15.6 inch Toshiba Satellite C55-B5202
via Amazon
Toshiba Satellite C55-B5202 is a very low-cost but reliable, portable and relatively powerful 15.6 inch notebook with a 4th generation Celeron processor and sufficient amounts of memory and hard drive for multitasking and storage. It is more like a daily essentials and no-frills type of laptop for social media, emails, entertainment- playing light games, songs and movies and adequate multitasking but not for running complex software or the latest 3D games.
Toshiba Satellite
comes with the dual core Intel Celeron N2830 processor at 2.16GHz speed up to 2.41GHz with Intel Burst, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM memory at 1333MHz for adequate multitasking- that can be upgraded to 8GB but not sure if it would be appropriate to spend the money for that at this price level of PC, 500GB mechanical Serial ATA hard drive at 5400rpm rotating speed as storage space for your standard files, media- photos and videos and the 64-bit English Windows 8.1 operating system that is definitely easier to use than the previous Windows 8 and offers a familiar Win 7 type screen and start button with slightly different features.
15.6 inch TFT HD widescreen non-touch LED-backlit (consumes less power and lasts longer) display with 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio, 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, and Intel Integrated Graphics offers OK image quality and decent graphics for price but not really for advanced gaming and the screen may feel a bit bright with also high contrast. Touch feature on screen would have been nice but possible at this price level? You have the high definition webcam with built-in microphone for easy Skype chats, video conferencing with colleagues or taking still photos and the sound quality is all right through the two stereo speakers. CD/DVD Drive is not Included but you have the HDMI port to link to the big screen HDTV by upgrading the image and sound quality- FHD quality image and immersive sound.
Textured Resin in Jet Black Toshiba Satellite weighs 4.9 pounds with measurements of 10.20 x 15 x 1.10 inches- so it is lightweight and fairly slim for when you’re out and about. The full-size keyboard with 10-key numeric pad feels nice and comfy to type on and enter numeric data easily and the computer also appears to stay cool and the touchpad with physical buttons seems to be responsive enough but you will be better off with a mouse. You have the Bluetooth 4.0 which you may not expect to have at this very low-cost level and you can use it to connect to other Bluetooth enabled devices like speakers, receivers, printers etc. wirelessly, problem-free and strong connection and wide coverage with the 802.11b/g/n wireless, 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Multimedia Card Reader to transfer multimedia from your smart phone, digital camera, SD cards etc., a VGA video output, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port and an RGB port. The 4 cell/32Wh Lithium Ion battery is not replaceable by the user and we’re assuming it should give you around 5 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Conclusion: Toshiba Satellite C55-B5202 is a decent well-built notebook for budget-conscious computer users with nice specs and features for its affordable price, sleek appearance with a thinner chassis, adequate processor, memory and hard drive to be able to carry out the daily tasks smoothly. Not sure if the lack of a DVD drive would affect you much as not many people seem to use them these days. It is sufficient for surfing the internet, working on Microsoft Word and Excel- spreadsheets (Microsoft Office runs smoothly on it and you get 1 month trial for the Microsoft Office ), preparing uni assignments or playing music and videos.
Screen quality is fine but not the best and the graphics performance is again good for daily tasks. Finger prints seem to be a bit of problem with this Satellite as it seems to be prone to them- attracting fingerprints easily. This Satellite is an EPEAT Gold registered and Energy Star qualified one like the majority of Toshiba laptops. It is not a top of the range powerhouse by any means but is definitely more powerful and functional than a tablet you can get at this price level. It comes with a 1 year standard limited warranty for parts and labor ıf you need it in a year.
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