Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Review. Get mobility plus a little extra room to work with the Satellite L645 laptop--a fashionable, affordable and portable PC that’s ideal for students, families and small businesses on the go. Thanks to a 14 diagonal TruBrite HD display, this notebook performs well standing still or moving out, whether it’s a school assignment, family budget, pitching new clients or watching high-def multimedia. And with a rainbow of vibrant colors in our acclaimed Fusion Finish, it’s bound to raise a few eyebrows. New AMD Phenom II Triple Core processor technology, a built-in DVD player, along with tons of memory and storage, deliver full-featured performance, while a Webcam and Wireless-N make working face to face easy--no matter where you are. Plus, Toshiba “Smart Features and an eco-smart design tie greater convenience with a greater regard for the environment. All in all, it’s a great way to keep your mobile life in balance....
"Great features for the price." 2010-07-18
By J. Shariat
The triple core 1.8ghz Phenom II is a strong and economical processor choice for a desktop replacement-type laptop. This computer regularly gets 3.5 hours on the battery with only the screen brightness turned down a bit. I really enjoy this.
The video card is listed as an ATI Radeon 4250, which it is, but the M880 chipset for it gives it power way beyond the Radeon 4250's power in itself. When I checked the GPU benchmarks, the M880 chipset Radeon 4250 was consistently ranked middle of the pack, above such GPUs as the ATI Radeon HD 5145.
This computer is nice and portable, and the size is perfect for carrying with me. The screen isn't small to where it creates any issues with seeing for me; I'm actually enjoying the fact that it is shorter and I can cradle it in my lap perfectly and totally comfortably.
The keyboard is not one with a full NumPad, but that doesn't bother me much. The keys don't have a loose sensation at all, which I really enjoy. I am still getting used to the location of a few of my keys, especially the backspace, but I'll certainly get used to it soon enough. The trackpad isn't bad; you can tweak it however you like. One major issue I noticed right away is that the Webcam drivers were so out of date that the webcam wouldn't work when I first got the computer. I tried to update it and was told that this was already the newest available driver, but it still didn't work. I ended up taking it off altogether and restarting the computer and it works just fine now. Just a word of warning for those who are looking at this one: The webcam may take a second of fiddling with to get it set up correctly. IT is nothing too bad, and there are guides all over the internet explaining how to do this.
Other minor gripes, the touchpad can be seems a bit insensitive at times, even with it turned up almost all the way... The two finger scrolling also isn't as intuitive as it was with my last ASUS. I also have to press the power button to get it out of sleep... All minor gripes that I will come to terms with soon, after which I will be completely satisfied with my purchace. ;)
These are my impressions after a few days with this computer... Great specs and performance for the money! I'll be sure to update this review if anything else comes to mind.
EDIT- I want to add that the sound quality that comes out of these speakers is not too bad. Look in the Control Panel for a utility called SmartAudio. It controls all the sound output for the computer and will give you much greater control over your desired sound. You can go into the SmartAudio settings and have it appear in the System Tray if you're going to be listening to a lot of music! I'm not claiming that the speakers are perfect; you're still going to need good external speakers or headphones if you want an excellent and LOUD audio experience. Basically, these are good for stock speakers, mainly because of the SmartAudio software (found in Control Panel)...
"Best laptop for the Price." 2010-08-03
By Kamal Deep Kaur (NJ, USA)
I don't think I need to say much coz the reviewer before me did a pretty good job explaining features and benefits of this machine, and that is the only reason I bought this laptop.
So now it is my moral duty to leave a review of this product so others might learn from my experience with this laptop.
I used to have an HP before this one which by the way was a complete piece of junk compared to this one, and the build quality on the Toshiba is much better that any of the HP's out there right now, given that this one does not have the bells and whistles like HP's have like a remote control to control your media or a wifi on-off switch, but still it is so worth the money when you actually have this thing in your hands.
The only thing I don't like about this laptop so far after a week of use is that the mouse pad buttons make a clicking noise and are not silent when clicked. Windows 7 loads up fairly fast and compared to my desktop which has a 3.0 ghz quad core processor, this one loads up may be a second or two later, so really impressed by that.
I have really been looking for a 14" screen laptop coz 15" seemed to big for my portable computing needs, and I dont know for what ever reason the 14" laptops Ive been looking for have been more money than the 15" laptops, so I was lucky enough to find this one.
Haven't tested the graphics card yet, but I know it should be alright for playing suitable games on the laptop since I use my desktop for playing power and graphic hungry games.
I also like the feature where you can put two fingers on the track pad and maximize or minimize your fonts going in or out on the track pad.
If you are on a budget, you need a laptop for yourself or your son or daughter going to college this should satisfy most peoples needs.
Oh and by the way I did go to a best-buy and turned on a laptop with an i3 processor and this one has a much faster load time than an i3, so people out there debating Intel i3 or this one, it should be a no brain er, I didn't have a chance to compare i5 to this one, but in comparison with an i3 I would think that this processor should be at par if not less than an i5.
Oh and by the way the battery on this thing is really good, It lasted me about 4.5 hours before it needed a charge in Toshiba Eco mode.
I think I've done my job for leaving a review for this laptop so now I can sleep good, coz I know hopefully I helped in simplifying someone Else's decision out there.
"I love this laptop!" 2010-08-07
By Jenn B.
My review may not be as thorough as the previous two which were extremely helpful for me, but here goes!
I spent a good deal of time researching what I needed in a computer. I debated a netbook, desktop, larger vs. smaller laptop. My previous computer was a 6 year old HP desktop which had worked well for me, but I needed something for commuting back and forth to school with. I was not a fan of laptops in general as I had never had one before and had only used a couple of laptops. My research brought me to another store at first and I had settled to wait to buy the laptop there for my state's tax free weekend, but a week before I was going to buy it the store raised the price which caused me to do some more shopping around.
This brought me to Amazon where I found this great deal! The Toshiba was a better model at a lower price and after reading the reviews I purchased it.
I have had the laptop for two days now, but I am thrilled with it so far. The difference in speed is amazing and I have never had a computer that starts up as fast as this one does. The size of it is perfect for me; it feels small and compact without being as tiny as a netbook (my sister has one and the screen size would drive me bonkers!). As far as the webcam issue, I have been able to use my webcam without any problems so far and haven't had to do anything to fix it.
I like windows 7, but I did have some minor problems trying to get some of my older software to work, but I have now gotten it all up and running (it took me an hour or so to work through these minor issues as I'm not terribly tech savvy).
The battery has been lasting somewhere between 3.5-4 hours. Great keypad for typing. The speakers are decent.
The only drawback with this laptop was that it doesn't have lightscribe technology which I use fairly often, but other than that I have no complaints. I would (and actually have already to a friend) highly recommend this laptop if you're looking for something portable, fairly powerful, and easy to use. At this price you just can't beat it!
"Maximum 'bang per buck' notebook PC! Perfect! (read updates below!)" 2010-08-13
By CQ DX (Ohio, USA)
I needed a powerful, compact, well made, reliable notebook (not netbook) PC to be used as my main desktop system. This was replacing a Dell Inspiron 530S Pentium Dual Core desktop PC tower, 3GB system with resident Intel graphics that recently failed. I thought, why not just buy a smaller notebook PC, hook it up to a full sized plug and play keyboard (my old Dell keyboard works great), and save space. Enter this amazing notebook. I basically only use my PC for web surfing and downloading, playing, and storing my HD MP4 videos (taken with a Sony 'Bloggie') in 720p, and for my digital camera photos. I would like to start using my L645D-S4036 to play some hi-res video games, driving/racing games, and flight sims as well. Anyway, what sold me were the features and 'horsepower' of this machine, given the fairly low price. Where else can you get a reliable brand name like Toshiba that includes a 720P HD LED widescreen, an AMD triple core Phenom II processor, Radeon graphics, 4 GB DDR3, CDR-DVD player, and 64-bit Windows 7 for this price?
ADDENDUM TO MY REVIEW: I've had this PC only a few days now, and already, it is all of a sudden exhibiting technical problems! I'm using this as my main home PC (with AC power), and on several occasions, it just would not shut down via the 'start menu' 'shut down' command! The 'caps lock' light would remain lit, (did not have caps on), as would the lights on the front of the unit! The screen would be blank though, but I could not get it to shut off. 'Esc' or 'Alt Ctrl, Del' would not work, and the only way to shut it off was to unplug the battery pack. Anyone else experiencing shutoff problems?!
9/29/2010 UPDATE: The unit did not want to shut off again (happened another 2 times), and I had to unplug the AC cord and re-insert it again, and go through the whole re-boot process. Major inconvenience. Now, this PC is dimming the screen on it's own as well, until I hit a key or move the mouse. But it's doing it from time to time on it's own, without much of a delay since the last keystroke/mouse use. As if this isn't enough of a hassle, this morning, it wouldn't accept the Windows 7 updates, and had to revert to a previous state. Every time I turn the PC on now, it goes through the same time consuming screen, whereby it states that it is configuring Windows updates, but the percentage figure stays at 0%! It also has changed font size and type on it's own as well! I am fed up with this piece of garbage, and would have given it 0 stars if I didn't rate it so soon after purchase.
"Just what I was looking for" 2010-08-12
By Eclectic Reader (Maryland USA)
Basically I was looking for a travel laptop that was large enough to be usable (I adore netbooks, but they're just a bit too small for me), that would be a reasonably full featured laptop, fairly fast, and would play DVDs since when we travel, we like watching a DVD in bed in the evening. (We made our way through South Africa watching episodes of Babylon 5.) All of this to be in as small a package as possible, and not outrageously expensive.
I spent a short but intense period going around and looking at laptops in the 13 - 14" range, with a bias toward Toshiba, since I've had good experiences with them. 5 pounds seemed to be the lowest weight laptop that included a DVD player. I'd looked at enough laptops that when this one popped up on my screen at Amazon at a good price, I bought it immediately.
It's fast and will enable me to work and blog when I travel, the DVD player works fine, and my negotiations with Windows 7.0 have been minor. The cute little shiny case gets fingerprint marks when you look at it cross-eyed, but that's not a critical point. This is a fine little laptop for someone who wants good features in a compact, well-priced package.
By J. Shariat
The triple core 1.8ghz Phenom II is a strong and economical processor choice for a desktop replacement-type laptop. This computer regularly gets 3.5 hours on the battery with only the screen brightness turned down a bit. I really enjoy this.
The video card is listed as an ATI Radeon 4250, which it is, but the M880 chipset for it gives it power way beyond the Radeon 4250's power in itself. When I checked the GPU benchmarks, the M880 chipset Radeon 4250 was consistently ranked middle of the pack, above such GPUs as the ATI Radeon HD 5145.
This computer is nice and portable, and the size is perfect for carrying with me. The screen isn't small to where it creates any issues with seeing for me; I'm actually enjoying the fact that it is shorter and I can cradle it in my lap perfectly and totally comfortably.
The keyboard is not one with a full NumPad, but that doesn't bother me much. The keys don't have a loose sensation at all, which I really enjoy. I am still getting used to the location of a few of my keys, especially the backspace, but I'll certainly get used to it soon enough. The trackpad isn't bad; you can tweak it however you like. One major issue I noticed right away is that the Webcam drivers were so out of date that the webcam wouldn't work when I first got the computer. I tried to update it and was told that this was already the newest available driver, but it still didn't work. I ended up taking it off altogether and restarting the computer and it works just fine now. Just a word of warning for those who are looking at this one: The webcam may take a second of fiddling with to get it set up correctly. IT is nothing too bad, and there are guides all over the internet explaining how to do this.
Other minor gripes, the touchpad can be seems a bit insensitive at times, even with it turned up almost all the way... The two finger scrolling also isn't as intuitive as it was with my last ASUS. I also have to press the power button to get it out of sleep... All minor gripes that I will come to terms with soon, after which I will be completely satisfied with my purchace. ;)
These are my impressions after a few days with this computer... Great specs and performance for the money! I'll be sure to update this review if anything else comes to mind.
EDIT- I want to add that the sound quality that comes out of these speakers is not too bad. Look in the Control Panel for a utility called SmartAudio. It controls all the sound output for the computer and will give you much greater control over your desired sound. You can go into the SmartAudio settings and have it appear in the System Tray if you're going to be listening to a lot of music! I'm not claiming that the speakers are perfect; you're still going to need good external speakers or headphones if you want an excellent and LOUD audio experience. Basically, these are good for stock speakers, mainly because of the SmartAudio software (found in Control Panel)...
By Kamal Deep Kaur (NJ, USA)
I don't think I need to say much coz the reviewer before me did a pretty good job explaining features and benefits of this machine, and that is the only reason I bought this laptop.
So now it is my moral duty to leave a review of this product so others might learn from my experience with this laptop.
I used to have an HP before this one which by the way was a complete piece of junk compared to this one, and the build quality on the Toshiba is much better that any of the HP's out there right now, given that this one does not have the bells and whistles like HP's have like a remote control to control your media or a wifi on-off switch, but still it is so worth the money when you actually have this thing in your hands.
The only thing I don't like about this laptop so far after a week of use is that the mouse pad buttons make a clicking noise and are not silent when clicked. Windows 7 loads up fairly fast and compared to my desktop which has a 3.0 ghz quad core processor, this one loads up may be a second or two later, so really impressed by that.
I have really been looking for a 14" screen laptop coz 15" seemed to big for my portable computing needs, and I dont know for what ever reason the 14" laptops Ive been looking for have been more money than the 15" laptops, so I was lucky enough to find this one.
Haven't tested the graphics card yet, but I know it should be alright for playing suitable games on the laptop since I use my desktop for playing power and graphic hungry games.
I also like the feature where you can put two fingers on the track pad and maximize or minimize your fonts going in or out on the track pad.
If you are on a budget, you need a laptop for yourself or your son or daughter going to college this should satisfy most peoples needs.
Oh and by the way I did go to a best-buy and turned on a laptop with an i3 processor and this one has a much faster load time than an i3, so people out there debating Intel i3 or this one, it should be a no brain er, I didn't have a chance to compare i5 to this one, but in comparison with an i3 I would think that this processor should be at par if not less than an i5.
Oh and by the way the battery on this thing is really good, It lasted me about 4.5 hours before it needed a charge in Toshiba Eco mode.
I think I've done my job for leaving a review for this laptop so now I can sleep good, coz I know hopefully I helped in simplifying someone Else's decision out there.
By Jenn B.
My review may not be as thorough as the previous two which were extremely helpful for me, but here goes!
I spent a good deal of time researching what I needed in a computer. I debated a netbook, desktop, larger vs. smaller laptop. My previous computer was a 6 year old HP desktop which had worked well for me, but I needed something for commuting back and forth to school with. I was not a fan of laptops in general as I had never had one before and had only used a couple of laptops. My research brought me to another store at first and I had settled to wait to buy the laptop there for my state's tax free weekend, but a week before I was going to buy it the store raised the price which caused me to do some more shopping around.
This brought me to Amazon where I found this great deal! The Toshiba was a better model at a lower price and after reading the reviews I purchased it.
I have had the laptop for two days now, but I am thrilled with it so far. The difference in speed is amazing and I have never had a computer that starts up as fast as this one does. The size of it is perfect for me; it feels small and compact without being as tiny as a netbook (my sister has one and the screen size would drive me bonkers!). As far as the webcam issue, I have been able to use my webcam without any problems so far and haven't had to do anything to fix it.
I like windows 7, but I did have some minor problems trying to get some of my older software to work, but I have now gotten it all up and running (it took me an hour or so to work through these minor issues as I'm not terribly tech savvy).
The battery has been lasting somewhere between 3.5-4 hours. Great keypad for typing. The speakers are decent.
The only drawback with this laptop was that it doesn't have lightscribe technology which I use fairly often, but other than that I have no complaints. I would (and actually have already to a friend) highly recommend this laptop if you're looking for something portable, fairly powerful, and easy to use. At this price you just can't beat it!
By CQ DX (Ohio, USA)
I needed a powerful, compact, well made, reliable notebook (not netbook) PC to be used as my main desktop system. This was replacing a Dell Inspiron 530S Pentium Dual Core desktop PC tower, 3GB system with resident Intel graphics that recently failed. I thought, why not just buy a smaller notebook PC, hook it up to a full sized plug and play keyboard (my old Dell keyboard works great), and save space. Enter this amazing notebook. I basically only use my PC for web surfing and downloading, playing, and storing my HD MP4 videos (taken with a Sony 'Bloggie') in 720p, and for my digital camera photos. I would like to start using my L645D-S4036 to play some hi-res video games, driving/racing games, and flight sims as well. Anyway, what sold me were the features and 'horsepower' of this machine, given the fairly low price. Where else can you get a reliable brand name like Toshiba that includes a 720P HD LED widescreen, an AMD triple core Phenom II processor, Radeon graphics, 4 GB DDR3, CDR-DVD player, and 64-bit Windows 7 for this price?
ADDENDUM TO MY REVIEW: I've had this PC only a few days now, and already, it is all of a sudden exhibiting technical problems! I'm using this as my main home PC (with AC power), and on several occasions, it just would not shut down via the 'start menu' 'shut down' command! The 'caps lock' light would remain lit, (did not have caps on), as would the lights on the front of the unit! The screen would be blank though, but I could not get it to shut off. 'Esc' or 'Alt Ctrl, Del' would not work, and the only way to shut it off was to unplug the battery pack. Anyone else experiencing shutoff problems?!
9/29/2010 UPDATE: The unit did not want to shut off again (happened another 2 times), and I had to unplug the AC cord and re-insert it again, and go through the whole re-boot process. Major inconvenience. Now, this PC is dimming the screen on it's own as well, until I hit a key or move the mouse. But it's doing it from time to time on it's own, without much of a delay since the last keystroke/mouse use. As if this isn't enough of a hassle, this morning, it wouldn't accept the Windows 7 updates, and had to revert to a previous state. Every time I turn the PC on now, it goes through the same time consuming screen, whereby it states that it is configuring Windows updates, but the percentage figure stays at 0%! It also has changed font size and type on it's own as well! I am fed up with this piece of garbage, and would have given it 0 stars if I didn't rate it so soon after purchase.
By Eclectic Reader (Maryland USA)
Basically I was looking for a travel laptop that was large enough to be usable (I adore netbooks, but they're just a bit too small for me), that would be a reasonably full featured laptop, fairly fast, and would play DVDs since when we travel, we like watching a DVD in bed in the evening. (We made our way through South Africa watching episodes of Babylon 5.) All of this to be in as small a package as possible, and not outrageously expensive.
I spent a short but intense period going around and looking at laptops in the 13 - 14" range, with a bias toward Toshiba, since I've had good experiences with them. 5 pounds seemed to be the lowest weight laptop that included a DVD player. I'd looked at enough laptops that when this one popped up on my screen at Amazon at a good price, I bought it immediately.
It's fast and will enable me to work and blog when I travel, the DVD player works fine, and my negotiations with Windows 7.0 have been minor. The cute little shiny case gets fingerprint marks when you look at it cross-eyed, but that's not a critical point. This is a fine little laptop for someone who wants good features in a compact, well-priced package.
