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Toshiba Satellite Pro L630-14C review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £586
inc VAT

A well-designed thin-and-light laptop with great performance, for a very reasonable price

Although Toshiba labels the Satellite Pro L630 as a business ultra-portable, it wouldn’t look out of place in either the home or the office. The black textured chassis feels solid, despite the plastic construction.

Toshiba Satellite Pro L630-14C

Unlike most business-oriented laptops, the 13.3in display has a glossy finish, but it handles reflections quite well. The 1,366×768 resolution looked crisp, although the maximum brightness was surprisingly low. Colours were accurately reproduced, although they weren’t especially vibrant – a side effect of the low brightness. Contrast was acceptable and video playback was smooth. The two speakers placed above the keyboard point upwards, so sound is slightly muffled unless you’re sat directly in front of the laptop. Quality was average, although volume was decent.

The L630 proved itself comfortable for everyday use. The keyboard uses traditional flat keys which are evenly spaced and large enough for even the biggest hands. Typing was comfortable, and very few keys have been reduced to fit the chassis.

The touchpad is a decent size, although the plastic surface felt slightly resistant to finger movement. The buttons are located directly below it at the edge of the wrist rest, but they had great tactile response and felt solid.

The Core i3 370M is a great mobile processor, with plenty of power. We were pleased to see 4GB of RAM, too. An overall score of 77 in our benchmarks is very good and this laptop should cope with most tasks well. Battery life was average, at four and a half hours. While the fan stayed quiet during regular use, it became noticeable when the processor was pushed hard. Temperatures stayed low after several hours, only really getting warm on the underside of the chassis.

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Basic Specifications

Rating****
ProcessorIntel Core i3-370M
Processor clock speed2.4GHz
Memory4.00GB
Memory slots2
Memory slots free0
Maximum memory8GB
Size28x329x221mm
Weight2.2kg
SoundRealtek HD Audio
Pointing devicetouchpad

Display

Viewable size13.3 in
Native resolution1,366×768
Graphics ProcessorIntel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500
Graphics/video portsVGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory384MB

Storage

Total storage capacity320GB
Optical drive typeDVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion

USB ports2
Bluetoothyes
Wired network ports1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support802.11n
PC Card slotsnone
Supported memory cardsSDHC, MMC
Other portsminijack audio output, minijack microphone input

Miscellaneous

Carrying caseNo
Operating systemWindows 7 Professional 32-bit
Operating system restore optionburn own restore disc
Software includedNero 9 Essentials, Toshiba Value Added Package suite
Optional extras£134

Buying Information

Warrantyone year RTB
Price£586
Detailswww.toshiba.co.uk
Supplierhttp://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk