Toshiba Satellite C40-C review

The laptop isn’t ideal for business use as it has no wired network port and have to make do with 802.11n Wi-Fi. You get plenty of room to plug in peripherals, including two USB2 ports on the left of the laptop and a single USB3 connector on the right for faster data transfers. There’s also a 3.5mm headset jack. You’ll definitely want to plug in headphones for watching films or playing music; the built-in speakers are passable for basic speech but anything more challenging will require external hardware.

You also get an SD card slot which will be crucial if you don’t want to store everything in the cloud. With Windows and its restore partitions in place, you’ll only have around 10GB of the 32GB eMMC flash storage left, which will be eaten up very quickly by programs and larger files. Sadly, having the SD card plugged in at all times will be an exercise in caution, as it sticks out by around half a centimetre and could catch whenever you pull the laptop in and out of your bag. You’re better off using services such as Google Music and Photos to keep your media files in the cloud.

The screen is a 1,366×768-pixel panel, and while it performs every bit like a £200 laptop panel, it is at least bright – we measured a maximum brightness of 260cd/m2 – and has reasonably wide viewing angles. The panel has a glossy coating, which means it’s affected by overhead lighting and sunlight worse than a matt panel, but it’s otherwise a decent display.

Conclusion

The Toshiba Satellite C40-C may be compromised in terms of performance and storage, but it does bring you a highly portable 14in laptop for just £200 with excellent battery life. If you’re willing to keep your files in the cloud and are realistic about the kinds of applications you can run, it’s a good buy. Not for you? See our full list of the best laptops you can buy today.