Pros & Cons:
Pros: Toshiba quality - Good value for money - Capable processor - 500GB Hard Drive - 4GB RAM - USB 3.0 port for quick data transfers - Better graphics performance than Atom processors - Responsive and sensitive touchpad - Numeric keypad - Really good connectivity features - Long battery life.
Cons: Not for heavy gaming but you can still play less demanding normal games and play HD videos - No touch screen with Windows 8 but were you expecting one at this price range?
Toshiba engineers focused on what is more important - the basics with this 2013 model Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR 15.6-Inch Laptop, rather than filling the machine with nonsense softwares and programs that you won't use much.
It is a great laptop for your every day computing needs such as browsing the internet, word processing, college assignments, checking emails, along with some multimedia- watching movies and playing more basic non-3D games. It is very affordable too..
• Toshiba Satellite comes with the dual core AMD 1.4 GHz E1-1200 processor (equivalent of Intel Atom processors but a bit more capable), which is not the most powerful processor in the market but certainly more than sufficient to perform well what this laptop was made for- and it certainly is not the very demanding 3D games.
• 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM- is enough to run most things comfortably and for multitasking but it is expandable to 16GB. We would think that an upgrade to 8GB would be plenty to make it run even smoother.
• 500GB HDD at 5400 RPM hard drive to save all your files and you can easily connect external hard drive if you need more space.
• Good quality picture and vivid colours with 15.6" HD TruBrite® display (1366 x 768 pixel resolution). AMD Radeon HD 7310 graphics on this notebook offers better performance than the GMA 3150 graphics found in comparable Atom processors.
• Decent enhanced audio with DTS Sound™ and stereo speakers (not the loudest speakers but you do need to spend a lot more for such system).
• Decent enhanced audio with DTS Sound™ and stereo speakers (not the loudest speakers but you do need to spend a lot more for such system).
• Comfortable keyboard with nice and sleek design. It comes with 10-key numeric pad (easier to use when working with numbers) and a responsive touch pad that supports multi-touch gestures.
• 1 x USB 3.0 port, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi wireless, Ethernet port, SuperMulti DVD drive, HDMI port to connect to large screens- HDTV, VGA port to connect to older monitors, DVD SuperMulti drive supporting 11 formats, Built-in HD Webcam with microphone, Media card reader.
• Windows 8 is cool with customizable tiles but a bit better to use with a touch screen, which you won't get at this price range.
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• Light and portable enough with 5.3 pound weight and 9.53 x 14.96 x 1.31 inch dimensions. It is not that small but not hard to move around either (All Toshibas are a little bulky).
• Nice and solid looking with satin black colour and trax texture finish.
• Very fast shut down and boot up.
• More than 4 hours battery life in normal use with 6-cell ion battery, so it is plenty!
Conclusion: Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR 15.6-Inch Laptop is an entry level machine with budget consumers in mind. It is not a top of the range gaming machine or a performance powerhouse but it does exactly what it is designed for- gets the job done well!
It is durable, solid, practical and functional with great connectivity options, graphics and sound quality and overall satisfactory performance.. It is not overburdened with unnecessary programs or technologies you won't use. We like the Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR 15.6-Inch Laptop and certainly recommend it!
