Toshiba Satellite L645D: Mobile AMD at 3GHz
by Dustin Sklavos on March 9, 2011 3:20 AM ESTIntroducing the Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4106
While the drought of Sandy Bridge notebook hardware is thankfully approaching its sweet, merciful end, there are still a healthy amount of AMD-based notebooks on the market at good prices awaiting happy homes. Toshiba was kind enough to send us their L645D, a 14" notebook sporting a mobile Phenom II dual-core processor running at a speedy 3GHz, Radeon HD 4250 integrated graphics, and a Blu-ray drive: all yours for a potentially exciting value proposition of just $619. Is it worth it?
The Toshiba L645D would seem bog standard for a budget AMD notebook if not for two things: the Phenom II N660 powering it is the fastest "non-extreme" dual-core mobile processor AMD offers, and Toshiba packs it into a 14" chassis instead of the 15.6" ones we've become accustomed to. Top that off with a Blu-ray drive and you have the makings of a strong multimedia contender at a reasonable price. So let's see how Toshiba specs it.
| Toshiba L645D-S4106 Specifications | |
| Processor |
AMD Phenom II N660 (2x3GHz, 45nm, 2MB L2, 35W) |
| Chipset | AMD RS880M Northbridge + AMD SB800 Southbridge |
| Memory | 2x2GB DDR3-1066 (Max 2x4GB) |
| Graphics |
ATI Radeon HD 4250 IGP (40 stream processors, 500MHZ core clock) |
| Display |
14" LED Glossy 16:9 1366x768 (AU Optronics B140XW01 V6 Panel) |
| Hard Drive(s) | Toshiba 640GB 5400RPM SATA 3Gbps Hard Disk |
| Optical Drive | BD-ROM/DVD+-RW Combo Drive w/ Labelflash |
| Networking |
Atheros AR8152 10/100 Ethernet Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n |
| Audio |
Conexant Cx20585 HD Audio Stereo speakers Headphone and microphone jacks |
| Battery | 6-Cell, 10.8V, 48Wh battery |
| Front Side |
Indicator lights SD/MS/MMC reader |
| Left Side |
Kensington lock Exhaust vent Ethernet jack HDMI Combo eSATA/USB 2.0 USB 2.0 Microphone jack Headphone jack |
| Right Side |
Optical drive USB 2.0 VGA AC adaptor jack |
| Back Side | - |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Dimensions | 13.3" x 9.13" x 1.34"-1.50" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 4.98 lbs |
| Extras |
Webcam Flash reader (MMC, SD/Mini SD, MS/Duo/Pro/Pro Duo) Blu-ray drive |
| Warranty | 1-year limited warranty |
| Pricing |
MSRP at $699 Available online at $619 |
Right off the bat, there's the dual-core AMD Phenom II N660 processor running at 3GHz. AMD now has an ungainly three different mainstream mobile processor lines with the Athlon, Turion, and Phenoms basically in order of "good, better, best" and sporting borderline indecipherable model numbers, so hats off to them for following Intel's footsteps into the realm of being utterly mystifying to the end consumer. The mobile Phenom IIs are largely equivalent to the desktop Athlon II chips, which means the N660 doesn't have any L3 cache. That leaves it specced with 1MB of L2 cache per core and enjoying a 1.8GHz HyperTransport clock. In fact the only differentiator between Phenom II and Turion II mobile processors is clock speed; the Turion IIs stop at 2.6GHz, while 2.6GHz is the lowest-clocked Phenom II (but at a 25-watt TDP). The N660's 3GHz results in a 35-watt TDP.
Supporting the N660 is 4GB of DDR3-1066 and the aging Mobility Radeon HD 4250. As I've harped before, the 40-shader 780G was a fine IGP when it landed, but time has been unkind to this particular core design, and the minimal update to DirectX 10.1 just hasn't been enough. The 4250's 40 shaders run at 500MHz, down from the 700MHz the 4250 runs at on the desktop. It's still more desirable than Arrandale's Intel HD graphics due to generally superior driver quality and compatibility along with similar overall performance, but as you'll see, Sandy Bridge's Intel HD 3000 graphics mop the floor with it. Thankfully the 4250 is not long for this world; AMD's ultraportable platform now favors the E-350 with its far more capable Radeon HD 6310 IGP, and Llano is drawing ever closer.
Rounding out the L645D is the bare minimum of connectivity and an anemic 640GB 5400RPM hard disk. Toshiba's mobile hard disks have typically been poor performers, but I imagine it keeps costs down and at least the capacity is generous. The highlight, however, is the inclusion of a combination Blu-ray reader/DVD writer. With an asking price of $699 MSRP and online price of $619, this notebook comes within striking distance of the recently reviewed Sony EE34.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
61 Comments
View All Comments
piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
5400 RPM HDD, decent CPU hampered by terrible graphics, intentionally ruined graphics drivers, glossy screen, 10/100 ethernet?Pass.
XZerg - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
no usb3 also.it feels like these guys and many others purposely f**k up on AMD version to ensure they make more even though they could have sold it at a much cheaper price with all the bells than what a similar config from intel would have been.
alent1234 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
it's $619. some people don't care about good graphics or USB3. some people just want a laptop to surf the internet and hold some datai just want something in the $600 range with a 15" screen, SB and 500GB hard drive. i use android and iOS a lot more than Windows so most of the time the laptop is off.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Then why the decent CPU?Why the blu-ray drive?
They're setting a standard the rest of the system utterly fails to match.
alent1234 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
because this stuff is dirt cheap now. it's not like they make this stuff up. they have projected selling prices and profits per unit. they get a bill of materials from suppliers before designing something and prices probably dropped so much they can put in more hardware and still sell for a low price.a lot of times it's cheaper to use a more expensive part but use less parts in your products overall. think apple. it makes logistics easier and cheaper. and since toshiba is part of the blu ray consortium they are pushing their other products with this
Sam125 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
I think AMD was the first to realize that there comes a point where going dirt cheap is kind of stupid when you end up with gimped/lopsided systems like this L645D which is why they're cutting the manufacturer out of the picture when it comes to choosing a balanced system architecture. That's why going SOC always made sense for AMD but not Intel.quiksilvr - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Seriously. Go to Newegg and look at the cheapest Core i3 laptops. They are all ProBookks that are mostly under $500. I'd rather get a slightly bigger laptop for less than gimp out just for "portability" (The Probooks are 5.25 lbs. That's plently portable enough)mino - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Sorry sir to spoil your party, but calling the second-best IGP (after Brazos) on the amrket a terribel graphics ?Well shall we talk about ALL those Intel notebooks (taking 50% of the market) selling with their IGP's ... who not only do not have the performance are not actually able to _run_most of the graphics stuff ?
Just remember, those Intel notebooks had a similar or faster CPU on board ... and sold for much higher prices ...
piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Do you think I'm anti-AMD or something?Because I'm not.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
HD 4250 is hardly the "second-best" IGP. In order, the best IGPs at present are:GeForce 320M (only in MacBook)
HD 6310 (Brazos E-series)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 (not as compatible with games, but generally more than twice as fast as the other stuff below)
GeForce 9400M (yup, this was still faster than the 4250!)
HD 6250 (Brazos C-series)
HD 4250. Yay! So I'd put it as the seventh-best IGP, or sixth-best if you want to lump the two Brazos IGPs together. (I didn't because they have wildly different clocks.)