PROCESSING POWER
For those who are unfamiliar the L series it is Toshiba's mid-range Satellite line and a good compromise between power, cost, battery life etc. While the L series doesn't have aluminum casing of the S or P series it has many of the same components, just lacks the options (like a dedicated GPU, or i7). I purchased the i3 1.9ghz, 3rd gen. Mostly because I already have a 1st gen i3 2.3 ghz in my Dell and found the power and speed adequate, while giving minimal power consumption. While multitasking mult programs you get some bottlenecking, but it's tolerable. If you plan on doing media intensive applications like games, video editing etc. This is not the laptop for you, the i3 1.9ghz with Mobile Intel HD is not well suited for any type of heavy graphic processing. But if that is what you are looking for you probably know that already. It will handle HD streaming, DVD's, HD vid playback fine but don't expect too much. As far RAM goes, the 240 pin DIMM DRR3 is pretty much industry standard, and is generally the best ram chip set for now, (DRR 4 is due next year) and 6GB is generally adequate but more never hurts, so feel free order another module to add.
DISPLAY
The HD "TruBrite" is good, just good not great. It's not a full HD, it's 720p (as denoted by the last resolution value of 768). But, since nearly all streaming HD content is 720 (even it claims to be 1080p, it's generally isn't true 1080p) it's not a big deal. Also, since this machine generally is not suited to heavy video editing so 1080 capable is not even a reasonable expectation. If you are looking for 1080 capable then again this really isn't for you. What makes this display, ok, but not great is the viewing angle and colors. The viewing angle on the monitor in relation to pitch is very narrow. If you don't have it in the "sweet spot" the blacks look almost gray and color looks a little washed. This is a characteristic of all LCD/LED monitors but on this particular one the range is very narrow. Playing with the color and gamma settings helped considerably, so it is workable with a bit of tweaking. The touchscreen works excellently, registering every pinch and touch without a hitch and seems to have no latency. What is a little different is that the screen feels "soft", it has a lot of give and has a noticeable plastic feel about it. If you like the solid glass feel of a touchscreen this may disappoint you. I believe this is due to there being a plastic layer between the screen and your finger, but there isn't a large noticeable gap.
BUILD
This is where the laptop fails the most. While everything thus far is functionally solid the fit finish is lacking. The exterior casing is slightly spongy feeling and doesn't feel super solid. The edges where the sections of casing meets is definitely lacking polish. The edges don't line up perfectly and leave a fairly sharp plastic edge the protrudes beyond the other section, so there is a sharp plastic edge running around the laptop. Seems like the could have been solved by smoothing and polishing the edge before assembly. The casing shell in general feels a little flimsy and in comparison to other laptops I own in similar price points this is definitely the worst. The sound on the other hand is quite good, maybe even great. The speakers reside above the keypad projecting excellently and the DTS sound is really quite good for a laptop.
KEYS/TOUCHPAD
The keyboard is a little tough to get used to for me. It is a chiclet style with the keys spaced apart fairly wide and are very flat with little play, so the tactile response and feel is a little strange if you are used to a Lenovo or Dell style key (these are built like a traditional desktop keyboard.) Once I got used to it though I do like the solid feel of them, and the keystrokes are soft and quiet. Also, as a plus there is a LED light for the "caps lock" to indicate it is on. The track pad is again, ok not great. The pad is a click style and works well enough but feels cheap and too springy. The pad will have a little give without clicking and makes if feel cheap, my preference has been a shallower click and less play. (Also, a side note, turn off the tap to click immediately, way too sensitive!) The pad does work without a hitch just the touch and feel of it could be better.
OVERALL
I am going to rate this a 4 out of 5 stars. To me 4 stars is that the item performs exactly as you expected and as you need. 5 stars would be for something performs above and beyond and 3 stars for something that works well, but not quite as you hoped. The Toshiba Satellite L45t does exactly what I want it too and is up to my expectations. The fit and finish could be better, but $570 for a touchscreen laptop with good sound quality, a larger sized HDD, decent RAM and serviceable HD screen this is really a good value at this price point. If the price was closer to 650, I would say find something with the Intel HD 4000 and an i5 (maybe ASUS s500). Overall I would give this L45t a positive recommendation, as long as you understand what you computing needs are and buy accordingly.
Note: There are few things that buyers should be aware, this model (all L models and S, and U) do not have a user replaceable battery. Unfortunately, this is becoming standard procedure for laptops of the mid and higher price points. Toshiba offers battery replacement for 4 cell batteries for about $120 (as of right now. While this may seem a lot, its not too bad. To purchase a 4 cell LithIon polymer battery pack of high quality costs about $70, so if you are tech savvy you could in theory buy the batteries (they are bound batteries in the internal casing) and do it yourself, but I haven't (obviously) done this yet and couldn't tell you how difficult it would be. Also, Toshiba is ranked very well in reliability testing according to SquareTrade's statistics, and this factored into my purchase decision. While you can purchase a more powerful laptop made by HP or Acer etc for the same price point, the reliability rating is significantly worse.
UPDATE: I have finally had the chance to test the battery. Using MS Office only, with airplane mode turned on and with ECO settings (dimmer screen, faster sleep time) I used about 45 percent of the battery after 3 1/2 hours, and the projection was that I had 4 hours of battery time left. With this limited sample size it would seem this is very good for a 4-cell battery and exactly what I was hoping for, maybe even a little better. I tested it for about an hour with normal power settings on a full charge and it used about 18 percent of the battery after an hour, getting me a hair over five hours of battery time; which is very good.
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I will break down this review into the various categories rather than just ramble on endlessly in one big review.CPU RAM Performance: Prior to this laptop I was using a Intel i5 2.4gHz laptop with 8GB of RAM and this Toshiba easily equals the performance of the "better" CPU and higher RAM availability. Multitasking is not a problem so far for this laptop. I've run Photoshop, Painter SAI and Corel graphics programs simultaneously with no issues, this while streaming Netflix in the background (I need my background noise when doing graphical work) The laptop boots in under ten seconds and comes back instantly from sleep, unlike the previous laptop. A lot of that I believe has to do with Windows 8 which I wll touch on later. I have not encountered any bottlenecks so far performance wise on this unit, and I generally put a good deal of strain on my laptops. I can't answer any questions about gaming on this system, but I wouldn't suspect anyone to be looking in the sub $500 range for a gaming laptop.
Screen Touchscreen: The screen has excellent color reproduction right out of the box, if you like or need more vivid colors, that is easily adjusted in the settings. You can make it Disney vivid if you really wanted to. The viewing angles are on par with just about every other laptop out there under $900. Compared to the others we have in the household (HP, Lenovo, Sony and Dell), the viewing angles are exactly the same. The working angle (sitting in front of the screen) is just fine, color and clarity don't change much at all unless you start getting into steep viewing angles. The left-right side viewing angles are limited, which in my opinion is a good thing because I don't need the person next to me reading my emails or viewing whats on the screen while I am working. Limited left-right side viewing angles in my opinion are a nice security bonus. The touch screen is very accurate and very responsive, not to mention a serious blessing when using Windows 8. Toshiba did a nice job with the touch screen on this laptop. Another nice touch is rather than tiny rubber feet here and there around the screen to keep it from bumping into your keyboard when you close the lid, which fall out over time, this one has a solid rubber border all the way around the screen to protect it. In certain light and viewing angles you may be able to see the touch screen grid work on the screen itself, but even when it is visible, it does not distract or take away from the quality of the image on the screen. I've only managed to see it when in sunlight and I have the screen tilted way back.
Keyboard Touchpad: By now most people have gotten used to the chicklet style of keyboards, but if you have not, it wont take long to get used to it and start enjoying the ease of use it affords. The keys while soft, are solid and the extra space between the keys is nice (especially for big hands) and allows for easy and fast typing. The touchpad is smooth and responsive, it ranks in the top five of the best I've used. It's not super fantastic, but its better than most.
Audio: The speakers are located above the keyboard on this unit and produce some of the best sound I have ever heard out of a laptop that wasn't a dedicated multimedia/gaming laptop. I test the speakers using a mix of classical, pop, rock and even heavy bass rap music to get a feel for the performance and I was seriously impressed by the sound reproduction on this unit. Obviously not going to have a lot of bass, but it's suffice enough that music isn't flat.
Build Quality: Another reviewer complained about the build quality and I don't know if he got a unit built while someone was having a bad day or what, but the unit I got is assembled exceptionally. All the seams are very tight and aligned perfectly. The unit is obviously plastic, but its durability seems fine. I did a few basic twist tests to see how much flex it had, and honestly it is fairly rigid. There was slight flexing to the base when you try and twist it,but it was honestly less than the Aluminum ASUS this unit is replacing. The screen has the same flex as any other plastic topped laptop does, but less spongy. The top on my Asus and the top on the Lenovo has serious spongy flex, this top is more tight...as in it only gives so much and then stops. Overall it is a well put together unit and is (for me) the perfect weight. It's not so light that you fling it around and it's not so heavy that you'd rather leave it in the car. Another nice perk is the silver top and silver palm rests on this laptop. You barely notice finger prints or smudges, unlike the sparkly all black laptops.
Heat: So far the unit has not gotten very hot at all. Under a heavy load you will notice some heat on the palm rest areas and a small spot on the bottom, but nothing that would burn you or even be uncomfortable. The fan is quiet, but not silent. You will hear it come on, but after that it quiets down to where most wont hear it.
Windows 8: Ok, this part is probably going to get a lot of people hating me, because honestly I bought this expecting to hate W8 with every ounce of my being based on everything the media and all my friends and coworkers have said about it. I was ready to hate it with a passion and even willing to buy a Windows 7 DVD to change the OS. Ten minutes into using Windows 8 and I can't for the life of me see what's wrong with it. It's very easy to customize. It's also a very fast, sleek and fluid OS. Yes, it is very different than the Windows most are used to...but its no different than when Microsoft went from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. If you take a few minutes to get familiar with where things are moved to and how it works, how to set up and customize your desktop as well as the start screen, you will find that it is a lot easier and faster to use. After one day with the OS I was showing everyone else all the shortcuts and settings and how to use it, now most everyone likes it. You just have to take a short time to learn it is all. Also the touch screen makes a WORLD of difference in using Windows 8 over just using it with a mouse. It can be done both ways, but mouse only requires a little more patience.
Quirks Annoyances: The power plug....every single laptop I have owned in the last decade the power cord where it plugs into the laptop is always at a 90 degree angle so it doesn't stick out. Toshiba decided to just make this plug perfectly straight so that it stick out a good 2" from the side of the laptop....which is just asking for it to get bumped and to break....more than likely, inside the laptop. The CD/DVD drive is on the left side of the laptop, which just makes arranging your work space where ever you go a little more time consuming as most laptops have the CD/DVD on the right side.
BOTTOM LINE: This is an excellent budget touch screen laptop that seems (so far) to be performing very well and is built to last. I still have my Toshiba Satellite 650mHz Pentium II laptop and it still works just fine...not that it can do much more than play solitaire anymore, but it still works perfectly. Toshiba makes a good product, and I went away from them for a few years in favor of ASUS, however recent experiences with ASUS and their rapid decline in quality is what lead me to come back to Toshiba and give them another try. So far, I don't regret the decision at all.
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