Toshiba Satellite P745-S4320

Toshiba Satellite P745-S4320

The Toshiba Satellite P745-S4320 ($869.99 list at Best Buy), a mainstream laptop, recommends itself with plenty of must-have features: A Blu-ray player, USB 3.0 interface, fast Core i5 CPU, and WiMAX and WiDi 2.0 wireless features. But if you have no intention of taking advantage of the wireless options and Blu-ray player, then you're better off looking at cheaper laptops. Plastic enclosures have largely been retired by mainstream laptop manufacturers for sleeker aluminum chassis - but apparently Toshiba hasn't caught on to the trend. The P745-S4320 has a textured lid and wrist rest, with a "Fusion X2 Platinum" finish that isn't quite my style, but may be yours. The entire chassis weighs 4.85 pounds, qualifying it as a middle-weight in the 14-inch space; as you can see from the varying weights between the Sony VAIO VPC-EG27FM/W ($779.99, 3.5 stars) (5.1 pounds), Dell Inspiron 14z (Core i5) ($750 direct, 4 stars) (4.5 pounds), and Asus U46E-BAL6 ($899.99 list, 4 stars) (4.9 pounds). Its 14 inch widescreen displays in the standard 1,366-by-768 resolution found on most 14-inch laptops, like the Sont VPC-EG27FM/W and Dell Inspiron 14z (Core i5).