Wal-Mart's $348 Toshiba 17'' Laptop is a Steal

News
By Marcus Yam
published

One of the best ways to spend $348.

Remember that $300 Compaq laptop that Wal-Mart was selling? Those sold out in a hurry. Now Toshiba is next up to offer an ultra-value-based laptop this coming Sunday, August 16.

Wal-Mart will be selling the Toshiba Satellite L355 (S7915), a 17-inch desktop replacement, for an incredible $348.

Laptop Magazine reviewed this budget notebook and gave it four stars out of five along with its editor's choice award thanks in large part to price.

The specs for this $348 model are as follows:

CPU: 2.2-GHz Intel Celeron 900
Operating System: Windows Vista Basic (32-bit)
RAM/Expandable to: 3GB/4GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed: 250GB/5,400 rpm
Optical Drive: 8X DVD+/-RW
Display/Resolution: 17 inches/1440 x 900

At $348, it does sound like quite a steal. It sure makes netbooks look a little outclassed.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
44 Comments Comment from the forums
  • spaz480
    not too bad, but the processor is a huge downside, but at the price its plenty for the market its aimed towards.
    Reply
  • scook9
    I will assume Intel x4500 graphics since you failed to mention them?

    and yes, beats the hell out a netbook, except for that portability part...toshiba 17" laptops are HUGE
    Reply
  • ricardok
    A Celeron?? No, thanks.. I will keep on using my Turion X2..
    Reply
  • belardo
    er... Netbooks are a different market.

    You can fit about 5 Netbooks into the area of that huge 17" notebook.
    Reply
  • megahunter
    intel GMA 4500M graphics... 2h:30m battery, not so bad for that price
    Reply
  • tayb
    A netbook is basically a cheap crappy notebook. That certainly fits the bill here.
    Reply
  • sot010174
    Perfect gift for grandma.
    Reply
  • lifelesspoet
    I have been seriously disappoint by toshiba lately. 3 out of the 4 people i know who have one hate it and have serious driver issues. The forth one, my father, is running one that I installed ubuntu on. He is still occassionally annoyed but no longer 3 seconds sort of throwing it through a window. I won't outright blame vista, but rather toshiba's driver/bloatware software they ship with the machine. Its almost once a month i have to reinstall drivers.
    Reply
  • decoppel
    Heh @ those knocking netbooks.

    I know from firsthand experience Vista will bog down that Celeron, my netbook runs quite snappy with a pre-tweaked XP OS, not to mention is a fraction of the weight and size with a large keyboard. I wouldn't trade it in for this garbage.
    Reply
  • webgrunt
    tayb 08/13/2009 9:52 PM wrote: "A netbook is basically a cheap crappy notebook. That certainly fits the bill here."

    With the main difference being that a netbook is usually small and light, whereas the Toshiba 17" is big and heavy--so it gives up the only real advantage a netbook has in the first place.
    Reply