The case of the Toshiba Satellite L350 is simply silver grey. To our opinion it matches well the price category this notebook belongs to. When handling the notebook the stability of its plastic case convinces. Workmanship and feel cannot be criticized in any way, especially if you keep in mind that this notebook costs just 619,- Euro.

Another advantage of the Satellite L350 is its robust case, which well stands applied forces and is very flexural rigid. Only the display gives a little more if you apply force. A simple test, which often uncovers stability problems especially of big notebooks, proves this impression: If you pick the Satellite L350 up at its front edge, it hardly gives and hardly creaks.

The hinges look passable, but, cannot prevent a slight see-saw after adjusting the opening angle of the display. If you operate this 17 inch notebook at a fixed placed, this does not cause any problems. Furthermore, this display has a double hook closing system, which locks the display, if closed. This is an important transportation lock.

The available interfaces are standard. These are spread around the 17 inch case. There are a total of three USB 2.0 ports, LAN and modem port, a VGA port for connecting an external monitor or beamer, and microphone and headphones port.

Most of the ports are at the left and the right side of the case, whereas the USB ports are relatively close to the front, which is not necessarily ideal. The audio ports are in the centre of the front edge, which is ideal for connecting headphones or a headset, but, disadvantageous if you want to connect to an existing hi-fi system.

However, a card reader, which is nowadays often available at consumer notebooks, is not available. It could be useful to transfer data from digital cameras or mobile phones, because a connection cable is not needed this way. But, the ExpressCard slot could help overcome the missing card reader. The ExpressCard slot makes it possible to use expansion cards, e.g., for a card reader.

The communication equipment of the Toshiba Satellite L350 consists of a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (Realtek RTL8102E) and a WLAN module standard b/g for wireless networks (Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.11b/g). In case required, there is also an integrated 56k modem available.

The Kensington lock is together with appropriate equipment, an anti-theft device. It makes it possible to lock the notebook to heavy objects.

Furthermore, the user will appreciate the 24 month warranty, which includes a pick-up service. But, you'll probably don't like the big number of pre-installed software, which is mainly not really useful. But, some of the pre-installed software is useful: DVD software, Works 8.5, and the Toshiba communication and network software. The operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium.

The 17 inch display, called 'Toshiba TruBrite WXGA+ TFT High Brightness Display' has a resolution of 1400x900 pixels.  So, its desktop size is bigger than the 1280x800 pixels of WXGA panels 15.4 inch notebooks are usually equipped with. TruBrite hints on a reflecting glare surface, which ensures shiny and strong colours, but, if the lightening conditions aren't ideal there are disturbing reflections.

The results of our measurements are in contrast to the name 'High Brightness Display'. The maximum brightness of 170.4 cd/m² measured in the centre of the panel, is rather average. However, together with a minimum brightness of 149.1 cd/m² measured in the left bottom area, this give a very good illumination of 87.5%.

System Noise

The fan permanently ran throughout the test - even if the load was low, i.e., modest office load. But, it was a low frequency noise, which hardly annoys. Even if more power is demanded, this does surprisingly not change for a long time. Only if you continuously use all ressources to full capacity the noise increases a little bit.

Temperature

The case of the Toshiba Satellite L350 remains regardless of the load rather cold. The maximum temperature was 36.7°C at the bottom side and 34.3°C at the top side.

Equipped with a 4000 mAh (43.2 Wh) Lithium-Ions battery, the Satellite L350 achieves a maximum runtime of about 240 minutes in the BatteryEater Readers test. This is a good result.
However, in the BatteryEater Classic test, under load, the battery was empty after 70 minutes and had to be recharged.
So, you can expect a runtime of about two to three hours with usual office load.

In the low-price beginner's office notebooks category the competition is active. Nevertheless, the Toshiba Satellite L350 proves to be a high-quality office notebook which could nearly be a DTR (desktop replacement). The good workmanship of the case contributes much to the overall positive impression.

Nevertheless it gets apparent in many aspects that a low price was the most important design criterion. A total of three USB ports, a VGA port and headphones and microphone ports just meet the minimum requirement. In contrary, the keyboard is big. It also has an extra numerical pad for quick number typing. Furthermore, the keyboard layout is also good and also meets the requirements of those who type a lot.

The display is average and appropriate for usual office operation. Due to a reflecting surface and relatively narrow viewing angles it is unfortunately not ready for outdoor operation.

Also the hardware equipment is trimmed for base requirements of undemanding office applications. Advantages of this configuration are a dual core CPU and a relatively big hard disk with a capacity of 320 GB.
The acceptable noise and heat emissions and a useful battery runtime with energy saving settings are other advantages of the L350.

The L350 is an interesting notebook for all those who like big displays and need a notebook for undemanding Internet and office applications. You'll get a solid notebook without unnecessary details which fulfills all necessary requirements at a little more than 600.- Euro.