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.
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ET - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
It's not as if even E-350 graphics are all that great. It's hardly enough to run modern games at low settings. Maybe the Brazos gets a D, the 4250 a D-. "Terrible graphics" may be a little strong, but not terribly off the mark. Older generation Intel graphics would get an F, though the newest generation beat the 4250 in most game tests in this review.And don't get me wrong, I think that the E-350 is a good compromise of performance, price and power, and I think that its graphics are a decent match for the underpowered CPU. I even bought a Thinkpad X120e and I intend to play games on it. But honestly, a powerful CPU really should be accompanied by a decent GPU. Hopefully Llano will see to that. The 4250, even if it's better than older Intel IGP's, isn't a decent GPU.
ET - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
My mistake regarding Intel IGP. I looked at the HD Graphics instead of 3000. Now that I took a second look, it's clear that even older gen Intel IGP (HD Graphics) are faster than the 4250 in most games, and current gen destroy both 4250 and E-350's 6310. So yet, 4250 is terrible. :)notanakin - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
I'm just wondering what the point of the Blu-ray drive is - surely this is not a machine for viewing Blu-ray disks, given the poor screen and size. And does anyone store/backup onto Blu-ray?Meaker10 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
HDMI output, its a mobile bluray player for hooking up to a decent TV. Or watching on the go since the screen is still better than DVD quality.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
There was no mention of how quiet this thing is when playing blu rays.Ushio01 - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
You can now get a blu-ray player for less than $50 Toshiba can easily buy them for far less than that. This year blu-ray will become a commodity for notebook's rather than an option.piroroadkill - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
Try and find slim laptop drives that are that price.ET - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
was the mention of Jarred working on low end gaming benchmarks. I'm looking forward to that very much.Anyway, looks like decent value for money as long as you don't want any gaming. I agree that I'd love to see higher res as standard at 14" and up. 1600x900 would be more reasonable at 14". Still, I'm not really in the market for such a laptop, and at 11.6" this resolution is decent.
mino - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Second this!JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
So, here's the full game list I'm using. Some are newer but not too demanding, others are quite old. Can anyone recommend one more title, so I end up with a nice, round 20? LOL... Comments are welcome:Batman: Arkham Asylum
Battlefield 2
Civilization IV
Civilization V
Company of Heroes
Crysis: Warhead
Fallout 3
Far Cry
FEAR (original)
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Minecraft
Oblivion
Quake 4
STALKER (original)
Supreme Commander
Torchlight
Unreal Tournament 3
World of Warcraft