Toshiba Satellite L755 Review: Basic Home Essentials

The Satellite L755 (also sold as the L750) is a 15.6-inch budget notebook with a good keyboard and satisfactory overall performance. With the holidays fast approaching, is it worth recommending this laptop at nearly $700?

Build and Design
The Toshiba Satellite L755 manages to look respectable despite its budget notebook classification. That is, until you start using it. Every visible inch of the notebook has a glossy surface which attracts fingerprints and dust like no other; it quickly turns into a mess. Notebook makers use glossy plastic solely as a means of making the notebook look more attractive on a display shelf. Glossy plastic fails the practicality test and is the worst characteristic of this notebook. Even the keyboard keys are glossy.
The build quality of the notebook is satisfactory; it feels sturdy enough and the chassis resists twisting rather well. Most of the plastic surfaces visibly flex when pressed down upon, however. The plastics used have adequate quality but aren't robust as would be expected on a business notebook, for example.
The display has a surprisingly strong backing which prevents any distortion from showing on the screen when pressure is applied from behind. The screen hinges seem a bit weak as the anchor points are quite small and the display can actually move side-to-side a bit.
Upgrading the L755 is a relatively simple task; two access panels on the bottom of the chassis provide access to the memory and hard drive.

Ports and Features
The L755 includes the bare essentials and nothing more as is the case with most budget notebooks. This notebook lacks the new USB 3.0 SuperSpeed port, eSATA, and DisplayPort; they can't be added either since the L755 also lacks an ExpressCard expansion slot. All picture descriptions are left to right.