Toshiba Satellite L755-5244

Toshiba Satellite L755-5244

The Toshiba Satellite L755-5244 ($529.99 list at Staples) is a run-of-the-mill laptop available at Staples that gives you plenty of basic capabilities but very few frills. Its standard-issue hardware and unremarkable battery life will get you through the day, but without the extra oomph you'll find in our Editors' Choice for low-priced laptops, the Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066A9U (4 stars, $629.99 list). If you don't want to spend the extra $100, will work - just prepare yourself for it to do so with less speed and less power. The L755-5244 sports an attractive but understated design on its cover: checked gray plastic with a faint diamond pattern. (Toshiba calls it "Matrix Graphite.") This stretches onto the inside of the laptop as well, though the bezel around the 15.6-inch, 1,366-by-768-resolution LED-backlit screen is solid black. (A webcam and microphone are integrated into the top center of the display bezel.) So is the keyboard, which comprises a collection of flat, squarish keys whose stiffness and lack of travel grant at best a passable typing experience. Particularly troublesome is the short space bar; at least there's a 10-key number pad, and a multitouch touch pad for all your mousing needs. If you need a card reader, the L755-5244's is located on its center-front edge.