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Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £450
inc VAT

A great first showing for AMD Llano; desktop performance on a par with Intel’s budget chips

Specifications

15.6 in 1,366×768 display, 2.5kg, 1.4GHz AMD A6-3400M, 6.00GB RAM, 320GB disk, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.comet.co.uk

Toshiba’s latest mid-range laptop might not look any different from the other machines in the manufacturer’s current line-up, but it’s easily one of the most exciting. It’s the first laptop we’ve seen powered by a Llano Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), the first from AMD capable of taking on Intel’s mighty second-generation Core processors. Judging by this laptop’s performance, Llano looks set to shake up the budget laptop market.

Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L

The Satellite L755D uses one of the lowest-frequency A6 processors currently in production, the A6-3400M, which runs at 1.4Ghz and is paired with a generous 6GB of RAM. The clock speed may not seem particularly fast, but AMD’s new Turbo Core feature can increase this up to 2.4GHz for better performance in intensive applications, in a similar way to the Turbo Boost technology found on Intel chips. It achieved an overall score of 35 in our multimedia benchmarks, which is a few points behind the average Intel Core i3 laptop.

Although desktop performance is only average, the processor’s integrated graphics are nothing short of revolutionary. In our Dirt 3 benchmark, which runs at 1,280×720 with High detail and 4x anti-aliasing, it managed a nearly-playable 25fps. We could run the game at the laptop’s native 1,366×768 resolution in High detail at a playable 31fps, once we turned off anti-aliasing. This should mean that almost all current generation games will be playable with a bit of tweaking.

Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L left

In spite of the impressive graphics performance, the A6 APU is still very energy-friendly. The Satellite L755D managed nearly six and a half hours in our light-use battery test, which, although not quite enough for all-day computing, is still around an hour longer than the average Core i3 laptop.

Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L right

We were impressed with the hardware inside, but the Satellite L755D’s exterior didn’t provide much excitement. In spite of the radically changed interior, Toshiba has reused the same chassis found in the rest of the L755 line-up, including the red plastic chassis and 15.6in glossy screen. Connectivity is also identical, with three USB ports, VGA and HDMI video outputs, a multi-format card reader that supports the latest SDXC cards and a DVD re-writer. There’s no USB3 support, unfortunately.

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Basic Specifications

Rating *****
Processor AMD A6-3400M
Processor clock speed 1.4GHz
Memory 6.00GB
Memory slots 2
Memory slots free 0
Maximum memory 8GB
Size 28x380x250mm
Weight 2.5kg
Sound Conexant CX20585 SmartAudio HD
Pointing device touchpad

Display

Viewable size 15.6 in
Native resolution 1,366×768
Graphics Processor AMD Radeon HD 6520G
Graphics/video ports VGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory 512MB

Storage

Total storage capacity 320GB
Optical drive type DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion

USB ports 3
Bluetooth no
Wired network ports 1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support 802.11n
PC Card slots none
Supported memory cards SDXC, Memory Stick Pro
Other ports minijack audio output, minijack microphone input

Miscellaneous

Carrying case No
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option restore partition
Software included Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition, Nero Multimedia Suite 10 trial
Optional extras none

Buying Information

Warranty one year RTB
Price £450
Details www.toshiba-europe.com
Supplier http://www.comet.co.uk

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