Now playing:Watch this:
Toshiba Satellite P745-S4240
2:23
Underneath the seemingly predictable veneer of the 14-inch Toshiba Satellite P745D-S4240 are two new stories, albeit ones that might not interest the average person much. The Satellite P series is a new laptop line for Toshiba, although you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and the M, A, and L series of Satellite laptops (the P replaces the M and A). Under the hood is a quad-core AMD A6 processor, part of a new line of budget-targeted AMD Vision A-series APUs that include better-than-Intel-integrated graphics to accompany mainstream processing power.
Indeed, for $629, the Toshiba Satellite P745D-S4240 represents a very fair value for a midrange laptop with Harman Kardon speakers, 640GB of hard-drive space, and 6GB of RAM. There are caveats, however: the battery life on the thick P745 is decidedly below average. And the AMD A6 processor as tested was significantly slower than an Intel Core i5-2410M, although Core i5 laptops tend to cost at least $100 more--some budget Core i5 laptops like the Lenovo Essential G570 manage to be even less expensive. The Satellite P745D-S4240 is admittedly well-stocked with features such as Bluetooth and USB 3.0, but other than that it's just more of the same in a similar package. Affordable, yes, but not utterly memorable. Budget shoppers would be better off considering a laptop like the Dell Inspiron 14z, an even thinner laptop with USB 3.0 that has far better battery life and a comparable price.
Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.
Discuss: Toshiba Satellite P745D-S4240 review: AMD A6 processor worth the savings?
Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.