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MagyarToshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z Notebook Review Update
For the original German review, see here.
Toshiba adds another model to its lineup of affordable laptops with the Satellite L50D-B-127. The laptop is powered by an AMD APU from the Beema generation. Regular Notebookcheck readers might recognize the Satellite since we have tested two higher-priced models from the Satellite L50-B line (Satellite L50-B-1TD, Satellite L50-B-182). Our report discloses whether the lower-priced Satellite L50D-B-12Z is compelling.
Laptops with an equally low price, such as the Asus X555LD-XX283H, Lenovo IdeaPad Z50-75, HP 355 G2 or Acer Extensa 2510-34Z4, belong to the Satellite's contenders.
Since the Satellite L50D-B and the two Satellite L50-B models that we tested feature identical builds, we will not go in-depth about casing, connectivity, input devices or speakers. Corresponding information can be found in the review of the Satellite L50-B-182.
Case & Connectivity
The Satellite L50D-B and Satellite L50-B are based on the same casing. However, different colors are used. While the models of the L50-B lineup are silver-gray, the casings of the L50D-B series are black. A printed pattern (dashed lines) additionally adorns the casings of both lines.
Display
The Satellite is equipped with a glare-type, 15.6-inch screen that has a native resolution of 1366x768 pixels. Unfortunately, the screen can only offer a low brightness. A rate of 183.4 cd/m² is no longer contemporary. We expect a minimum rate of well beyond 200 cd/m² even in the low-cost sector. Though neither the contrast (455:1) nor black level (0.4 cd/m²) are outstanding, they are still acceptable.
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Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Center on Battery: 182 cd/m²
Contrast: 455:1 (Black: 0.4 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 12.5 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.94
ΔE Greyscale 13.24 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
40% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
42.82% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
62.4% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
41.44% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.01
The screen exhibits a clear color shift in state of delivery. The DeltaE 2000 rate is 12.5. A rate less than 3 would be the target. The screen also has a bluish cast.
As expected from a laptop from the low-cost sector, Toshiba installs a TN screen in the Satellite. Consequently, the screen only has limited viewing angles. The laptop is not really suitable for outdoor use. The low brightness and reflective screen prevent that.
Performance
Toshiba's Satellite L50D-B-12Z is a basic, 15.6-inch office laptop. It has enough power for applications from the office and Internet fields, and for playing videos. Our review sample costs around 430 Euros (~$493). Toshiba has countless other configurations available.
Processor
The Satellite sports an A6-6310 (Beema) APU from AMD. The APU includes a quad-core processor that clocks with a base speed of 1.8 GHz. Its speed can be boosted up to 2.4 GHz via Turbo. The Turbo is utilized in both AC and battery modes. The single-thread tests of the Cinebench benchmarks were processed with 2 to 2.4 GHz, and the processor ran the multi-thread tests with 2 GHz. The processor's multi-thread performance is roughly on par with Core i3 processors from the ULV Haswell generation. Intel's processor clearly has a lead in single-thread performance.
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Toshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP 355 G2 | |
| HP 350 G1 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 3542-2293 | |
| Acer Aspire E5-551G-F1EW | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
| Peacekeeper - --- (sort by value) | |
| Toshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP 355 G2 | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Toshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP 355 G2 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 3542-2293 | |
| Acer Aspire E5-551G-F1EW | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Toshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z | |
| Asus X555LD-XX283H | |
| HP 355 G2 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 3542-2293 | |
| Acer Aspire E5-551G-F1EW | |
| Asus F555LD-XX243H | |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
The laptop did not cause any problems, and the system ran smoothly. The PCMark benchmarks scores correspond to the installed APU's capabilities. The Satellite's scores are just a bit lower than those of comparable Core i3 laptops, such as Acer's Extensa 2510-34Z4.
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 1933 points | |
| PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated v2 | 2001 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 2743 points | |
Help | ||
Storage Device
Toshiba treats the laptop to a company own hard drive. It has a capacity of 500 GB and spins with 5400 revolutions per minute. The drive's transfer rates are good and correspond to the performance of modern 5400 rpm hard drives.
Graphics Card
The Radeon R4 (Beema) graphics core in the Satellite also comes from AMD. It supports DirectX 11.2 and clocks with speeds of up to 800 MHz. The 3DMark benchmark scores place the GPU somewhere between Intel's HD Graphics 4200 and HD Graphics 4400 graphics cores. Installing a second working memory will not result in a higher graphics performance in the Satellite. The incorporated memory controller only supports single-channel mode.
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 788 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 32665 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 2856 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 460 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming Performance
The Satellite is not a laptop for gamers; it only manages to render some games smoothly in a low resolution and low quality settings. The lower the hardware requirements of a game are the sooner it can be played. Current smash hits like The Crew or Far Cry 4 are not among them, though.
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| Dirt 3 (2011) | 52.5 | 30.4 | 22 | |
| Batman: Arkham City (2011) | 31 | 25 | 12 | |
| Alan Wake (2012) | 14.6 | 8.4 | ||
| Mass Effect 3 (2012) | 23.9 | 17.9 | ||
| Dirt Showdown (2012) | 29.2 | 21.1 | 16.4 | |
| Dishonored (2012) | 26.4 | 26.3 | 19.2 | |
| Tomb Raider (2013) | 31.7 | 17 | 11.7 | |
| GRID 2 (2013) | 41.7 | 23.2 | 17.8 | |
| Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013) | 21.9 | 13.3 | 5.9 | |
| Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) | 15.2 | 11.8 | 5.4 | |
| Watch Dogs (2014) | 10.7 | 6.9 | ||
| Assassin's Creed Unity (2014) | 7.1 | 4.6 | ||
| Far Cry 4 (2014) | 12.6 | 8.4 | ||
| Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) | 16.1 | 9.9 | ||
| The Crew (2014) | 15.5 | 10.9 |
| Toshiba Satellite L50D-B-12Z Radeon R4 (Beema), A6-6310, Toshiba MQ01ABF050 | Asus X555LD-XX283H GeForce 820M, 4010U, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E680 | Lenovo IdeaPad Z50-75 Radeon R6 M255DX, A8-7100, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPCX-24UE4T0 | HP 355 G2 Radeon R5 M240, A8-6410, Toshiba MQ01ABF050 | HP 350 G1 Radeon HD 8670M, 4210U, Seagate Momentus ST750LM022 HN-M750MB | Dell Inspiron 15 3542-2293 GeForce 820M, 4210U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142 | Asus X555LN-XO112H GeForce 840M, 4210U, Toshiba MQ01ABF050 | Acer Aspire E5-551G-F1EW Radeon R7 M265, FX-7500, Seagate ST1000LM014 Solid State Hybrid Drive | Acer Aspire E1-572G-54204G75Mnkk Radeon HD 8750M, 4200U, TOSHIBA MQ01ABD075 | Lenovo IdeaPad G50-70 Radeon R5 M230, 4200U, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT012-1DG142 | Asus F555LD-XX243H GeForce 820M, 4010U, Seagate Momentus SpinPoint M8 ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomb Raider | 128% | 125% | 78% | 76% | 127% | 233% | 149% | 174% | 45% | 128% | |
| 1024x768 Low Preset | 31.7 | 76.6 142% | 70.7 123% | 59.6 88% | 60.7 91% | 74.8 136% | 125.2 295% | 69 118% | 92.6 192% | 43.9 38% | 75.7 139% |
| 1366x768 Normal Preset AA:FX AF:4x | 17 | 39.6 133% | 39.7 134% | 30.4 79% | 29.8 75% | 40 135% | 59.9 252% | 45.2 166% | 45.5 168% | 25.8 52% | 39.7 134% |
| 1366x768 High Preset AA:FX AF:8x | 11.7 | 24.4 109% | 25.5 118% | 19.7 68% | 18.8 61% | 24.6 110% | 29.5 152% | 30.7 162% | 30.8 163% | 16.9 44% | 24.6 110% |
Emissions
System Noise
The fan is occasionally inactive in idle mode, and only the hard drive's noise is audible. The fan does not speed up excessively during load. We measured a noise level of 37.1 dB in the stress test, which is a very moderate rate.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 32.7 / 32.9 / 32.9 dB(A) |
| HDD |
| 33.4 dB(A) |
| DVD |
| 38.6 / dB(A) |
| Load |
| 32.9 / 37.1 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
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min:  , med:  , max:  Voltcraft sl-320 (15 cm distance) | ||
Temperature
The Satellite processed the stress test (Prime95 and Furmark run for at least one hour) in AC and battery modes in the same manner. The processor clocked with a speed of 1.4 GHz, and the graphics core work speed fluctuated between 653 and 800 MHz. The temperature of Toshiba's laptop increases only moderately. The casing's temperatures remain below 40 °C even in the APU cooler area.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 31.7 °C / 89 F, compared to the average of 34.3 °C / 94 F, ranging from 21.2 to 62.5 °C for the class Office.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 38.6 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 36.8 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 24.4 °C / 76 F, compared to the device average of 29.5 °C / 85 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 26.8 °C / 80.2 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(±) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 27.7 °C / 81.9 F (+0.9 °C / 1.7 F).
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The Satellite is very restrained in idle mode. The power requirement is below 10 watts. The power consumption does not skyrocket during load, either. We measured a rate of 24.3 watts. The maximum power consumption will likely be approximately 30 watts if the processor and graphics core were not throttled.
| Off / Standby | 0.1 / 0.2 Watt |
| Idle | 3.5 / 6.9 / 8 Watt |
| Load |
19.4 / 24.3 Watt |
   
| |
Battery Runtime
Websites are opened automatically every 40 seconds in the real-world Wi-Fi test. The energy-saving profile is enabled, and the screen's brightness is set to approximately 150 cd/m². The Satellite achieved a runtime of 5:45 hours - a good time.
Verdict
AMD's APU in Toshiba's Satellite L50D-B-12Z provides enough computing power for dealing with everyday requirements. At the same time, the laptop usually operates quietly and barely heats up. Beyond that, the input devices are compelling, and the buyer does not have to waive good battery runtimes. The low price level of around 430 Euros (~$493) takes its toll, though. Toshiba only installs a dark, viewing-angle dependent screen, and it only includes a one-year warranty.
