Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 Review

This Toshiba laptop is truly a work of art. It is beautiful with a slick aluminium brush cover, a gorgeous design and a powerful hardware configuration to boot. The Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 laptop that can currently be bought at the price of $599.99 dollars, but that is because it has a $60 dollars discount applied to it (at the time of this review). With all the things that this device has, it is well worth its price.

The keyboard is one of the most comfortable ones possible and it also has a full numeric keypad to boot. The hardware is exquisite – not too strong, but it is also strong enough as to handle most of the things you throw at it. This laptop can also be considered a relatively decent gaming one – perhaps not the most demanding of games, but certainly a lot of them.

The Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 is also equipped with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Preimum 64 bit. Microsoft is currently having an offer which allows you to upgrade to Microsoft Windows 8 Pro when it will come out for only $15 dollars if you purchase a laptop with Windows 7 on it. In some countries you also have the offer of receiving a free Microsoft wireless mouse for your device.

For this budget it is pretty rare to find such a laptop at such a price. Here is an interesting fact: were it to have Intel on it and not AMD, then the price would have goon up by at least 50%. Nowadays you get the same quality with both of them, but a highly branded name will earn you a ton more than a not so popular one, apparently, since the Intel ones are substantially more expensive than the AMD ones. However, with all the price differences, there is little to no difference whatsoever between the two: they both release highly powerful components at decent prices. Should anyone ever have the nerve of saying that either one of them has overpriced products, I would kindly direct them to look in the Apple store. Hell, with the money you’d pay for a Macbook you can buy 2 highly professional gaming laptops, or build your own Alienware monster of a machine.

Speaking of which, ever notice how many manufacturers have switched their business (the online one, at least) to offering people more creativity and freedom of choice? Dell with their Alienware were first to do it, but now I can see Sony, Lenovo, Asus and a lot more manufacturers putting that system into their devices. Overall, I’d say that’s a good thing, as perhaps you are not always satisfied with the configuration of the laptop and would like to add more.

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

Casual User
A casual user should stay away from Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253, most definitely. It is a laptop that can pretty much handle anything aside from highly demanding games. However, if I were a casual user I'd steer clear of this laptop for one single reason: you risk doing something you will definitely regret, and that's spending a lot of money for a lot of power you won't use.
Student
A student will most definitely benefit from the strength of the device and its speed. However, for a student I have the same complaint as I have for a casual user: the device is just a cut more expensive than you would really need. Same thing can be said about its hardware performance. Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 is strong: perhaps too strong for a student to use. Buy it as a student and you risk purchasing something with more power than you will ever get to use.
Business User
Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 is extremely powerful for a business user. It will handle any business task you have and do it really fast, however, consider the same thing as the student and casual categories: do you really need so much power? Perhaps you do and perhaps you don't, either way the laptop is stronger than you will ever get to know. As a business man there are few times in which you get to see your laptop attain its full potential. My recommendation for the people in this category is that you can do your job with something less expensive and performant. However, this one is perfect too. It can easily be classified as an Ultrabook, which are the main laptop types used by aspiring businessmen all around.
Power User
Perhaps the people in this category are the ones that will benefit the most from this laptop - them and the gamers. This processor, same as the second generation of the Intel i series processors, has a Turbo Boost mode. That being said, if it comes under enough pressure that it needs to do it, the processor will go from 2.3 GHz per core to 3.3 GHz. For a Quad-Core that's pretty good. Also, as if it wasn't enough that it has 6 GB of DDR3 RAM at 1600 MHz, it can also be upgraded to 16 GB as the device has 4 RAM slots. Pretty impressive!
Gaming
Perhaps the only reason why this laptop cannot be used for serious gaming is its video card, or rather, its lack of a dedicated one. That is its only disadvantage. If it has a video card of its own, a dedicated one, I mean, this device would have been one of the most powerful gaming laptops yet. However, as it stands, this Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 is still good but not a gaming device.

PROs Vs. CONs

This device has a ton of good things to speak for itself. The best thing it can possibly have is its strong hardware. That is the strongest asset of this Toshiba Satelite. The other good thing of this device is that it looks great and has a very comfortable track pad ( which has Multitouch support, by the way ).

My only serious disappointment with it is its lack of a dedicated video card. As I already said above, should it have one it would be one of the best laptops out there, but then again, the price could have doubled too.

User Reviews: what others think?

There were two particular customer reviews that drew my attention. One was good and one was bad. The good one had nothing to complain about and only praised this laptop as being the best possible investment they've made recently. The bad one was posted by some unlucky sap who has the misfortune of getting one that was defective. No hardware features were harmed, but the device's Space key did not function properly. He/she/it stated that you had to press it really strong for it to work. He/she/it then started to complain about the tech service, which apparently, is just like any other tech service. You send the product out of your own money and wait 7 to 10 business days for the laptop to be analyzed for any damage. That time is necessary, however, so that they determine whether or not it was the company's fault, or yours. You'd be surprised how many bastards ruin technology and then send it back saying that it was like that when they got it. These tests are necessary.

Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5253 RAM Memory Upgrade to 16GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz

Summary

In conclusion, this model of Toshiba Satelite is a device that newbie Gamers and Power Users will benefit more from. Other categories such as Business, Student or Casual will also benefit from it more than they realize, however, they can also find a cheaper and less powerful alternative. Other than that the laptop is really good buy and you'd have to be pretty darn foolish not to see that. You can also read the full specs on the official Toshiba website over here (a PDF file).

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