Toshiba Satellite

Large, solid and packing a 15.6-inch display the Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 is sturdy and slightly generic with its matte black chassis and silver plastic keyboard bezel. However, since it is designed as more of a workhorse than a trendy laptop this shouldn't be an issue. With the large chassis comes plenty of space for a full keyboard. This includes large keyboard keys along with a numeric keypad. Toshiba have made sure that everything is in its right place although the space-bar is slightly shorter than normal making it good for touch typists.

The track pad is a bit over-sized with rather large buttons. This makes for a very easy to use and comfortable track pad and keyboard. While it only weighs six pounds, the Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 does feel a lot bulkier than it really is mainly because of the more solidly built chassis. The 15.6-inch screen offers an anti-glare coating so you can use the laptop even in direct sunlight.

While the Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 doesn't offer the latest components it still delivers great performance with an Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400 processor and 3GB of DDR3 memory. A mid-range 320GB hard disk drive offers a good amount of storage capacity while the Intel GMA 4500M integrated graphics offers smooth 720p HD movies on the via the display's 1366 x768 pixel resolution. Connection-wise the laptop is top-notch though as it offers wireless-n wi-fi connectivity, a VGA port, two USB ports, two USB/eSATA combo ports and a flash media card reader. A DVD burner rounds up this list by offering the ability to playback and archive disc media.

Thankfully the Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 is more than powerful enough to handle multiple applications including office applications, Internet browsing, multimedia and some casual gaming. While the laptop only has a standard six-cell li-ion battery, battery life is very good at three hours and 10 minutes for a single charge. All in all, the Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 is a very solid 15.6 inch laptop offering which should do most mainstream users on a budget very well. While it probably does better as a desktop replacement unit, it still offers respectable portability with good battery life and good all-round performance.