fact, I didn't want to give it back.  I liked how zippy it was and clear.  While smaller than my 17" sized laptop that I normally use I quickly adjusted to the Toshiba's more demure but lighter size and weight.  It made toting it around pleasant instead of a chore.  I also like how it is not just Energy Star Compliant but also Eco Utility enabled allowing me to monitor my power usage with just a click of a button.  The screen is touch screen enabled too as an added bonus. 

Toshiba laptops can be purchased directly from Toshiba here.  There is a wide array of Satellite laptops available too.

MPR Rating: Five Stars. 

Disclaimer:  MPR was not paid for this post.  All products received are for review and testing purposes only.  Opinions are MPR's own. 

Wiglington & Wenks- A Virtual World for Kids

The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World - a massively fun online virtual world for kids (6 and up) that allows them to travel to places around the world, through time and space, meet famous historical people, play games, own exotic islands, build culture-inspired houses, wear cool costumes or create their own clothing while exploring secret locations and solving ancient mysteries.  Whew!

We had a free trial membership to test this virtual world out and as soon as we logged on my four year-old daughter became entranced.  It's vibrant and exciting to enter the world of Wiglington and Wenks. We created a character to look like her and in under ten minutes we had started our journey.  However, it quickly became clear that this was a bit too advanced for her four year-old self.  There is reading required and an overall thought process and game playing that she has not achieved yet.  I think ages six or even eight would prefer this game and really enjoy all it has to offer while becoming a legendary traveler. View a video presentation here.

While on Wiglington and Wenks your kid can be part of the only virtual world which allows kids to travel and explore locations around the world. There are more than 200 virtual world scenes with more coming later this year. It's all very educational too.  They learn about historical figures from all over, many countries, inventions, plant life, animals and even environmental issues.  Despite being too young for the site overall my daughter loved browsing through the site with my help and seeing all it had to offer.  She loved picking a country to visit as well as learning about historical people.

Don't just take my word for it though- “Wiglington and Wenks is so much more than your standard virtual world, it has a rich story line with well developed characters, plot, mystery, and quests. Students are dropped into the story and invited to participate, learning through exploration, problem solving, and critical thinking.” - Winner of the Edublog Award 2009

MPR Rating:  Four Stars.

Giveaway Alert!  Five readers will get one month complimentary memberships as well as some sponsored virtual items to Wiglington and Wenks!  Just comment to enter and follow this here blog as well.  Already a follower?  Simply comment to enter. I'll choose five winners next Wednesday, August 18, 2010. 


Disclaimer:  MPR was not paid for this post.  All products received are for review and testing purposes only.  Opinions are those of MPR only.