Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269

The Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 ($979.99 list at Office Depot) is a 15-inch desktop replacement laptop that offers quad-core processing and gaming level graphics processing. It may not be as slim and light as some competing desktop replacements, but if you want a laptop for gaming, video and photo editing, and unbeatable quad-core processing power, the Satellite P755-S5269 is a strong choice.

Design
The P755-S5269 has a dark gray finish (Toshiba calls this color "platinum") with an added texture to it that feels far more luxurious to the touch than plastic designs usually do. It measures 1.4-by-15-by-9.8 inches (HWD), but for its added thickness, it keeps things light with a plastic chassis. It weighs in at 5.8 pounds, which is lighter than the 6-pound Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 ($849.99 direct, 3.5 stars), but heavier than the 5.5-pound Dell XPS 15z (Microsoft) ($999 direct, 4 stars). Because of this plastic construction, the Toshiba Satellite does flex a good deal more than its more sturdy competitors.

The P755-S5269's 15.6-inch display has a 1366-by-768 resolution and is large enough to watch DVDs or multitask with two windows side by side. Just below the widescreen display you will find two Harman/Kardon speakers. Paired with Dolby Advanced Audio and Wave MaxxAudio 3 software sound enhancements, these speakers provide a rich sound quality that stays consistent at high and low volumes. The only issue I found while shuffling through my Pandora stations was the lack of bass.

There is a full-sized chiclet-style keyboard, and an adjacent numeric keypad. The glossy-finish on the keys may be a bit slick for some users, but the inclusion of an LED backlight means that you can use the laptop comfortably even in low-light situations. The multitouch trackpad offers gesture control and separate mouse buttons, and the touchpad itself has a smoother matte finish, but I caught myself wishing that it offered the same luxurious feel of the laptop's lid.

Features
The P755-S5269 offers a fairly rich feature set, with one USB 3.0 port and three USB 2.0 ports, as well as a case-lock slot to physically secure the laptop. Toshiba's Sleep-and-Charge utility lets you power up cell-phones and MP3 players through one of the USB 2.0 ports, even when the laptop is in sleep mode. Sleep-and-Music lets you play audio from your MP3 player through the laptop's speakers, even when the laptop is powered down.

The laptop's VGA and HDMI outputs let you connect to an external monitor, HDTV, or projector with a single cable. If you want to ditch the cables altogether, you can pick up a Netgear Push2TV adapter (a $99 purchase) and use the integrated WiDi 2.0 technology to stream your HD content wirelessly to any HDTV. You can also get online via an Ethernet wired connection or 802.11n Wi-Fi. A DVD optical drive provides read and burn capability for CDs and DVDs. The 750GB 5,400rpm drive is the same capacity and speed as the hard drive found in the HP Pavilion dv6-6170us ($1,049.99 list, 4 stars), and it's larger than the 640GB drive found in the Acer Aspire AS5750-9851 ($829.99 list, 3 stars).

On the hard drive, you'll find a few pre-installed programs like Microsoft Office Starter 2010, and a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security, and dedicated website links on the desktop to services like Amazon and Skype. While not a particularly egregious load of software, you will also find a large selection of programs and utilities bearing the Toshiba brand name. These include Toshiba's proprietary App and eBook stores, and utilities like hard drive protection.

Toshiba covers the P755-S5269 with a one-year warranty on parts and labor, but also covers the battery with a one-year warranty. Buyers wanting more peace of mind may want to take advantage of Office Depot's several extended protection and service plans. Their basic two-year protection plan ($169.99) extends this warranty for another year, and includes 24/7 tech support. Adding premium coverage for drops and spills, and extending battery coverage for a second year costs $259.99, and a four-year plan, offering all of the same warranty and accident coverage, including 24/7 tech support, can be had for $349.99.

Performance
Toshiba has equipped the P755-S5269 with a 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM, a quad-core processor that easily trounces the dual-core processors found in the Editors' Choice Dell XPS 15z and Lenovo Y570. The Core i7-2630QM is the same processor found in the top rated HP dv6-6170us, Acer AS5750-9851, and Asus K53SV-B1 ($990 street, 3.5 stars). In terms of raw processing power the P755-S5269 is on par with these quad-core laptops, and easily surpasses the dual-core Dell XPS 15z and Lenovo Y570. The P755-S5269 completed Handbrake right alongside the HP dv6-6170us (1 minute 36 seconds), and completed Photoshop CS5 in 3:54, only two seconds behind the HP dv6-6170us (3:52). The Dell XPS 15z, on the other hand, was left behind by a significant 39 seconds (Handbrake 2:02, Photoshop CS5 4:33). The same results were seen in CineBench R11.5, where the Toshiba scored 4.79 points, a hair behind the HP dv6-6170us (4.98), but well ahead of the Dell XPS 15z (2.53).

You'll also find that the P755-S5269 offers the kind of graphics performance that will satisfy gamers, thanks to an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M discrete graphics card. With 3DMark 06 scores of 10,092 at medium resolution and detail settings and 7,223 at higher detail settings and native resolution, the GPU will support any graphics-intensive program, including some pretty serious games. It pumped out 59.2 frames per second (fps) in Crysis (DirectX 10) at medium resolution, and 39.9 fps in Lost Planet 2 (DirectX 9), performing slightly better than the Dell XPS 15z (52.3fps in Crysis; 36.4fps in Lost Planet 2) and matching the Asus K53SV-B1 (59.2fps in Crysis; 40.3 fps in Lost Planet 2). The GeForce GT 540M also has Optimus, Nvidia's automatic graphics switching technology, which alternates between the high-performance graphics card for gaming and other graphics-intensive tasks, and the integrated graphics chip for more efficient power use.

That sort of battery efficiency led to fairly good results in our battery life tests. In MobileMark 2007, the 6-cell 48Wh battery of the P755-S5269 lasted 5 hours 7 minutes. Given the hardware being used, this isn't a bad score?the Asus K53SV-B1 only lasted 4:15 with a similar 48Wh battery?but it's a little shorter than the HP dv6-6170us (6:16 with a 55Wh battery) and Dell XPS 15z (7:13 with a 64Wh battery).

The P755-S5269 comes in at the same price as the Editors' Choice Dell XPS 15z. And while it may not offer all the premium touches of the Dell, like an aluminum chassis and longer battery life, the Toshiba does offer slightly better graphics and superior processing with its quad-core processor. If power isn't a priority and you want the more polished option, definitely go with the Dell XPS 15z. If you want more horsepower for gaming, multimedia editing and productive tasks, then the Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 is definitely the way to go.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 with several other laptops side by side.

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