Performance
We mentioned that 17in notebooks appeared to be falling out of favour, but perhaps we only have ourselves to blame? To our own surprise, Toshiba's Satellite L670-12J is the first mainstream 17in+ model to hit our most recent benchmark suite.
We've seen the notebook's 2.26GHz Intel Core i5 430M processor in action before - and know it to be potent - but how will the L670's six-cell battery hold up when it's asked to power a large 17.3in display?
To see how it fares, we'll be comparing the 17.3in Toshiba Satellite L670-12J with the 16in Toshiba Satellite A660-17T, 15.6in Lenovo ThinkPad Edge, 15.6in Acer Aspire 5745DG, as well as two 13.3in notebooks, the ASUS U35JC and Acer Timeline 3810T.
Here's a more detailed look at the specification of the six notebooks in question, as well as a brief rundown of the benchmarks we use.
| Comparison systems | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | Toshiba Satellite L670-12J | Toshiba Satellite A660-17T | Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 | Acer Aspire 5745DG | ASUS U35JC | Acer Timeline 3810T |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 430M (2.26GHz, 3MB L3 cache, dual-core) | Intel Core i3 350M (2.26GHz, 3MB L3 cache, dual-core) | Intel Core i5 430M (2.26GHz, 3MB L3 cache, dual-core) | Intel Core i5 450M (2.4GHz, 3MB L3 cache, dual-core) | Intel Core i3 370M (2.4GHz, 3MB L3 cache, dual-core) | Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 (1.40GHz, 3MB L2 cache, dual-core) |
| Memory | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 2GB DDR3 |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M 1GB | Intel HD Graphics + NVIDIA GeForce 310M 1GB | Intel GMA 4500MHD |
| Graphics driver | Intel 8.15.10.2086 | Intel 8.15.10.2104 | Intel 8.15.10.2057 | NVIDIA Verde 259.12 | Intel 8.15.10.2182 + NVIDIA Verde 258.96 | Intel 7.15.10.1666 |
| Display | 17.3in - 1,600x900 | 16in - 1,366x768 | 15.6in - 1,366x768 | 15.6in - 1,366x768 | 13.3in - 1,366x768 | 13.3in - 1,366x768 |
| Battery | 6 cell, 48Whr | 6 cell, 48Whr | 6 cell, 48Whr | 12 cell, 99Whr | 8 cell, 84Whr | 6 cell, 56Whr |
| Weight | 2,777 (including battery) | 2,547g (including battery) | 2,476g (including battery) | 2,839g (including battery) | 1,816g (including battery) | 1,645g (including battery) |
| Wireless | Atheros AR9285 (802.11bgn) | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN (802.11bgn) | Intel WiFi Link 1000 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth 2.1 | Broadcom WLAN (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth 3.0 | Atheros AR9285 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth 2.1 | Intel WiFi 5100 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth 2.0 |
| Disk drive | Toshiba MK5065GSX 500GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Hitachi Travelstar 500GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Seagate Momentus 320GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Hitachi Travelstar 500GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Seagate Momentus 320GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Hitachi 500GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache |
| Optical drive | DVD-RW | DVD-RW | DVD-RW | Blu-ray/DVD RW combo | None | None |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 32-bit |
| Benchmarks | ||||||
| Geekbench 2.1.6 | A cross-platform benchmark used to measure memory and processor performance. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||
| Cinebench 11.5 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||
| 3DMark06 | A PC benchmark used to test the DirectX 9 performance of a system's graphics card. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||
| Battery test | In order to measure battery life, we run the notebook on balanced power settings and loop a 720p movie trailer, measuring the time taken to hibernate. | |||||
| Power consumption | Using balanced power settings, we record mains power draw whilst playing back a 720p movie trailer. | |||||
CPU and GPU performance
The Intel Core i5 430M processor features in both the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 and the Toshiba Satellite L670-12J, and it's a potent mobile part.
Turbo boosting to 2.53GHz and hyper-threaded to provide quad-thread computing, it's able to offer a highly-responsive working environment. A perfect fit for a budget 17in machine.
But the lack of a dedicated discrete GPU is where the Satellite L670-12J falls short. If you're eyeing up a 17.3in notebook for digital media work - i.e. video creation or image manipulation - the L670-12J may not be for you. You can rule out high-res gaming, too.
Toshiba does offer a model with built-in AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics - the L670-17K - but it warrants a more hefty £749 price tag.
Battery life and power consumption
An aside to going without a discrete GPU is that Toshiba is able to keep the Satellite L670-12J's power consumption down to a reasonable level.
Whilst playing back a 720p HD video, we found the notebook on average drew 24 watts of power from the mains. That should bode well for battery life - but not quite.
Toshiba's official figures claim the Satellite L670-12J is able to deliver up to four-and-a-half hours of usage from a single charge, but in reality, it's likely to offer considerably less.
On a balanced power plan with 50 per cent screen brightness, the L670-12J's six-cell battery was able to keep going for only two-and-a-half hours. Switching to an eco-mode might eke out a further 30 minutes of light use, but you won't want to stray too far from a power outlet.
