15.6″ Toshiba Satellite C55D-B5244 Laptop via Amazon
15.6 inch Toshiba Satellite C55D-B5244 (PSCN4U-00R002) is not the kind of laptop that can handle anything you throw at it but is still quite a capable budget system even if not for advanced gamers, multimedia editors, designers or anyone that needs a lot of power. It costs a bit more than those low end laptops yet comes with a more powerful AMD A6 processor with a Passmark score of 2375, good amounts of memory and storage but nothing seems to be replaceable by the user so you’ll need to do what you’re provided with and it is a pretty decent system as it is anyway.
Toshiba Satellite C55D comes with the quad-core AMD A6-6310 processor at 1.8 to 2.4 GHz speed with no hyper-threading, 6 GB DDR3L SDRAM memory at 1600MHz to multitask properly and keep tens of browsers open, 750 GB Serial ATA hard drive at 5400rpm rotating speed for storing all your common and multimedia files but you will need to get rid of some of the bloatware that comes pre-installed and Windows 8.1 operating system. It is more than adequate for daily work, surfing the net, streaming videos- anything other than very demanding multimedia or games.
15.6 inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen non-touch display with 1366×768 pixel resolution and 16:9 image aspect ratio is obviously not as clear and sharp as a Full HD screen with 1080p resolution but is OK for the price level and this being a TN panel and not IPS which would add to the price, you would need to look directly from the front of the computer as side viewing angles are not great. AMD Radeon R4 graphics is not suitable for gaming but will let you play those casual games or older titles like FIFA fluently at lower resolutions but any of the more current games like Battlefield 4 will be hard to play even at lowest settings. However the quality of sound is better than one would expect at this level- nothing super impressive but the DTS Audio and stereo speakers tuned by Skullcandy deliver rich, distortion-free and loud enough sound with deep bass and enhanced dialogues. Built-in HD webcam with microphone is not spectacular but does the job fine for occasional live Skype chats.
Textured resin in jet black Toshiba Satellite with polycarbonate shell weighs 4.8 pounds with the dimensions of 10.20 x 14.96 x 1.05 inches. It has a standard full-size scissor-switch US keyboard (not chiclet style) with a 10-key numeric pad for easy data entry but with keys that are a little slippery to type on- still comfortable enough though and a touchpad with multi touch control and a lithium ion battery that should give you up to 5-6 hours on a single charge (5 hrs and 25 mins according to a battery test) but is unfortunately not removable so you can’t replace the battery when it is worn out. Connectivity options are everything you may need to connect to any of your peripherals, including a DVD SuperMulti Drive, a USB 3.0 port for faster transfer of data, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 802.11bgn wireless, Gigabit Ethernet LAN with RJ-45, Bluetooth v4.0, an HDMI port to connect to your larger screen HDTV, a VGA port, Memory Card Reader, a stereo Headphone jack and a Security Cable Lock Slot.
Conclusion: The best thing about the Toshiba Satellite C55D-B5244 is its solid performance by its quad core AMD A6 processor for its affordable price. It is a great budget desktop-replacement laptop that is suitable for basic computing needs of students, home office workers and home entertainment- anything other than complex multimedia, super demanding software or games. It comes with quite a bit of junkware you might want to remove for more storage space and improved speed and performance (for example replace the trial version of Norton Internet Security with free AVG or Avast). Keyboard feels a little flimsy and battery is not replaceable and memory and hard drive are not user upgradeable but they should be more than enough for the majority of computer users. Overall technical specs and features are decent and should satisfy an average customer that wants a lower cost full size laptop with a powerful processor, decent memory and hard drive- good value for money. It is EPEAT Gold registered, Energy Star qualified and is offered with a standard 12 month limited warranty by Toshiba.
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