Toshiba Satellite Laptop Review

Toshiba Satellite Laptops

Listed below are the 4 models I mentioned above (A105, L455, L755, P755) and a review of those laptops I've used, and those I'm looking at.

Note: This review doesn't discuss every feature. Suffice to say they include sufficient VGA, USB and mic/head jacks.

Model

Size

Battery

Processor

RAM

Hard Drive

OS

Price

A105-4201

15.4"

3.5 hours

1.86GHz

512MB(4GB)

60GB

Win XP

$380?

L455-S5000

15.6"

2.9 hours

2.2GHz

3GB

250GB

Windows 7

$440?

L755D-S5363

15.6"

5 hours

2.3GHz

4(8GB)

500GB

Windows 7

$470

P755-S5274

15.6"

6.5 hours

2.3-2.9GHz

6(8GB)

640GB

Windows 7

$689

A105

So let's start with my A105. Back in 2006, this was a fine laptop, and although it lagged up in gaming, that wasn't my reason for getting it. It did however multitask well, and worked online beautifully. Note the difference in RAM. It comes stock with 512MB, and even then I new that wasn't enough RAM so upgraded to an at the time significant 2GB. I boggled at the cost of 4 gigs of RAM back then so did not opt for it.

One of my biggest beefs has been the battery life, but at least it maintained the advertised 3 hours or so of battery time. Alas, now it doesn't seem to want to keep a charge. The plug doesn't seem to send power to the battery to recharge it, so I have to have it plugged in all the time. A minor inconvenience, and I don't use it when I know I'm going to be out in the boonies for a while, because the battery will decide it isn't charged and just quit.

Other than that it has been a solid workhorse. At the time, it also came with Windows XP, and I've been loathe to trade it in for anything else. After using Windows 7 for a while, I'm okay with the change, although I use it as little as possible (opting for Firefox or Chrome and Open Office applications).

I think we paid about $380 for it from Circuit City (remember Circuit City?).

L455

Mom's laptop is a nice upgrade. Battery life is still lagging, and seems to be a common problem with Toshibas. This model has a shameful sub 3 hour battery life, but since Mom is using it as a home computer (don't ask), it always has an outlet close by. Everything else though has been brilliant.

Compared to my A105, it's way ahead technologically. Stock it carries 3GB of memory, a more powerful processor and waaaay more storage. The price was reasonable at over $400, but is a quantum leap ahead of my current laptop. I always make my A105 jealous for opting to use her L455 when I'm over. The screen is even a little bigger, and the 15.6" screen seems standard on most Satellites now.

L755

So this is the direct upgrade for the L455 series.

For about the same price as the same model two years ago, Toshiba has made a huge leap forward in quality and quantity.

Battery life is vastly improved to 5 hours (still behind the industry standard 6-7 hours, but with Toshiba this is a big deal), the processor's a little better, and the RAM is a little greater at 4GB (but upgradable to 8) and doubles the storage to a whopping 500GB.

Pound for pound, for a better system at about the same price, the L755, particularly the L755D-S5363 seems like a no-brainer.

P755

Not so fast.

The P755, in this case the P755-S5274, is a real working machine for multitasking, code compiling, simulation running and dare I say gaming.

The battery life plays with the big boys at 6.5 hours, and competes with a lot of laptops with 650GB of hard drive storage. It comes stock with 6GB RAM, which is also upgradable to 8GB

The P755 also carries the 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor which is supposed to adapt to what you're doing and provide more speed when you need it, effectively making it a 2.9GHz processor.

The nice thing about both the L755 and P755 is that they have complete 10key pads on the keyboard. The L455 does not.

Final Review Decision
For the value, I think the Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5363 is the way to go (I even like the color), but for extra performance and a legitimate powerhouse laptop that can play as well as work, the P755-S5274 is the upgrade to have. To me the price is just a little out of my range for something that will be 90% work, where the L755 is capable of doing the work that the old models can do and more.

Now you too can own the computer I'm getting! If I see you with your Matrix Silver colored L755 I'll be sure to flash you the "secret Toshiba sign"
Save 11% when ordering from Amazon.

Go ahead, go for the more top o' the line model.
Save 6% when ordering from Amazon.