Thoughts on Satellite S55?

Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Satellite S55-A5276 Notebook Intel Core i7 4700MQ(2.40GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M

Seems like good specs for the price, but I can't find any reviews for it and would like to know how long the battery can last with regular use. Anyone bought it that can give some feedback?

 

The S-Series should be comparable to the more expensive P-series [just with lesser hardware].
http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/724954-p50-review.html

Good luck

 

That's a interesting configuration. The S series on Toshiba's site only offers the 720P screen but this one comes with 1080P. Its a good price for the configuration. P series equivalent might cost a few hundred more. Only thing to consider is this one looks like it does not have touch. Other problem may be the slow 5400 drive. For some reason, Toshiba does not offer a SSD with P series either but they do offer a hybrid. From what I hear its possible to pull off the bottom and access the HD and upgrade to SSD. You could buy this and put a 256 SSD in and be right around a 1000 which is pretty good deal. The other part missing on this system is no blu ray drive. Most people don't care but I like to have that and Toshiba offers a BD burner on their configurable systems online. Also remember they use a smallish 4300 wah battery so with the quad core and the gaming card your battery life may not be what you think... even being a haswell and all. If you game, and don't need blu ray access I'd jump all over this system. If what you mostly do is web, movies, some productively I'm thinking the i5 4200u which is 15 watts will probably give you 1.5 to 2 hours more battery life.

 

Hmm from reading that thread, seems like the P-series gets roughly 3.5-4 hours in battery life. Do you think I can expect the same amount for the S55?

Thanks for the input! I'm fine with no touch, and I can probably replace the HDD with an SSD down the line when they get cheaper. Also fine with no blu-ray drive. The only thing that I'm worried about is the battery life, and if I can get 3.5-4 hours like the P-series, I'd be happy with that.

 

With the dedicated graphics and the quad core your battery life will vary a great deal depending on what your doing. Hard core gaming probably not even 2 hours. Its a 45 watt CPU with dedicated graphics with a smallish 4300 wah battery. I would not expect more then 3 hours on this if I were buying it since expecting more may be frustrating. But I'm not a gamer so its a total waste of battery life IMO. The dual core 4200u is where haswells power savings really shine at only 15 watts yet performs as strong as a P8700 CPU. I'm typing this on a 3.5 year old HP HDX P8700 with SSD and its very fast. As fast as my i5 sandy bridge on my toshiba with ssd. If intel can make 4200u at 15 watts as fast as a P8700 then that's a huge leap in tech.

Take all this with a grain of salt. No real battery tests on this yet and Toshiba does not break anything down as far as the differences in battery life with i5 or i7 or the ones with nvidia. You almost have to buy it and test it yourself to get real numbers.