15.6 inch Toshiba Satellite C55-B5287
via Amazon
Modern slender design Toshiba Satellite C55-B5287 is a reliable and solid performing 15.6 inch laptop PC (Item model number is PSCLUU-022011) with the speed and power of the Haswell Intel i5-4210U processor and Windows 7 operating system. It can be used comfortably to perform daily tasks- internet browsing, exploring social media, working on spreadsheets and word documents, playing songs, videos and games- so it is good enough for multimedia, school, work and business use.
Toshiba Satellite comes with the 4th generation ultra low voltage dual core Intel i5-4210U processor at 1.7GHz up to 2.7GHz with turbo boost and hyper threading for dual cores to run up to 4 threads in parallel- smart 4-way processing, 4GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz for sufficient multitasking and comfy overall running of things, 500GB SATA hard drive at 5400rpm rotating speed with HDD Recovery and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS that has proven to be one of the most popular Windows versions ever. The i5-4210U processor is good for more demanding stuff as well as the smooth running of day-to-day simple tasks.
Glossy 15.6 inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display with 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366x768 pixel maximum screen resolution supports 720p content and is more than adequate overall at this level although not as good as a FHD screen and Mobile Intel HD graphics 4400 is good for video playbacks in HD quality but for advanced gaming at higher settings you need something more- like a mid-range discrete graphics card and you can play the older titles at high resolutions comfortably. You’ll hear good quality sound through DTS Sound and integrated dual stereo speakers- quite all right at this price level. And the HD quality webcam offers clear images with built-in microphone during live chats and can take still photos.
Black matte finish Toshiba Satellite has a nice design with clean lines, weighs 4.8 pounds with dimensions of 10.20 x 14.96 x 1.05 inches- it is about 25% thinner than previous Satellite’s and is lightweight and portable. The non-backlit standard US keyboard comes with a 10-key numeric pad on the right and a touchpad underneath that supports multiple gestures. 45Wh, 4-Cell lithium ion battery is not replaceable by the user and gives you around 5 hours of battery life in normal use- quite OK for those on the go. There is no Bluetooth but 802.11bgn wireless, 1 x USB 3.0 port, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, DVD SuperMulti drive, Memory Card Reader supporting 11 formats, an SD Card Slot, an HDMI port, a VGA port, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, Headphone/Microphone combo jack (stereo) so you can connect to a variety of computer peripherals, HDTVs and other devices easily as well as a Security cable lock slot.
Conclusion: Textured resin in jet black Toshiba Satellite C55-B5287 is quite easy to set-up and use, good for both work and fun and comes with a good variety of connectivity options that make connecting to and from other devices easy. Windows 7 has definitely more fans than the newer Windows 8- even the Win 8.1 and this is not a touchscreen PC- another reason why you’re better off with Windows 7. 4GB system memory is not upgradeable by the user but should be sufficient for most computer users. Lack of Bluetooth is not a major problem as you can get a Bluetooth USB dongle cheaply with the purchase of this laptop. It is Energy Star qualified, EPEAT Gold registered and RoHS compatible and comes with a 12 month limited warranty by Toshiba for parts and labor. You get 30 day trial versions of Norton Internet Security (which you can probably replace with AVG Free version) and Microsoft Office 365. Suitable for students, home office workers or families as it is also offered with decent specs and features with an affordable price tag. It is one of the lowest prices on the market for a Haswell i5 processor laptop with Windows 7 OS.
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