TOSHIBA Satellite L505D-LS5010 Notebook PC - AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M300 2.0GHz / 15.6" HD LCD / 4

Pros

Cheap price (460.00 for mine with shipping)

Dual Core processor

4gb DDR2

Windows 7 x64

Plenty of inputs, but lacks a modem (shouldnt matter for much, but con for me since it is a work computer)

Cons

A bit weak in the graphic's department (Fine, unless you plan to use this for gaming)

rather weak battery life (Lowest brightness + Eco Mode gets me 2 1/2 hrs)

Does not come with Driver or restore disk!

I bought this laptop looking for something cheap and powerful, and this thing has power aplenty. Boots in around 20 seconds. It can handle WoW at max resolution, even in Dalaran without chugging, so it is capable of doing some modest gaming. If your like me and looking for a powerful laptop for under 500 dollars, I really cant recommend this laptop enough. I am starting a job as a field networking engineer, so having my own laptop was a must. I had to buy an external 56k to USB modem and a USB to DB-9 Serial converter, but I really didnt expect to find a laptop that had such old technologies standard anyway, but it is worth noting. The battery life may prove to be an issue during long class sessions or long nights on site, but at around 2 hours, it is satisfactory.

Pros : Ram, cpu, and hard drive compliment each other well. Integrated video card is impressive: Rise of Legends and Age of Empires 3 run very well with settings at 3/4 of the max. Win7 Premium was a welcome addition (I had thought basic would certainly be installed.) Very light and reasonably quiet. Screen and keyboard take some getting used to (both are wider than standard), but are well-suited to most tasks.

Cons: Almost all the bundled software is useless and adds a significant amount of overhead to usage. Overall I spent 3 hours uninstalling and updating. Windows 7 is definitely the best Windows OS so far, but severely lags behind the most popular Linux distros, namely Ubuntu and Fedora, for everyday use and productivity.

The battery life is average: 2 to 4 hours, depending on how you use it (however it's not a big issue to me.)

Buy TOSHIBA Satellite L505D-LS5010 Notebook PC - AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M300 2.0GHz / 15.6" HD LCD / 4 Now

I have always liked Toshiba in that they keep adding more features to their laptops! This one is no different. The dual core technology enables this machine to multi-task on a whole new level. The wide screen allows for enjoyable movie/TV watching. I also like the windows media center addition. This laptop is very versatile when compared to those of equal value.

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