Toshiba Satellite L650-1GD

Toshiba Satellite L650-1GD review

Toshiba's output never seems to slow and its Satellite range incorporates everything from entry-level laptops to powerful multimedia machines. The Satellite L650-1GD is a mid-range laptop with strong performance, but it struggles to stand out. The chassis is one of the bulkiest with a thickness of 40mm, although the 2.5kg weight means it can be comfortably carried in a case. We liked the all-black design featuring a subtle wavy pattern, although we noticed some flex along the right edge and also in the centre of the lid, which could potentially harm the display. A glossy coating has been used for the 15.6-inch screen and we found reflections to be a hindrance to outdoor use, as with the other laptops in this group. Images are well reproduced and colourful, however. With an Intel Core i5 460M processor and 3072MB of DDR3 memory running the show, this laptop produced a solid performance in our benchmarking tests, on a par with the Dell XPS 15 and Packard Bell EasyNote TX86. You can happily run a number of applications at once with no slowdown, and should easily be able to for some time to come. Unfortunately, graphical power is lacking.