In my guide to awesome Windows 7 PCs, under “All Around Great Everyday PCs” I listed the Toshiba Satellite U500. Courtesy of Toshiba, I had the pleasure of living with the Toshiba Satellite U505 for a few weeks this summer.

So let me start off with the specs for the Satellite U505:

• Windows 7 Home Premium x64
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU P7350 @ 2GHz
• Memory: 4GB (Supports up to 8GB)
• Display: 13.3” Widescreen |1280x800 Resolution | Native 720P HD
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• Network: 10/100/1000 Ethernet | Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN 802.11a/g/n Wireless
• Storage: 400GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA
• Optical: DVD SuperMulti Drive

The Satellite U505 has a textured design to it and comes in Luxe Red, Luxe White, and Luxe Brown. The Satellite U505 I have is Luxe Brown.

This Toshiba laptop comes with 3 USB ports (USB 2.0), a LAN port, modem port, and an eSATA/USB combo port. This eSATA/USB combo port comes with something a little extra: USB Sleep and Charge. That means while the Satellite U505 is asleep or off, you can plug USB devices into this port and have them charge. I had been out traveling with laptop and ended up leaving the charger for my cell phone at home. I was able to use the Satellite U505 to charge it overnight without leaving it on. It worked great. The Satellite U505 also has a VGA port to connect a monitor as well as a HDMI port to connect to an HDTV.

The TouchPad on the Toshiba Satellite U505 has multi-touch controls and can be enabled and disabled. It also comes with a LED backlit keyboard and just above the keyboard are media control buttons for mute, media, playback controls and volume controls.

The Satellite U505 also comes with an ExpressCard slot and a Memory Card Reader that supports Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Capacity, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Multi Media Card, and xD Picture Card. You could certainly use the Memory Card slot to quickly add some more memory using Windows ReadyBoost but the fact the Satellite U505 comes with 4GB of memory and is expandable to 8GB tells me you likely won’t need to.

For more on the Toshiba Satellite U505, click here. Price starts at $698.99. You can also find the Toshiba Satellite U505 on Windows PC Scout as well.

After using the Satellite U505 for a couple weeks, it’s certainly a great everyday PC and perfect for Windows 7. The Toshiba Satellite U505 is packed with some great specs that give you the flexibility to use this laptop for a wide range of scenarios based on your needs – from video editing to multimedia hotness with Windows Media Center to simply being your workhorse PC.

Oh, one other thing – Toshiba has released updated models of the U500 series Satellite laptops that support Windows Touch in Windows 7 available today!

Mobile storage solutions are coming out like crazy and here is another one from Samsung. In a move that is obviously aimed to give Western Digital’s My Book a run for their money, the Story hard drive is something that serves as a great back up device.

The brushed aluminum slab with “passionate red lines” plays host to your choice of 500GB, 1TB, or 1.5TB 3.5-inch disks. The Story Station can backup your data in “real-time” or be setup to backup on a set schedule of your choosing. Data is secured via password with an optional SecretZone virtual drive setup for encrypting all your swine-flu conspiracy data. This device is single-port, USB 2.0 only so you’ll have to take your dreams of network attached storage, eSATA, or FireWire 800 elsewhere.

Use it either for audio, video or pictures, the Story Station will surely come in handy for people who want to make sure that all their data and files are safe and secure. With an easy plug n play interface via the USB, expect this mobile hard drive to be a hit for people who value their backup and storage needs.

Available in Europe first sometime in May for an undisclosed price.

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If you are agog over the USB drives, here is a new one from Kingston which is also compatible with the MAC OS. Normally, there are a select number of USB flash drives that can be read by MACs and now Kingston has put all those conflicts to rest with the DataTraveler Vault USB Flash Drive.

“Our DataTraveler Vault – Privacy Edition has been popular with enterprise and government customers who use Windows-based systems and are looking for a safe and secure way to transport portable data,” said Mark Akoubian, Flash memory business manager, Kingston. “We are happy to add Mac support to this 100-percent secured drive so the Apple community can be assured they have an on-the-go storage solution that is the best on the market at safeguarding data.”

Data onboard the DTVP is secured by hardware-based, on-the-fly, 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The drive has fast data transfer rates and is protected from brute-force attacks by locking down after 10 unsuccessful login attempts. After lockdown, a reformat is necessary to make the Flash drive operable again.

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1. Click the Start button, type gpedit.msc in the run command or search box, and press Enter.
2. When the Group Policy editor has loaded
   • Navigate through Computer Configuration
   • Administrative Templates
   • Windows Components
   • BitLocker Drive Encryption
   • Right-click Control Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options and select Properties.
3. Select the Enabled option and click OK.

Normally, monitors are plugged via the standard graphics card but today, we can see them even being plugged via the USB. Most of them are used as a sidelight, perhaps the reason for the name, and possessing a 7-inch monitor that is intended to be a secretary monitor to display instant messages and other widgets that might get lost behind all the open windows on a desktop or laptop computer is certainly something many techie geeks would seriously consider.

For some it is additional cost. If you already have the standard monitors in computers, why bother to get a secondary one? The reason may be more understandable if it is geared towards the business side. It is no secret that in cases of making presentations, a dual screen to help people appreciate slides or videos via another route of visual representation is normal.

Hence, it may be more of a professional thing. But basing it on observations, you may be surprised to note at how people want to get their hands on techie gadgets today. Though there is no price yet set for this SideStage monitor, you can bet it will not come cheap.

According to Dan Kelley, D-Link’s senior director of marketing, the monitor is expected to be available in stores during the first quarter of 2009. The “photo” router also has not been priced, but is expected to launch later this year.

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