To the old, classic and controversial question "Does size matter?" there are only few other laptops that would give such a definite "yes" to this answer as the Toshiba Satellite M65-S809 does. This laptop features many great characteristics that would easily justify its size.

First of all, the M65 comes with a wide, 17" LCD screen! The screen can provide you with a really satisfying resolution and it also comes with Toshiba's homemade TruBrite technology. Although you might be thinking that a laptop with a screen like this should weight like an elephant, the M65 will prove you wrong; the laptop weights no more than 7 pounds! But those 2 small surprises are just the beginning! After you have a look at what this laptop features you might as well be double-checking the price tag!

The M65 features a double-layer DVD burner and a 100GB HDD. It's equipped with Harmon Kardon speakers, three USB ports as well as FireWire, S-Video, ExpressCard and PC Card ports/slots! The heart of the M65 is the 1.73GHZ Intel Pentium M740 processor which is backed up by a considerable 520GB of RAM.

Software-wise, along with your brand new M65 you will also get many valuable programs. First of all, you will get WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum; this is a pretty good program for video-editing. Additionally, with Express Media Player by Toshiba you are able to play CDs or DVDs without even launching Windows! For your disc burning needs, Toshiba ships the M65 along with RecodNow and finally, for wireless simplicity you are given the ConfigFree utility which will greatly assist you. Of course, before putting an end to this review you should also be informed about things that will not exactly give you the satisfactory feeling you might be expecting. Some people might consider M65's wireless capabilities as limited while others might find out that the keyboard and its mouse are not really easy to use for them. Of course, those are only personal opinions and you won't be able to find out until you take the M65 for a test drive by yourself.

To put everything together, this laptop is far better than it should be if you judge it from its price. All the above candy features will come along with a surprising 4+ hours battery life!

For those pessimists and nitpickers out there, the old adage may come to mind: it's too good to be true. And, yes, the Toshiba M65 S809 has its weak spots. Its keyboard could be considered cramped, its mouse button design awkward. You might even say that it's wireless capabilities are middle of the pack.

But for what you're getting at less than $1,500, a simple test drive before you buy will tell you whether those are deal-breakers. Otherwise, nitpickers and pessimists need not apply