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If you’re looking for a laptop to replace an ageing desktop computer, but don’t want to spend a significant amount, Toshiba’s C670 could be ideal. It has a huge 17in screen and full size keyboard, but only costs £500.
The matt black plastic chassis would look equally at home in the board room as it does in the living room, but the Satellite C670 is more than capable of handling your multimedia. Its 17.3in screen is bright and looks surprisingly sharp, thanks to the 1,600×900 resolution, which is a noticeable step above the standard 1,366×768 we’re used to seeing in budget laptops.
It can’t display native 1080p content, but HD video looked crisp and fast motion looked surprisingly smooth. The glossy screen finish did create reflections when sat under our harsh office lighting, but they weren’t as noticeable in a screen this size. There’s more than enough screen tilt to stop this from being a major problem, although viewing angles were only average for a TN panel.
A set of stereo speakers designed by audio specialists Onyko were fine for watching catch-up TV or YouTube videos, but high quality music and films lacked any significant punch due to the lack of a subwoofer. Mid-range notes were clear, but the high-end sounded sharp and there was no audible bass. Even at maximum volume, details were lost when we walked just a few feet away. There’s a spacious 640GB hard disk that’s ideal for a large multimedia collection.
The laptop can also handle slightly more intensive tasks as well, thanks to an Intel Core i3-2310m processor running at 2.1GHz and 6GB of RAM. This combination helped it achieve a respectable 43 in our multimedia benchmarks, so you should be able to run most applications smoothly. Battery life was about what we would expect for a 17in laptop using these components. A little under five-hours’ usage before a recharge is a decent result, but hardly overwhelming.
Unsurprisingly for a budget laptop, the C670 doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card. Instead, the processor’s integrated chip is used. This is fine for everyday use, and even 1080p video playback on an external display, but it can’t cope with modern games. Our Dirt 3 Benchmark brought the laptop to a crawl, managing just 15.3fps. You’ll need to drop the detail settings to play most games, although older titles may be more forgiving.
In everyday use, we found the C670 easy to use thanks to its spacious full-size keyboard. Although the keys are all placed very close to one another, the springy keys had plenty of tactile feedback to make us confident our presses were registered by the operating system. There’s also room for a separate numerical keypad, which should speed up data entry. Unfortunately, the very small touchpad is poorly matched to the massive screen, as it forced us to make several sweeps just to span the desktop. The touchpad buttons below it felt a little stiff, but were also sturdy and responsive.
Connectivity was slightly disappointing, given the size of the laptop; there’s plenty of room for extra ports next to the DVD re-writer, but Toshiba has only included two USB ports and a multi-format card reader on the other side of the chassis.
In spite of this, the C670 is still a great value 17in laptop. The screen alone makes this the ideal budget replacement to a bulky desktop PC, and decent performance shows you get plenty for your money. However, the Samsung RV720 has a near identical set of components and a much nicer chassis, for around £30 less.
