7/14/2017 0 Comments Toshiba Laptop With Vista Too SlowCommunity. Toms Hardwarehttp: //www. The Tom’s Hardware team includes experts in CPUs, graphics processing, motherboards, cases, display technology, system memory, consumer and enterprise storage, peripherals, tablets, and more. Toshiba Satellite L3. Review of the Toshiba Satellite L3. Compared to big- box stores such as Best Buy, Wal- Mart hasn't isn't exactly well known for its comprehensive laptop selection. But recently, that's been starting to change. First, the retail giant made waves last month when it began selling a $2. Compaq laptop. Now, it's making another statement with the Toshiba Satellite L3. S7. 91. 5)- -a bare- bones, but surprisingly capable 1. A few design letdowns aside (such as an absent webcam), the performance is good for a sub- $4. Web, watch movies, and do some word processing. Moreover, you'd be hard pressed to find a budget notebook that gives you better specs and performance punch for your dollar. It combines a matte, fingerprint- resistant lid and keyboard deck with a matte black keyboard. In addition to the color scheme, the complete lack of frills and features gives away the L3. There's no webcam, and the space above the keyboard is devoid of any launch keys or multimedia controls; there's a thin, unused panel that houses such buttons on more expensive configurations of this system. Measuring 1. 5. 6 x 1. L3. 55 is not unreasonably heavy for a notebook this size; in fact, it feels lighter than you might think when you pick it up. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() We found it easy to shuttle from room to room, which is about how far you're likely to transport it. Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard on the L3. The keys' matte finish felt comfortable underneath our fingers, and we appreciated their large size. Sometimes it works fine for hours, sometimes it shuts. Anyone up for a little multimedia a la multiple modes? The Toshiba Satellite Radius P55 boasts a breathtaking 4K display that's perfect for watching movies, as well. The keyboard's panel felt sturdy, even if it was a bit noisy. On the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor test (www. The 1. 8 x 3. 0- inch touchpad was plenty large, and has low friction, making it easy to drag the cursor across the screen. While the buttons are a tad noisy, they're easy to press, although their shallow pitch is surprising given their size. Display and Sound The bright, 1. When we watched an episode of Mad Men on DVD, the picture looked crisp and vibrant head on, but as soon as we dipped the lid forward the screen appeared washed out; when we tried watching from the side (as if we were part of a group crowded around the screen), the contrast was too low. ![]() Although the 1. 44. DVD look sharp. Once buffered, an HD program on Hulu ran smoothly, and showed lots of detail. The speakers, located on either side of the strip above the keyboard, produced loud sound when we streamed songs on Slacker, but our air conditioner easily drowned out dialog in a movie. As for the quality, tracks by Oasis and Beck sounded minimally tinny. In a nod to older notebooks, the L3. Ports and (Lack of) Webcam One of the few disappointing things about the L3. ![]() Although we're sure some customers can easily live without one, even comparably priced netbooks have webcams these days. The L3. 55's array of ports are equally simple: Three USB 2. VGA (but no HDMI) output, and an Ethernet jack. On the front side is a Wi- Fi switch and headphone and mic ports. On the right side is an 8. X DVD drive (you can use it to play back and watch DVDs, as well as burn in a variety of formats), and on the left is an Express. ![]() Card 3. 4/5. 4 slot. The L3. 55 lacks a memory card reader which is a minor annoyance considering its ubiquity on other notebooks. Performance So how well does the L3. GHz Intel Celeron 9. GB of RAM perform? ![]()
![]() That depends, somewhat, on what machines you compare it to, but the short answer is: The performance is more than acceptable considering its rock- bottom price, and more powerful than 1. ULV notebooks, which are thinner and more expensive, but run on weaker Core Solo processors. The L3. 55's PCMark Vantage score of 2,0. Acer Timeline 5. 81. T, a 1. 5. 6- inch ULV system, scored (1,3. Not surprisingly, the L3. When we had four open tabs in Google Chrome, reading blogs and scrolling through our Twitter feed, the machine always paused a second before switching between tabs. However, we were able to download and install Google Earth while enjoying smooth DVD playback at full screen. While its overall performance is relatively good, the L3. GB, 5,4. 00- rpm hard drive is slow: it transferred a 4. GB mixed media folder at a rate of 1. MBps, while the average desktop replacement's speed is 2. MBps. However, the machine booted in 5. Vista notebook. It should be noted, though, that the L3. Windows Vista Home Basic, and not the Premium version found in most notebooks. For evidence that the L3. Celeron processor isn't ideal for intense multimedia, however, look no further than our transcoding test: the notebook took 1. MPEG- 4 clip to the AVI format using Handbrake, whereas the average laptop this size does completes this task in less than half the time (5: 0. Graphics. The L3. Intel GMA 4. 50. 0M graphics scored 7. DMark. 06, which is paltry when you compare it to other desktop replacements (including many a gaming rig), which notch 6,1. Then again, this machine is still punchier than what you'd get with a ULV notebook: the Aspire Timeline 5. T, for instance, scored 5. As expected, the L3. Far Cry 2, squeaking out 2 frames per second; that number rose slightly to 4 fps when we lowered the resolution to 1. The graphics even stuttered slightly in Google Earth. Our trips from San Francisco to Orlando to New York City felt slightly jerky, and each time it took a few seconds for the detailed maps and, when applicable, 3. D buildings to load. The graphics card's limitations were most obvious not when we traveled the globe, but when we zoomed in on our current location; even though we weren't changing locations, the screen briefly lost focus and had to reload the finely drawn maps as it gave us a closer view. Battery and Wi- Fi The L3. LAPTOP Battery Test, which is right in line for a desktop replacement; these machines are so heavy you're not likely to unplug or travel with them anyway. The 8. 02. 1. 1b/g radio delivered strong throughput of 1. Mbps at 1. 5 feet, but this number dropped to a more modest 1. Mbps at 5. 0 feet. The average desktop replacement's Wi- Fi range is a bit stronger: 1. Mbps and 1. 6. 3 Mbps at 1. Greenness For a desktop replacement machine, the L3. The model received a Gold rating of 2. EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). Also, the L3. 55 was fairly efficient when recharging: It took 1 hour and 5. ASUS G5. 1Vx, a gaming rig, took 2: 2. Meanwhile, the L3. Using this information, we derived the LAPTOP Battery Efficiency Rating (dividing the total wattage by the battery life in minutes), which came to 4. That's about 1. 0 watts per minute more than the desktop replacement average, and slightly less than the Toshiba Satellite A3. Configurations and the Competition Although this preconfigured version of the L3. Wal- Mart, other configurations of the L3. For example, the L3. S7. 90. 2 ($6. 49) features a 2. GHz Intel Pentium Core T3. GB of RAM, and a 2. GB hard drive. So how does this $3. Right now no one else is even close. The $4. 99 Dell Inspiron 1. GHz Pentium CPU, 2. GB of RAM, a 1. 60. GB hard drive, a 8. Intel's integrated X4. HD graphics card. The $5. 99 HP G7. GB of RAM, a 1. 60. GB hard drive, a wireless- G radio, and a webcam. However, it starts with a Core 2 Duo CPU (not that we think this will make up for the not- so- winning combination of Vista and 1. GB of memory). Software and Warranty The L3. Google Picasa 2, Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, a 2. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2. Microsoft Works, a 6. Symantec Norton 3. Quick. Books Financial Center. The L3. 55 has a standard one- year warranty, including 2. To see how Toshiba fared in our annual tech support showdown, click here. The Verdict The Toshiba L3. S7. 91. 5) isn't sexy, and we wish it had a webcam, but at $3. Given the fact that Toshiba offers better specs for about $2.
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