Notebook Hunter

While the 15.6in Toshiba Satellite C665/00Q is nothing special for $699, for $447 at Dick Smith it’s more affordable than most entry-level basic notebooks. While serious gaming is still out, the NVIDIA GeForce 315M will still suffice for programs that need a dedicated graphics card. Otherwise there’s both a 2nd Gen Intel Core i3 and 4GB of RAM, a combination that will be fine for productivity applications and common software.

We’re not sure when this special expires, but based on past experience we think Sunday is likely. As soon as we know anything more concrete we’ll update the special accordingly.

See the special online here.

See a summary of the specs below.

Processor
The C665 features a 2nd Gen Intel Core i3-2330M (2.2GHz), one of the faster entry-level processors which can smoothly run productivity applications and some intensive software.

Graphics
It comes with a dedicated graphics card called the NVIDIA GeForce 315M. It’s very low-end, and while insufficient for modern games at anything above low settings it’s still enough for software that requires a dedicated graphics card.

RAM
4GB of RAM is enough to run several programs at once smoothly. It’s more than enough to ensure fluid overall system performance with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Storage
A 500GB hard disk drive is about average in size. It’s big enough for plenty of documents, but movies and the like will fill it sooner rather than later.

Screen
The C665 sports a 15.6in (1,366 x 768 resolution) gloss screen. The gloss screen should have better colour richness when compared to a matte screen, but the reflectiveness will make it a bit difficult to use in direct sunlight.

Portability
The C665 has average portability, because it weighs 2.54kg and is 35.6mm thick. It'll be straightforward to carry around.