The Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5515 is the cheapest brand new 15.6-inch notebook on the market at the time of this writing. Priced at $280 at Best Buy, the laptop features the AMD E-300 Accelerated Processing Unit with dual cores and AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. The laptop supports 1080p video playback, but only on an external display, since its screen is a 720p-class one. However, the laptop doesn’t feature an HDMI port, so you have to use the old VGA for video output. Despite the very low price point, the Satellite C655D-S5515 does have a built-in web camera. The main downside of the notebook is its small amount of RAM, which is not enough for any serious multi-tasking on Windows 7 Home Premium. But, it’s easily upgradeable to maximal 8GB of memory.
Regarding the CPU performance, you can expect speed similar to those on the Intel Atom dual-core N2600 and N2800 CPUs for netbooks, but the integrated Radeon 6320 is generally better than the netbook-use GMA 3600 by Intel. On the other side, a little bit more expensive and widely used laptops with the Intel Pentium B-series processors are pretty much faster in both CPU and GPU tasks. What AMD Fusion processors are good at is power efficiency, so you can expect a better battery life on the laptop when compared to those powered by Pentiums. According to the product specs, the run time is almost six hours.
When it comes to design, the C655D-S5515 looks like any other black C650-series Satellite, meaning you will get a simple-looking notebook without any spectacular stylish elements and thinness.
Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5515 Specifications
Screen: 15.6″ glossy-type at 1366×768
CPU & GPU: AMD E-300
RAM: 2GB DDR3, expandable to 8GB
HDD: 320GB at 5,400rpm
ODD: DVD burner
Network: 802.11n wireless; Ethernet LAN
Ports/Slots: 2 x USB 2.0, VGA, media card reader
Webcam: Yes
Battery: 6-cell for “5 hours and 55 minutes” of run time
Dimensions & Weight: 1.5 x 15 x 9.8 in, 5.5 pounds
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Warranty: 1-Year