Toshiba Satellite L355 for $348 — Netbook Not Required
Image courtesy Laptop Magazine
The netbook camp is largely divided into two groups — the people who like them due to their small size, and those who like them being so darn cheap. There’s actually a third group that sits on both sides of that fence. Toshiba knows that members of the “cheap” group are not necessarily fond of the super-portable netbooks, and it has released the Satellite L355 for just $348. What sets this cheap notebook apart from the crowd is what the low price gets you — Laptop Magazine finds that “you’d be hard pressed to find a budget notebook that gives you better specs and performance punch for your dollar.”
So what does $348 get you? A big 17-inch notebook with decent screen resolution (1440×900) and a DVD drive. It also has 3 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive, so it’s not totally stripped down. The processor is not the latest and greatest from Intel, but you can’t expect a top-notch CPU in a notebook costing less than 350 bucks. Overall, Laptop Magazine found the L355 to be a decent notebook that is far cheaper than most other 17-inch laptops. Heck, it’s actually $51 less expensive than the netbook Kevin bought recently, so if size is not your main concern, it’s worth a look.
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Great notebook for grandma!
Windows Vista on a Celeron??? Performance not much better than an Atom. Seriously, you cannot even multitask on this machine. A 17″ notebook selling for $348 is nothing more than a CLEARANCE ITEM.
Not cool.
And it weighs how much?
As noted, size and price are the significant selling points to netbooks – but portability has always been a constant in that market. And the ability to have a device that weighs a fraction of a ‘real’ notebook and yet is still capable has caused many users to leave their old notebooks at home in favour of a netbook.
Offering a large, under-powered (and one assumes, heavy) notebook does not compete with netbooks at all, regardless of price. And it probably doesn’t do much to encourage one to dump one’s desktop in favour of it, either.
Will the Toshiba Satellite L355 function well for simple (match 3) game play?