Toshiba Satellite C55D-B5244

The Toshiba Satellite C55D-B5244 ($ 469.99 as tested) is a budget desktop-replacement laptop priced somewhat higher than the $ 250 budget laptop Windows 8.1, for good reason. This one is a more powerful and feature rich Windows system with a full numeric keypad and DVD burner. It is faster, but also eliminates some of the traditional features of a desktop-replacement (such as a replaceable battery) that allows you to continue using it for many years. If you plan on upgrading from an older laptop, put C55D-B5244 in the middle of your shopping list.

Design and Features
Design of the laptop is old school, with textured, black, polycarbonate shell. It measured 15 by 1.05 by 10.25 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.6 pounds government. Thanks to 15 inch diameter, there is room for both full-size keyboard and a numeric keypad. The traditional scissor-switch keyboard has keys that can be accidentally removed and somewhat oily type, compared with chiclet-style keyboard found on more modern-looking laptop. For example, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E545 is scalloped keycaps more comfortable to type on and more durable.

The 15.6-inch screen with 1366-by-768-resolution and touch capabilities, typical of budget category. Text and graphics may look somewhat blocky when blown up to fill a 15.6-inch screen. That is forgivable for cheaper systems like the Dell Inspiron 15 Non-Touch (3531), but we'd rather see higher resolution screen like the 1,600-by-900 resolution 17-inch screen on the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series, our Editors' Choice budget desktop-replacement laptop. We stop short of mandating a touch screen at the price point, but we admit that Windows 8.1 is easier to use if you have one.

On the side of the system you will find a gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, and the port VGA. Wireless network connections are handled by the system 802.11b / g / n Wi-Fi, but no Bluetooth for other wireless devices such as the keyboard and mouse. The DVD burner is a throwback, one that may be required in your family for watching old DVDs or if you need to access archived images on optical disc.

The system appears to have a removable battery, but looks can be deceiving. There are gaps in the case of the usual spot by the hinge, but it is not a removable panel. That is unfortunate, because replacing the battery wear is a great way to add years of life in a laptop.

The rest of the chassis is off limits to the user as well, so you can not upgrade to 6GB of system memory and 750GB hard drive. That said, most users do not need to upgrade, because the system exceeds the usual 4GB of memory and 500GB hard drive in your system such as the Acer Aspire budget E5-471-59RT. The 6GB of memory will help you keep dozens of browser tabs open at once, and 750GB is plenty for music, photos, and videos. The drive spins at a relatively slow 5,400rpm, but that is a fair tradeoff for the amount of space.

Some of the hard drive is occupied by an unusually large amount of bloatware, including programs and shortcuts to sites like Amazon, Book Place, eBay, Evernote, Hulu Plus, iHeartRadio, Kindle, Netflix, next Issue, Norton Internet Security, Pokki, Wild tangent Games, and Zinio. To be sure, many of the trips space to spare, but you need to budget an hour or two to remove all the programs you do not want to use or prepare to ignore all of the tiles on the Start screen and the taskbar. The system has a standard one-year warranty.