Toshiba Satellite S55-A5176 Review

15.6 inch Toshiba Satellite S55-A5176
via Amazon

Toshiba Satellite S55-A5176 is a modern and powerful 2014 model 15.6 inch notebook as part of the Toshiba S50 series with a sleek design, a 4th generation Intel i7 processor, lots of memory- 8GB and storage- 750GB space, entertainment capabilities with great sound and graphics by the trusted Toshiba brand at a reasonable price. It is suitable for work, school or home use.

Intel Core i7-4700MQ (6 M Cache) processor at up to 3.40GHz speed with Turbo Boost Technology, a large 8 GB system memory for all the multitasking you need, an ample 750GB hard drive to store 1000s of word excel documents, photos and music files and the latest Windows 8.1 operating system. There is not a lot to be said about the Intel i7- 4700MQ as it is one of the best Haswell processors with superior speed and performance. You may run the most demanding apps and software easily with a few tabs open on the side and no lags or freezing to be experienced. Windows 8 is still not very popular with many computer customers but this one comes with the 64-bit version of 8.1 pre-installed and it is a little better than the Windows 8 with its extra useful functions.

15.6 inch TruBrite TFT LCD diagonal widescreen LED backlit (slimmer, longer lasting and less power consuming) display at 1366 x 768 maximum pixel resolution and Intel HD graphics offer great picture quality with vibrant colors. You'll get to enjoy the movies, songs and games even more through the Harmon Kardon speakers and DTS Studio Sound with richer audio, deeper bass and true to life conversations. You have the built-in high definition webcam and microphone to chat comfortably on Skype or Yahoo Messenger. With Resolution+, your regular (non-HD) definition content turns into much better quality sharper HD-like visuals.

Toshiba Satellite S55-A5176 weighs 5.1 lbs and is only 1 inch thick. It comes with a 6-cell lithium ion battery that offers up to 4 hours battery life in normal use but depends on the screen and power management settings, apps installed and how it is generally used and this battery life decreases over time. The premium raised tile keyboard has an integrated 10-key numeric keypad for easy calculations and a responsive touchpad that supports multiple touch gestures (swipe, pinch, zoom, rotate and scroll easily).

It has pretty much everything covered when it comes to connectivity options.. A DVD SuperMulti Drive even though it is only 1 inch thick, 802.11b/g/n wireless, 1GB Ethernet with RJ-45 for wired internet connection, Bluetooth 4.0 to synchronize your smart phone or use cordless speakers, printers etc, a memory card reader, an HDMI port, a USB 2.0 port with a sleep and charge function (to charge devices when the laptop is in hibernation or off), 2 x USB 3.0 ports to transfer data very quickly, an HD webcam with microphone, an RGB port and a headphone jack.

Conclusion: Toshiba Satellite S55-A5176 is Energy Star qualified like the other 93% of Toshibas- this one also having a Haswell processor (both performing better and consuming less energy). It is criticized for having a battery that is not user replaceable so it needs to be returned to Toshiba for the battery to be replaced. It also doesn't have a backlit keyboard if you tend to work in a darker room or dim lighting. Otherwise it is a very powerful computer with all the top specs and features and a good range of connectivity ports. Although it is very capable and powerful, the graphics card is an Intel HD, that is probably not sufficient for the latest 3D games at higher settings, but for everything else you'll experience great results.

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