Toshiba Satellite C855-S5343 PSCBLU-025003 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax)

Toshiba is a multimedia company and their laptops are designed to please your senses with supremely bright and gorgeous displays and decent speakers while still maintaining crisp performance. Toshiba claims to be the first notebook maker with color LCD's, it is easy to believe after seeing the screen in person and their LCD's are consistently beautiful regardless of which Toshiba you pick. GPU performance is anecdotally impressive, I DON'T PRETEND TO BE A GAMER SO ANY IMPRESSIONS ABOUT ITS GAMING PEFORMANCE OR COMPATIBILITIES WOULD BE EASILY DETECTED ATTEMPTS TO b.s., but I did stress it by simultaneously playing two USB connected DVD's and a BluRay and it was excellent without jitter (see the uploaded video review).

Toshiba Satellites are the least expensive Toshiba laptops and their "C" series is the least expensive Satellite, so buying the cheapest Toshiba notebook made results in some immediately noticeable sacrifices such as the creaky flimsy flexing case and an integrated mouse track pad that feels worse than using a floating potato to move the cursor. I hate the flimsy keyboard, it as unpleasant as flossing your gums with sandpaper because the larger keys and chiclet imposter keyboard aren't comparable to someone accustomed to luxurious ThinkPad keyboards but I can't find a ThinkPad/Lenovo comparable to Toshiba horsepower unless I want to spend twice as much.

At least a floating potato is predictable but Toshiba has found some way to smuggle the cheapest Synaptic pads from North Korea since I can't imagine any other country willing to make such an annoying version of a normally reliable input. I've used other trackpads without issue, Synaptics is the largest manufacturer of most TrackPads, but I have never used a Synaptics or any trackpad as misreabl as these are. Do yourself a favor and buy a/use an external mouse Targus Bluetooth Comfort Laser Mouse AMB09US (Black with Gray) and you'll also avoid blowing an angered blood vessel since any amount of track pad usage leaves a blocking layer of human sweat that renders the trackpad useless until cleaned or avoided completely. Some models might not include integrated BlueTooth and upgrading the mini PCIe adapter isn't easily done in the C Series unless you plan to split the case open at the seams and likely void Toshiba's oversensitive warranty policy (read the appended comment for an imperative fact about protecting your warranty status).

A cheap $5 USB B/T SANOXY USB Bluetooth Wireless Adapter for HP, Gateway, eMachine, Dell or ANY Laptop/PC Running Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 200, XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7plug still spares two USB ports for a jump drive and recharging your BlackBerry.

Wi-Fi performance is excellent with an included Atheros AR9285 adapter Atheros AR5B95 AR9285 802.11B/G/N Half Mini PCI-E Cardthat starts out of the box shouting loudly at a better than average 16decibels. For the curious I elaborate in further detail in the appended review comment.

Don't be afraid of upgrading the RAM because boosted to 16GB it comfortably becomes a mini data center unto itself by installing a dual 2012 Server DataCenter build and Hyper-V shoulders as many VM's as you want.

Unbuntu runs extremely nicely except my chosen distro (BackTrackR3) doesn't immediately appreciate the 1368 wide display and drops to a stretched 1024x768 usually reserved for traditional 4:3 square displays.

The same wildly Windows compatible Microsoft 3000 Wireless combo Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000 set runs without issue even at bootup before loading Windows or any operating system and is fully supported in Unbuntu w/o the necessity of installing a driver or editing configs. Connecting the jump drive sized USB dongle enables remote KB/M control from a verified 90 feet in an Marriott ballroom in case you have the necessity to tease your children or present your thoughts to a larger than economy sized auditorium.

I bought this laptop after much research and thought it had the right combination of hardware and software for the price(i bought it from another online store for $318) Well it wasn't long before i regretted the purchase. I can't believe i spent a whole day doing maintenance and tracking down a bad/missing file on the windows website. I looked up its history on its own event logs and found it had been having issues from the time it was produced! It struggles with the most basic of tasks, probably because of the horrendous amount of garbage software from Toshiba. You think im kidding? Log on to the internet and watch where it sends you. The touchpad is one of the worst i have ever tried to use and the plastic used for the body looks and feels like its from recycled material. Please dont buy. If you do, try it out and put it through its paces so you can see for yourself. Just make sure you dont let the return period elapse or you will be stuck with a major headache

Buy Toshiba Satellite C855-S5343 PSCBLU-025003 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax) Now

This laptop was on sale at my local retail store. I was in the market for one, so I picked it up. If you can find this for a decent price? Pick it up! It's a lot better then a Dell. It's solid!

The only issue with it, and the main reason I'm writing this review: is the sound system. This is literally the worst sound I've ever heard. My Kindle Fire has better sound.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite C855-S5343 PSCBLU-025003 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax) Here

A solid laptop for a really good price.

If you want a computer for surfing and general home or business use you are not going to find this at this price in any store.

Windows 8 is pretty useless on a laptop without a touch screen but is pretty easy to get around so it acts like Windows 7.

Like the built in camera and this laptop weighs less than my old Toshiba.

Dislikes as always is the pre-installed try and then buy crapware that seems to come with every computer ever sold.

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I really like my laptop after a couple of months. I'm still trying to decide if I like Win8. The computer boots quickly, it's light and the battery lasts about 6 hrs.

No problems.