Toshiba C855-S5214 Review

Available on Amazon.com since 20th of August 2012, the Toshiba C855-S5214 is a cheap budget laptop with a price tag of sub-$500 (at the time of this review).
Judging from the published feature set, the Toshiba Satellite C855-S5214 appears to be a great fit for students and casual users primarily. While it’s certainly not for power users and serious gamers, this laptop should perform well for everyday use.

With a decent Intel Pentium B970 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM running at 1333MHz and a 640GB of disk space I think this laptop offers a pretty good value for the money.

Read my complete Toshiba C855-S5214 review below.

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Who is it for? discussing who would benefit most from this laptop...

Student
As another student, I can honestly say that Toshiba C855-S5214 would be great for one. It has the main advantage of a laptop made for a student: it's cheap. When you're a student you are always on a budget, and it feels sort of weird being on your own all of a sudden. Therefore, you are always looking to get something cheap and good at the same time (sort of like finding the Holy Grail - a near impossible task). This Toshiba C855-S5214 laptop is pretty well suited for a student, as it offers the minimum required power to do all sorts of tasks (even a very small dose of gaming) and it doesn't take a lot of cash to buy it.
Casual User
As a casual user, you do not really need a lot of performance. Honestly, most casual users I know of only use the laptop for tasks such as web-browsing, social networking, the occasional movie and so forth. Therefore, the minimum of computing strength is all that is needed and the casual user doesn't have to pay a whole lot for their PC. That is why the Toshiba C855-S5214 is really good for a casual user. One cannot ask for more as it grants the minimum requirement, enough storage space to last any casual user a lifetime and enough strength as to run just about any program.
Business User
As far as I see it, the perfect laptop for a business user should be the Ultrabook, as I believe that a Business User values mobility above all else. Therefore, something light and preferably with enough strength as to run their programs (it doesn't take all that much), should suffice. That is why I believe this C855-S5214 from Toshiba is pretty good for that particular task. Not only is it light due to its plastic cover, but it is also quite efficient. It has all the required elements to run just about any program that all business users deal with on a daily basis. As long as you don't over-do it with the multitasking, I'd say this laptop should do just nicely.
Power User
For what it's worth, I believe a power user is that specific person that knows what each component / brand is capable of, and is willing to push the product to its limit. A power user is somebody that requires a strong computer for intense multitasking and with a lot of features to help ease his work. Sadly, I believe that this particular laptop isn't suitable for the power users. I believe they should just get their laptops made on custom orders, rather than settle for what the shops are offering.
Gaming
As a gamer myself, I know what it takes if you want successful gaming and a lot of performance and a good framerate. The standard gaming laptop is basically a power user laptop to which you add a very strong video card. Needless to say, one does not simply use such a weak laptop in gaming. What I said about the power users custom building their PCs can very well be applied for gaming laptops as well. The Toshiba C855-S5214 cannot be called a "gaming laptop".

PROs Vs. CONs

One of the very best things about this laptop is that it comes with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium on 64 bits. Microsoft is having a very interesting sale in which: if you purchase any device with Windows 7 on it, you can easily get Windows 8 for free or upgrade to Windows 8 Pro.

One of the main disadvantages (in my opinion) is the fact that this laptop lacks a dedicated video card. I, for one, am a person that uses said component on a regular basis and require it if I am to do what I do.

User Reviews: what others think?

So far, there are no user reviews yet. However, if you purchase it, you could be the first to add a review for this fine product.

Summary

In conclusion, this particular laptop could be very useful for Casual Users, Students and / or Business Users. However, I would definitely not recommend it for Power Users or Gaming. The cost of this device is something that makes it so suitable for those previously mentioned categories.

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Technical Details

Processor Intel Pention B970 2.3 GHz
Video Card Intel HD Graphics
RAM Memory 4GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
Audio integrated with Built-in Stereo Speakers
Operating System Windows 7 @ 64-bit
Display 15.6-inch 1366 x 768px
Storage Drive 640 GB 5400rpm
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
USB 2.0 Ports 2
USB 3.0 Ports 1
Built-in Camera Yes
Built-in Microphone Yes
Optical Drive DVD±RW
Memory Card Reader Yes
Bluetooth -
Headphone-out Yes
VGA-out Yes
HDMI-out Yes
LAN-out Yes
Color Black
Width 14.96 in.
Depth 9.53 in.
Height 1.31 in.
Weight 5.4 lbs. lbs.
Battery Life up to 4 hours
Warranty 1 Year

Updated on January 13th, 2013

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