If cost is your primary concern when shopping for a laptop, the Toshiba Satellite L655-S5096, available at Best Buy, makes a compelling case for itself. Priced at $499.99 (list), it looks like a serious model that could legitimately command an even higher figure. But the trouble with budget laptops, even when they're as eye-catching as this one, is that they rarely offer performance to match their appearance—and this Satellite is no exception. Sticking somewhere between the slow lane and the middle of the road, if your needs are modest, the Satellite L655-S5096 will probably do the job—if not much else.

Design
The L655-S5096 may cost less than $500, but you'd never be able to tell just by looking at it. Measuring a healthy 1.5 by 15 by 9.8 inches (HWD), with a 15.6-inch widescreen with a resolution of 1,366 by 768, and dressed in a shiny black imprint finish, it conveys a certain imposing, understated elegance that goes a long way toward enhancing your computing experience. It weighs in at a respectable 5.37 pounds.

The keyboard, labeled with light gray lettering to match the Toshiba logo on the cover, is traditional in design, with low, flat keys. Because most of them are full-size, they're comfortable enough to type on, though the space bar is a bit squished. The reason for this is obvious: The Satellite L655-S5096 includes a complete 10-key number pad, which doesn't allow for a lot of excess horizontal space.

The lightly textured touchpad, which supports multitouch, is fine for basic pointer moving, but the left and right buttons, placed just beneath it, are a bit on the stiff side. If you want to disable the touchpad as an input device, the button for doing so is located right above it (below the space bar).

Features
If the Toshiba Satellite L655-S5096's design makes an above-average impression for its price, much of the rest of its hardware does not. Its 2-GHz Intel Pentium P6100 processor is definitely on the low end in terms of performance. Its 5,400-rpm 320GB hard drive and DVD±RW drive are acceptable, but nothing special. Though the Satellite comes preloaded with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, it only has 3GB of DDR3 RAM, so you won't gain much extra use from the operating system's 64-bit capabilities.

Most everything else is similarly solid but undistinguished. There's a single SD card slot, located on the front edge of the system (which, depending on how you use the machine, could be an inconvenient location). An integrated webcam sits in the top bezel of the display. There's no Bluetooth in the L655-S5096, but for basic network connectivity you'll find an Ethernet port and support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. There are two standalone USB 2.0 ports on the system's right edge where you'll also find the optical drive; and one combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port and VGA out connector joining the Ethernet jack on the left.

In addition to Microsoft Office Starter Edition 2010 and a Best Buy PC app for easily purchasing, downloading, and installing new software, the Satellite L655-S5096 also comes with a standard one year parts and labor warranty.

Performance
Because of its components, the Satellite L655-S5096 turned in largely unexceptional results in our benchmark tests. It averaged 4,299 on our PCMark Vantage full-system benchmark test, which is better than most recent budget laptops we've looked at. The exceptions are the Editors' Choice for the category, the Acer Aspire AS5745-7247 ($600 list, 4.5 stars), which thanks to its beefier Core i3-370M CPU scored 5,252, and another Acer Aspire, the AS7741Z-4815 ($599.98 list, 3.5 stars), which managed a slightly higher 4,336 with the same CPU. But the LG55-S5096's time of 3 minutes 45 seconds on our Handbrake video conversion test was among the slowest of comparable notebooks—exactly the same as the speed attained by the HP Pavilion dv6-3122us ($649.98 list, 3.5) and way ahead of the Gateway NV53A52v, which needed a whopping 10 minutes 33 seconds, but behind every other system. The 7 minutes 1 second the LG55-S5096 required to finish Photoshop CS5 and its score of 1.31 points in our Cinebench R11.5 rendering test put it near the middle of the budget competition for those tests.

The Satellite L655-S5096 is not intended as a gaming laptop, which is a good thing given its integrated Mobile Intel HD Graphics. The system somehow eked out scores of 1,640 and 1,431 in our 3DMark06 test (respectively at 1,024 by 768 and its native resolution)—the lowest of any other recent machines except for the HP G62-355dx ($479.99 list, 3 stars), which scored 1,000 at its native resolution. And, try as we might, we couldn't get the system to run either the Crysis or Lost Planet 2 benchmark test. Given its 3DMark06 performance, I'll take this as a sign that it's best to confine this Satellite to productivity use.

The Satellite is even par for the course in terms of its battery life. With its six-cell lithium ion battery, it lasted 4 hours 9 minutes on our MobileMark 2007 rundown test—not at all bad, but hardly anything to e-mail home about.

As long as you have no undue expectations, the Toshiba Satellite L655-S5096 will fulfill all the general requirements of a $499.99 laptop. At least, thanks to its pleasing exterior and full keyboard, it will do so with a little bit of flair. For $100 more, the Acer Aspire AS5745-7247 will be a speedier performer, and offer more hard drive space. But if you need a less-expensive laptop that means business and only business, you'll probably be okay with the Satellite L655-S5096 as well.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS
Check out the test scores for the Toshiba Satellite L655-S5096

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Toshiba Satellite L655-S5096 with several other laptops side by side.