Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5108

Occasionally, manufacturers release a laptop identical to some of the previous models. This time it’s the Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5108, which has the same specifications as the C55D-A5107. It’s possible that these 15.6-inchers ship with different Windows operating system versions, with the C55D-A5108 probably having the latest Windows 8.1 Update. The Update, however, is publicly available for all Windows 8 users for free, so it doesn’t matter much which Win 8 version you get with your new PC. You can upgrade it the latest easily.

Generally speaking, the A5108 is a budget machine, based on traditionally more affordable AMD’s processing technology. In particular, the AMD A6-5200 quad-core processor with the Radeon HD 8400 integrated graphics. It can handle all everyday tasks pretty well, no matter if it’s web surfing, word or spreadsheet editing, or multimedia playback. But it still can’t compete against Intel’s quad-core i7 processors, which are good for the most complex tasks such as professional video and photo editing. The Radeon GPU on the A6 isn’t a gaming video card by no means. You can use it for 2D games and eventually some 3D gaming on low detail and resolution settings. If you add sufficiently sized 4GB of RAM memory and a spacious 750-Gigabyte hard drive to the mix, this notebook PC provides a good value for the money, performance-wise.

The feature set also makes this Satellite model a good buying choice. It provides a DVD burner, stereo speakers, webcam, three USBs, HDMI plus VGA video connectors, and a media card reader. All in all, this is an admirable selection and it will suite needs of the majority of users. At the price point this low, one can’t expect the laptop to have some advanced stuff such as keyboard backlight, 1080p screen resolution (the display is 720p on this model), nor overly attractive design.

The C55D-A5108 sports a simplistic chassis in black matte color, which is easy to keep clean. The casing is 1.3″ thick and the whole system weighs 5.3 pounds. These measures don’t stand out from the category’s average. This means it’s not too bulky, but keep in mind that this laptop is meant to sit on the desk most of the time and carried around only occasionally.