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Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161 review: Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman
6 min read

With numerous laptops spread across its L, C, A, M, T, E, W, and R series, Toshiba may not run out of new product lines until it runs out of letters. We're pretty sure the midprice L series is above the entry-level C series, and below the premium A series, but that's as far into Toshiba's numerology (letterology?) as we're willing to delve.

7.3

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161

The Good

The 15-inch <b>Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161</b> is a good entry point for midsize laptops with Intel's second-gen Core i-series processors, and we've always liked the company's sleep-and-charge USB ports.

The Bad

The design is strictly no-frills, and there are no high-speed data ports, such as USB 3.0 or eSATA. Plus, we hate the shortened spacebar on the keyboard.

The Bottom Line

Though not particularly inspiring, the basic 15-inch Toshiba Satellite L655 has a current-gen CPU and can be found for around $600, making it a worthwhile budget choice.

That said, these L-series laptops (which carry the Satellite name) have always been workhorse machines, closest perhaps to Dell's Insprions; they typically include decent mainstream parts for $500 to $650. The latest version, called the Satellite L655-S5161, has Intel's second-gen Core i3 processor, basic integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive--about as generic a loadout as a budget-minded laptop can get.

For less than $650 (we've seen it for as little as $619), it's not a door-busting bargain, and we were able to configure a comparable Dell for the same $619. But extra features, such as the sleep-and-charge USB ports (which can power phones and other devices even when the laptop is off) give it a leg up on the similarly priced competition.

Price as reviewed $619
Processor 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M
Memory 4GB, 667MHz DDR3
Hard drive 500GB 5,400rpm
Chipset Intel HM65
Graphics Intel HD 3000
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Dimensions (WD) 15.0 x 9.8 inches
Height 1.2 - 1.5 inches
Screen size (diagonal) 15.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 5.6/6.3 pounds
Category Midsize

Toshiba covers the L655, as most of its recent Satellites, with a dark silvery gray pattern, under one of the glossiest finishes we've ever seen. It could probably pick up fingerprints from someone just looking at it. Inside, the same pattern follows through to the keyboard tray and wrist rest, but the keyboard itself is jet black.

The body feels sturdy, but the trade-off is a thick, chunky laptop that isn't going to win any modeling contracts. It's also about a pound heavier than a 14-inch Satellite L-series laptop we looked at last year, so we wouldn't suggest lugging it around on your daily commute (a couple of days per week is probably fine).

Flat-topped, island-style keyboards are the norm now, and Toshiba has had nearly the same one on its last several generations of Satellite laptops. The 15-inch version includes a separate number pad, with very generous number keys, as well as large Shift, Tab, and other useful keys. However, Toshiba has not yet fixed its main keyboard flaw: an aggravatingly shortened spacebar, which can be murder for touch typists.

The matte multitouch touch pad lies flush with the rest of the keyboard deck and can get a little lost under your fingers, but it's well-complemented by a pair of large mouse buttons, which have a shiny surface and a convex shape for no discernible reason.

Toshiba continues to include the genuinely useful sleep-and-charge feature, which lets you use a USB port to power or recharge devices such as a mobile phone or media player, even if the laptop is asleep or off, via either the battery or AC power.

Also included are a couple of proprietary media/productivity apps. Book Place is an e-book reader/store, powered by a company called Blio ('cause it's really hard to find places to buy e-books online). And we've seen Toshiba's ReelTime before; it's essentially a system history browser, displaying recent documents and Web pages in thumbnail form along the bottom of the screen.

The 15.6-inch display features a 1,366x768-pixel native resolution, which is standard for the size. Movies and 720p HD video look fine, although the glossy screen coating can pick up glare from nearby lights. A pair of narrow speaker grills sits right above the keyboard, but they didn't push out much volume.

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161 Average for category [midsize]
Video VGA plus HDMI VGA plus HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data 3 USB 2.0, SD card reader 4 USB 2.0, SD card reader, eSATA
Expansion None ExpressCard/54
Networking Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband
Optical drive DVD burner DVD burner

The Toshiba Satellite L655's connection options are on the bare bones side, as it doesn't have Bluetooth, USB 3.0, or eSATA. You can't expect too much for around $600, but we think a high-speed data port of some kind is essential these days for many users.

While this year's Intel processors (still called the Core-i series, but the second generation of them) have shown distinct performance and battery life improvements over last year's versions, the difference is more pronounced in the more mainstream Core i5 chips. With a lower-end 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M, you'll get a perfectly fine system for general laptop use, from multitasking to HD video playback, but other recent laptops, including Toshiba's 13-inch Portege R835, performed better. But, unless you're doing a lot of high-end video editing, it's unlikely to slow down or stutter under even a heavy multitasking workload.

Intel's new integrated graphics are better than last year's, but still not a substitute for a dedicated GPU. In Street Fighter IV, running at 1,366x768 pixels, we got 16.1 frames per second, while our older Unreal Tournament III test, at the same resolution, ran at 58.6 frames per second. That means basic gaming is possible, if you dial down settings and resolutions (and games such as World of Warcraft should play fine), but this isn't going to be a heavy-duty gaming rig.

Juice box
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161 Average watts per hour
Off (60%) 0.28
Sleep (10%) 0.92
Idle (25%) 6.38
Load (05%) 34.65
Raw kWh number 31.43
Annual power consumption cost $3.57

Annual power consumption cost
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161
$3.57 
Asus U41J
$6.84 

Particularly for a bulky 15-inch laptop, the Satellite L655 does well in battery life. In our video playback battery drain test, it ran for 4 hours and 27 minutes, which easily beats our 3-hour cutoff for midsize laptops. Much of the credit goes to Intel's very power efficient new Core i-series platform, which has shown great strides in battery life across the board.

Toshiba includes an industry-standard one-year parts and labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and a support search page can direct you to online documents and driver downloads, but note that despite being available from several retailers, we couldn't find this exact model number on Toshiba's Web site.

Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Unreal Tournament III (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
1280x768, 0X AA, 0X AF  
1366 x 768, 4X AA, 8X AF  
Asus U41J
153.8 
149.1 
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161
61.8 
58.6 

Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations:

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 500GB Toshiba 5,400rpm

Asus U41J
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.53GHz Intel Core i3 M380; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 425M + 64MB (Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Apple MacBook Pro - Core i5 Sandy Bridge 13.3-inch - 2.3GHz
OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard; 2.3GHz Intel Core i5; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 384MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG-7805
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 M460; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 + 128MB Intel GMA HD; 320GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Toshiba Portege R835-P56X
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated)/1696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

7.3

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5161

Score Breakdown

Design 7Features 7Performance 7Battery 8Support 7