Toshiba Satellite P775 17.3in Core i7 laptop
The Young Ones' notebook?
Review As laptops become ever more identical on the inside, it's the stuff on the outside that now differentiates one from another.
Off to college: the (wealthy) student's laptop?
Toshiba's Satellite P775 is a good example. The key points I jotted down while putting it through its paces are not the 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630WM quad-core processor - many laptops have one of those - the 750GB hard drive - ditto - or the Blu-ray Disc drive - a less commonplace component, but not one to stir the passions, either - but its backlit-keyboard and its looks.
Not that I can find, in all honesty, anything especially wrong with the innards. Toshiba has fitted the P775 with a generous 8GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 memory, plenty for a mainstream machine with a 64-bit operating system and an integrated graphics core. I wish Windows was set, out of the box, to cache more data there so I had to rely less on the capacious but tardy hard drive.
That's a 'metallic urban black' texture, that is
The P775 has USB 3.0, but again lots of machines do now. Even more have Gigabit Ethernet on board. The laptop's wireless adaptor ticks the 802.11n box, but it only covers the 2.4GHz band, not 5GHz too, and it's a single antenna job so don't expect speeds above 72Mb/s - no quicker in practice than old 802.11g.
The colossal 17.3in display runs to a resolution of 1600 x 900. It's nice and bright, but not Full HD, which is disappointing on a screen this size but not an uncommon omission.
An oddly placed trackpad - and a decent keyboard
The screen is driven, depending on graphics load, by the Intel GMA core built into the Sandy Bridge CPU, or by an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics chip with 2GB of dedicated DDR 3 video Ram. The switching is handled - very nice and smoothly - by Nvidia's Optimus tech.
Next page: 3D plus BD
COMMENTS
Surely it should
But surely it should be compared with the same computers in all tests - not pick computers at random so you can't see which the overall better performer is?
Is it being compared to 1800 machines (the 15" Apple and the Sony F21), or the cheaper 13" inch Apple and Sony C?
And for the battery which Sony Viao F are we talking about? The 3d monster F21, or the more sedate F13s?
University hardly a Challenge?
I beg to differ, in my own personal experience, a lot of Uni students (particularly CS majors) appreciate portability and battery life, rather than luggability and mains tethering.
I guess other majors might beg to differ, especially if most of their studying is done using pen & paper, but unless the grant also commands a set of wheels, this one is going to remain a foldable desktop.
Rich MacBooks
Well, according to the reviews I found on this site, the 13in MacBook Pro is about the same price as the Toshiba, and the 15in is more expensive.
Surely a performance comparison should be based on price, not on physical dimension?
And where do the Young Ones fit in?
And where do The Young Ones fit into this review? Is the case suitable for the solution to all ills - extreme violence? Does it have a video? Is it full of washing-up liquid?
Poor MacBooks
Why on the comparison chart are you comparing the CPU with a 15 in. MacBook Pro, and then the 3D graphics a 13in. MacBook Pro (which only has integrated graphics) what's the point in that!?
Can we compare 17in. machines with 17in. machines, not with 13in portables (of non-stated vintage).
