Toshiba Satellite L650-12K 15.6 inch Notebook – Black
Posted by Notcot on Sep 24, 2010 in PCs & Laptops |
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So… this is my second laptop buy; first was a HP Pavilion dv6152eu which is now RIP’ing in a laptop bag after dying a cruel death from a suspected fried motherboard (albeit the second replacement one in 3 and half years). Thus a cool running laptop was a hugely important requirement for me.
Here’s a breakdown of my findings after a week with the Tosh:
LOOKS
Ignore the crappy product pictures here… this thing looks much better in the err… plastic. It’s glossy piano black with a classy imprinted pattern all over. A bit of a fingerprint magnet, mind.
PERFORMANCE, GRAPHICS & AUDIO
I had a bit of a dilemma over which processor would satisfy my needs (typically surfing with tons of firefox tabs, downloading media, virus scans, some Pro/ENGINEER CAD modelling along with music playing in the background). So you could say I need a little more performance than a “basic” user. For 80 quid more I could’ve got my hands on the L650 12Q which has the new Intel Core i5-430M. But after a play on one in the John Lewis store I really couldn’t tell the difference between the two under “average” workload. Most people really don’t need an i5; yes it has a higher clock speed and some sort of turbo boost (Gillette couldn’t convince me with that word either) but it’s RAM that’s more important when processor speeds are so evenly matched. 3gb DDR3 has proved plenty for my needs and it’s nice to know the laptop can squeeze another 5gb in should you want to start a “mine’s bigger than yours” war. Phew, thank goodness 3 1/2 inch floppys aren’t around these days. Oh, can’t comment on gaming graphics as I’ve an Xbox 360 for that but Windows Aero is awesome and Transformers 2 looks good on dvd. In future, however, I think for a screen of this size 1080p should be the norm. Also happy to report that this baby runs cool even under slave-like torture… such a luxury after nearly 4 years of 1st degree burns from the HP AGA. Must admit though the Altec Lansing speakers on the deceased laptop were noticeably better than those in the Tosh. Volume could be higher but the main issue is that the quality isn’t the best… not a massive issue personally.
CONNECTIVITY, BATTERY & OTHER FEATURES
Given the chassis seems a little larger than average for this size screen I would’ve expected a fourth USB port. But, for me this isn’t a huge issue and is offset by the inclusion of a full numerical keypad on the right which I find pretty handy. There’s no Bluetooth here, which means you have one more wire to carry in your bag. Also, what baffles me is why the memory card reader doesn’t support XD, which, incidentally is the card my digital camera uses. Come on Toshiba even my crippled HP supported this. On the plus side there is a HDMI port included. It’s worth pointing out the wireless network adaptor does a very good job in this laptop; despite being a few floors from the router i’m still getting excellent speeds between the two devices.
Battery life is impressive, on the “balanced” power plan I managed 3 1/2 hours whilst mainly watching videos on the internet. Wait, that sounded wrong. Anyway… the integrated webcam is only 0.3MP which quite frankly is poor in 2010. If you’re going to bother putting one in at least make it 1.3MP like my beloved HP. Don’t get too excited about the multi-touch control on the touch pad, it’s a bit of a novelty really and is probably of more use on a touch screen device. The keyboard does have a nice feel to it though, very flat with a springy yet solid feedback. The two buttons are a little stiff but that could be down to its youth.
SUMMARY
A quality machine for the price with performance that outshines almost all the outgoing Core 2 Duos found in laptops. Windows 7 is a dream to use and the bells and whistles simply do not compromise performance. I payed 499 for mine so as to get the extra year warranty from John Lewis but even without it I’d still recommend.
Any questions… hit me up.
Rating: 4 / 5
Let me start off by pointing out that I was researching for about a week or so for the best laptop I could get my hands on with a £400-500 limit, and soon rounded down my selection to this Toshiba model, and the Samsung r530 i3 model, of which I already own the core 2 duo model (it’s an excellent laptop too). I was tending toward the i3 samsung only because of my familiarity with the laptop, but this Toshiba has proved to be a superb replacement.
My main aims were to have a decent laptop with as best processing power for within the < £500 limit. This led me to looking for an i3 model, Intel's latest chip range, being the lower end chip compared to the i5 and i7's. The delivery package was minimal, the box itself including the usual; manual, laptop, charger. The laptop itself is glossy black, which although being a stunning sight, makes it a fingerprint magnet, nontheless, the complete blackness of it makes it look buuufff. The entire casing is also printed with a fine pattern of rectangle/parrallelagram things with lines, which is a nice touch. The keys are laid out well, the keys travel well when pressed and each pressing of a key is clear, but not harsh unlike many HP’s. The mouse pad doesn’t have a typical border, but stands out by being a matte region below the keyboard. This is made clear by looking at the pictures. The left and right click buttons are very smooth to the press, something I am not used to. Performance is excellent for the price, and I have noticed a good enough difference between intel core 2 duo models and this i3, but the difference is most noteable when carrying out many tasks. Graphics are decent, though I wouldn’t buy this expecting to run crysis. Youtube HD videos play very smoothly, even 1080P HD videos from many streaming sites, and I expect HD movie playback to be as smooth. Startup/shutdown is fast, as is the opening/closing of the usual programs (itunes, ms office etc), and video conversion tools perform well. The display itself is very clear, although I did have to change the hue of the display via the intel graphics options as the contrast wasn’t sufficient for me, and it did seem slightly washed out, but this was corrected. My only gripe is the amount of bloatware included, including the many many programs running upon startup. I uninstalled all of this crapware, and the system boots up even faster, and needles disk space is no longer being occupied.
overall, this is a fantastic laptop, and althought I was hesitant at first, I can say that I have no regrets, and would definitely recommend it. If your looking for a £450 model, look no further. I’d be hapz to answer any Q’s.
Rating: 5 / 5
Got this Laptop 2 days ago and I can safely say that it has been great. Very fast, can run many programs at once and is a great looking laptop too.
Only minor downside is the battery life, but that doesn’t knock the overall worth of the laptop. So far so good, I definitely recommend this Toshiba laptop.
I wanna also thank Amazon for the great service you provide. The laptop came fast the next day and the customer service is great. Thank you, I’m very pleased.
Rating: 5 / 5
excellent product, the screen is superb very clear images, could not ask for more in this price range.
Rating: 5 / 5
My machine has been back for repair three times and three times they failed to recognise the galring obvious fault and returned the machine back to me with a ‘no fault found’ delivery note. Oh and the third time it came back they even neglected to return my power lead. When I rang to complain I was treated with nothing but patronising derision. Toshiba customer service? Don’t make me laugh! Buy from them at your peril, you have been warned.
Rating: 1 / 5