Toshiba Satellite L755-S5166

How ample do you design out of a $500 laptop? The Toshiba Satellite L755-S5166 is a typical e.g. of what rounded off $549 can purchase today when it comes to a mainstream machine: this Toshiba laptop is thick and large-screened (15.6 inches), but lacks any features we'd call stand-out.

The Satellite L755-S5166 is a of a great many budget-range laptops Toshiba seems to shake out with ease, usually in this box it's given with a Sandy Bridge second-gen Intel Core i3 processor, a 500GB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM. You could do a lot worse for your $550, but then again, this isn't ample not similar from the median laptop $499 you could purchase final year. In fact, we've seen improved for less: final year's $550 Lenovo Essential G570 offering a faster Core i5 processor. This Satellite isn't a rip-off, but it's not the hands-down great worth it wants you to regard it is.

No matter what, ponder watchful a month or so before shopping a laptop similar to this. Imminent design and processor upgrades are forthcoming for many computers that should supply more worth for your money, alleviation the crash is to sire that's the Satellite L755-S5166's usually mission card. And, as we already said, that crash isn't even that big. Bottom line: you can do better.

The Satellite L of this year looks similar to the Satellite L of final year: shiny plastic, a thick body, and a brushed blue aluminum lid and palmrest. It's not horribly unattractive, but it's unquestionably not an interesting laptop by anyone's definition.

A big, far-reaching set of keys and adjoining number desk pad offer lots of roomy typing space, but the keys are of the flat-topped, keenly full accumulation instead of the more familiar lifted island-style keys. The set of keys functions well, but feels cheaper than higher-end products, and that set of keys type is rapidly failing out, even on lower-end products.

The hold desk pad underneath is a joke: it's way as well slight and tiny, and it's usually farfetched more by a span of hulk winding cosmetic left and correct buttons below. A manageable hold desk pad aspect doesn't clear the insufficient of space for multifinger gestures, and this desk pad is simply as well tiny for even simple gestures on a midsize laptop.

The 15.6-inch manifestation is standard-issue: glossy-coated, 1,366x768-pixel resolution, and fitting quality. Toshiba's displays lend towards to be improved than median for bill laptops, and colors uncover pop, but observation angles are, as a would design on a broad bill machine, lousy. Spend closer to $1,000, and you'll find 15-inch laptops with 1,600x900-pixel or improved resolutions, but at these prices, 1,366x768-pixel is fine.

Stereo speakers on top of the set of keys offer clear sound that lacks additional power or definition: they're improved than median discount laptop speakers, but not the higher-end ones in other Satellites.

The dock and connection offerings on this specific Satellite are mislaid someplace in the year 2009. No USB 3.0, no Bluetooth, and...well, that's flattering disappointing. Nearly any Windows laptop, even a $600 one, has USB 3.0 nowadays. For a 15-incher, this is bare-bones. To increase insult to injury, a blocked-up out of date modem dock graces a side of the broad cosmetic undercarriage.

On the other hand, this Satellite does have a few satisfactory specs: 4GB of RAM, and a larger-than-average 640GB hard drive. Some people would rsther than have 140GB reduction storage in swap for Bluetooth and USB 3.0. we know we would.