Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5170 Laptop Review

Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5170 PC Notebook
via Amazon

Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5170 is a 15.6 inch AMD E1-2100 processor Windows 8.1 laptop that performs well in day-to-day tasks such as browsing the web, word processing, preparing homework, listening to music, watching movies and playing light games. It is quite reasonably priced and has the trusted Toshiba brand behind it.

Toshiba Satellite has an AMD dual core accelerated E1-2100 processor, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM memory, 500GB ATA-4 hard drive and Windows 8.1 operating system.. This is quite a capable processor that will make things run fast, also with the reasonable 4GB memory, you should be fine working on different tasks or keeping many browsers and apps open simultaneously. 500GB hard drive is good enough space for lots of multimedia files and documents. Microsoft Windows 8.1 comes pre-installed so you don't have to upgrade from Windows 8, like many other latest models, but it may take a little getting used to for some customers.

15.6 inch diagonal HD TruBrite LED backlighting 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio slim display at 1366 x 768 pixel resolution offers sharp images and is also power efficient. The system comes with the AMD Radeon HD 8210 graphics card installed and uses the same memory as the processor (no separate video RAM), it is an equivalent of the Intel HD graphics card and although a good one, it won't allow you to play the latest games- and you probably weren't expecting to at this low price range. The integrated HD webcam with microphone is good enough for live chats and video conferences.

Satin Black in trax horizon Toshiba Satellite weighs about 5.3 lbs and is fairly slim and portable with also its 15 inch thin display. Battery life shall depend on how you use the computer (how demanding programs are and screen brightness), but it is a 4Wh 6-Cell battery that should give you more than 5 hours in normal use, but this will go down by years passing like with any computer. It has EPA's Energy Star and EPEAT Gold standards, for those of you that care about the environment and energy usage, this being a green choice.

There is no Bluetooth enabled on the laptop but a DVD-SuperMulti Drive that is non-existent on many laptop models these days. Other connectivity options are: 10/100 Ethernet LAN, 802.11b/g/n wireless, a multi media card reader, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port for much quicker transfers of data, HDMI port to watch movies or work on a bigger HDTV screen, RGB port, integrated stereo speakers and a HD webcam and microphone.

Conclusion: Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5170 is a 'good value for money' budget machine with not so budget features that should help you in your everyday stuff. You have the big Toshiba name and quality, good solid build, a well performing processor and a nice range of connectivity ports. Probably one thing missing is the Bluetooth but a Bluetooth USB dongle only costs a few dollars to purchase (sometimes $1.50). Some customers criticize the Windows 8 as it is different to what they are normally used to but it usually takes a couple of days to get the hang of it in most cases.

Click here for a closer look on Amazon