Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the Toshiba Laptop Battery
Toshiba's Satellite L657D-S7022 is a very affordable desktop replacement laptop that offers some good general performance with its AMD Phenom II X3 processor. The inclusion of the Blu-ray drive also makes for a low cost HD video platform. Those hoping to use it for gaming will be disappointed by the integrated graphics though. Still, if you need a low cost mobile platform that won't be used with 3D graphics, the $800 price tag is very attractive.
Toshiba's Satellite L675D-S7022 laptop is built to be an affordable desktop replacement. At $800 is is very affordable for a 17-inch laptop. One way that Toshiba has been able to keep the costs down is to use the new AMD Phenom II X3 P820 with such as Toshiba PA3399U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3395U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3250U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3356U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3291U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3506U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba PA3591U-1BRS Battery , Toshiba Portege 4000 Battery , Toshiba Satellite A10 Battery , Toshiba Satellite A100 Battery triple core processor rather than an Intel Core i3 processor. In testing, the AMD processor is able to keep pace with Intel's Core i3 mobile options and in some cases actually does better. This is particularly true when using a multithreaded application such as desktop video where the extra core can be put to use. The 4GB of memory help prevent slowdowns when multitasking.
Hard drive space for the Satellite L675D-S7022 is typical of most desktop replacement laptops. It comes with a sizable 500GB drive that provides plenty of space for storing applications, data and media files. The drive does use the more typical 5400rpm notebook spin rate rather than the faster 7200rpm desktop rate. This slows down the data access somewhat but many users probably won't notice much. The big feature though is the inclusion of the Blu-ray combo drive allowing the system to be used for watching high definition Blu-ray movies. The drive can also record or playback CD and DVD media.
The Satellite L675D-S7022 uses the same 17.3-inch LCD panel as many other laptops. It features a modestly high 1600x900 resolution that is a step up from smaller laptops but still falls short of fully supporting 1080p high definition video media. It uses a glossy coating that can produce a fair amount of glare and reflections in certain lighting conditions. The big issue though is the graphics. Rather than using a dedicated processor, it uses an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 processor that is certainly fine for HD video streams but doesn't provide sufficient performance for anyone really looking at using the laptop for PC gaming.
With its low cost, Toshiba has elected to use a smaller six cell battery pack for the Satellite L675D-S7022. Toshiba claims battery life up to three and three quarter hours but that is very ambitious. In my DVD playback test, the laptop was able to run just under two hours before going into standby mode. Now more typical usage should yield between two and a half to three hours but still well short of Toshiba's claims and below the average 17-inch laptop.
Toshiba's keyboard layout has a slight quirk that some people may find annoying. The spacebar has a reduced size that is even smaller than the trackpad. This was done to accommodate a larger left control key. The problem is that the size may make it hard for some touch typers. The glossy deck below the keyboard also tends to pick up a lot of smudges and fingerprints as it doesn't have the patterns design of the external cover.