10 year old laptop... how does it hold up in 2020?

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Ok so backstory here, recently i got so angry at apple that i decided to sell all my Mac laptops, leaving me with an elitebook from 2012 and a toshiba laptop from 2010, which i will review today.

why did i choose this compared to the elitebook? simple, bigger display, better keyboard and more I/O.

 

i got this laptop in 2015 from a friend. he had dropped it. the screen was completely smashed and a corner of the laptop doesn't hold together well. over the last 5 years i've slowly replaced broken parts as i got the chance to. the display that it has now is from a HP laptop that i was asked to repair that also had a 17" screen, but that laptop was completely dead. it didn't power on or anything. i was unable to fix it so i told the owners that, and they were like keep it then it's worthless to us. so i salvaged the display from it and it ended up in this toshiba. if you didn't look closely you'd never know. inside the screen assembly it's actually held in with double sided tape because the screwholes didn't line up, but it's holding together really well. i did this swap probably 9 months to a year ago, and it's worked flawlessly ever since, apart from one time when the screen started artifacting. after taking it apart i noticed the connector to the lcd had come loose, after reattaching it and securing it with tape it's worked perfectly.

 

let's dig in a bit deeper.

 

This laptop is a Toshiba L670-17K.

the specs are:

Core i5 M450

Ati Mobility Radeon HD5650

8GB DDR3

Adata SU650

17.3" 1600x900 (not the original screen!!!!)

 

cpu-z and gpu-z (click to zoom in)

nothing special or impressive, and yet, this machine pleasantly surprised me. it has in the past, but really putting it to the test now shows off what it's still capable of.

 

let's take a close look at it.

 

as you can see it's big, which isn't unusal for a machine with a 17" display. it's quite thick though, but that has advantages. the port selection is fantastic.

the ports are the following:

- Power-In

- VGA

- Ethernet

- Esata - Usb combo port

- HDMI

- SD

that's just the left side of the machine, on the right side we have:

- Headphone jack

- Microphone jack
- 2x USB

- Optical drive, specifically a DVD RW drive, really nice to have.

you do give up modern conveniences like USB 3.0 and type-c, but to me that's not really a big deal since you won't be editing large video files on something as old as this.

 

the keyboard, although not backlit is really nice to type on. nice big keys with plenty of travel. i really like the keyboard on this laptop. having dedicated keys for delete, home, end, page up and page down is really cool, as well as having a numpad on top of it. the touchpad is less good. it's tiny compared to the size of the machine and the old drivers combined with the lack of gesture support is a bummer. 2 finger scroll does work though.

 

 

Now let's talk performance. This laptop is nothing special. in Minecraft with everything on low at 6 chunks i got 60 to 100fps, with very short peaks of 120fps and occasional stutters down to 30fps while flying around in creative mode.

in Cinebench i got a score of 353. that was with HWMonitor running in the background to keep an eye on temperatures.

 

 

speaking of temperatures, they are excellent. i stripped this laptop apart completely about a year ago to replace the thermal paste which took me a few hours, this is quite an unfriendly laptop to take apart, but i managed it and the repaste vastly improved the temperatures.

the cooling is also really good, partly because of how thick the laptop is.

look at the size of the vent!!! usb stick for scale:

during cinebench in a room that was about 19.5 degrees celsius the cpu maxed out at 78 degrees and averaged at 72 to 76 degrees. when playing minecraft the gpu stayed nice and cool at 74 degrees max, 70 degrees average.

 

however, those are all just numbers. what it comes down to here is real world performance. this laptop wasn't amazing when it was new and in 2020 it's nothing special, so how well does it hold up?

 

well, i decided to test this by playing a youtube video and doing general web browsing at the same time and it didn't slow down much. the fan ramped up sure, but it was fine. installing programs uses about 50% cpu, but again, the system remains usable. the same with Windows updates in the background. you do notice they are running, but it stays usable. if you compare that with some low end devices that you can buy now like the Surface Go, that have their cpu at 100% sometimes due to Windows Update it's not bad, especially because laptops like this are really cheap now.

 

the one thing i can't comment on is battery life since i've never had a battery for this laptop. i will buy one for it soon though.

 

 

my verdict: it's usable for sure depending on what you do. if you intent to play Minecraft and do web browsing and word processing it's totally fine. even with something like Spotify in the background. if you can find something like this for really cheap i'd say go for it if that's what you intend to do with it and you don't mind a thick bulky machine.

 

for me this is gonna be a laptop that i take with me places to do tasks i can't do on my phone. so when i want a bigger screen or a keyboard, and for that it's totally fine.

 

the one thing i wouldn't use it for is video conferencing, since the webcams on laptops this old are really awful.

[Mnky313]

I'm still rocking an 8 year old Precision because of it's port selection and features, in order for me to buy a laptop that is an actual upgrade and doesn't lose a bunch of features it would cost a ton but to be fair to it, it's still quite snappy for day-to-day tasks and combined with the docking station it really is near the end of the era of true 'desktop replacements'.
The only thing that's pretty bad is battery life, but that's also because I use it on max performance mode and display brightness cranked.

I could literally go on for probably hours about things I like about these older tanks of machines.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

2 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

I'm still rocking an 8 year old Precision because of it's port selection and features, in order for me to buy a laptop that is an actual upgrade and doesn't lose a bunch of features it would cost a ton but to be fair to it, it's still quite snappy for day-to-day tasks and combined with the docking station it really is near the end of the era of true 'desktop replacements'.

my toshiba can't replace my desktop, but in a hurry it's fine. you really do notice the slowness with ninite running and like 10 tabs open like i did at one point. that it can't really handle well. to be fair, the laptop you have is probably a quadcore considering it's from 2012...

 

4 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

The only thing that's pretty bad is battery life, but that's also because I use it on max performance mode and display brightness cranked.

i've never tested this toshiba for battery life since i've never had a battery for it. i will buy a battery for it soon though and then i can test it.

[Mnky313]

1 minute ago, Twilight said:

my toshiba can't replace my desktop, but in a hurry it's fine. you really do notice the slowness with ninite running and like 10 tabs open like i did at one point. that it can't really handle well. to be fair, the laptop you have is probably a quadcore considering it's from 2012...

Yeah, mine's a quad core (with hyperthreading) so it's plenty good for my normal tasks including several tabs and remote desktop, discord, youtube, etc.

2 minutes ago, Twilight said:

i've never tested this toshiba for battery life since i've never had a battery for it. i will buy a battery for it soon though and then i can test it.

My battery life is mostly because I can't use nVidia Optimus and have battery saver features disabled, this laptop was tested back when it came out and got something like 6 hours of web browsing with Optimus and the lower power display, etc.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

4 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

Yeah, mine's a quad core (with hyperthreading) so it's plenty good for my normal tasks including several tabs and remote desktop, discord, youtube, etc.

that's several times faster than my laptop lol

 

4 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

My battery life is mostly because I can't use nVidia Optimus and have battery saver features disabled, this laptop was tested back when it came out and got something like 6 hours of web browsing with Optimus and the lower power display, etc.

why can't you use optimus?

[Mnky313]

11 minutes ago, Twilight said:

why can't you use optimus?

I opted for the 120Hz (eDP) panel, on my laptop there is actually both an eDP and LVDS (laptop display) connector on the mainboard but only the LVDS one is connected to the integrated GPU, the eDP is wired straight the the MXM card.

[Tristerin]

Im pretty sure I have this same laptop but mine has the i7 620m variant and NVIDIA NVS graphics - I had it on me yesterday to give to a coworker for her kids to use.  I plan on slapping an SSD in it someday and another 2gb of RAM (or replacing it to 8 or 16 total haven't decided)

 

Mine runs like shit, in all honest, have to have Manjaro on it but I think that's due to the SSD and 2gb of RAM in single channel issue.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

6 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Im pretty sure I have this same laptop but mine has the i7 620m variant and NVIDIA NVS graphics - I had it on me yesterday to give to a coworker for her kids to use.  I plan on slapping an SSD in it someday and another 2gb of RAM (or replacing it to 8 or 16 total haven't decided)

 

Mine runs like shit, in all honest, have to have Manjaro on it but I think that's due to the SSD and 2gb of RAM in single channel issue.

iirc the max on these things is 8gb.. that's a cpu limit as seen here.

 

2gb will run like shit, that's your issue. the cpu is fast but the ram is your limit.

[Tristerin]

4 minutes ago, Twilight said:

iirc the max on these things is 8gb.. that's a cpu limit as seen here.

 

2gb will run like shit, that's your issue. the cpu is fast but the ram is your limit.

Yeah I was given this thing for fixing a bunch of them (and some had the i5) and I took the slowest one (they demanded I take one lol)

 

I also want to slap in an SSD just because moving parts spinning drive is slow (and I think like 200gb)

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

35 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Yeah I was given this thing for fixing a bunch of them (and some had the i5) and I took the slowest one (they demanded I take one lol)

 

I also want to slap in an SSD just because moving parts spinning drive is slow (and I think like 200gb)

ssd and 8gb of ram and these old machines will feel like new.

[Tristerin]

26 minutes ago, Twilight said:

ssd and 8gb of ram and these old machines will feel like new.

Stahp Im looking at SSDs and RAM now (no seriously I told myself I wouldn't buy PC parts through Corona debacle and now all of a sudden I itch to upgrade this laptop lol)  My only savings grace is I let a co-worker borrow it for the next few weeks (or until things return to whatever the new normal is) for her kids

 

EDIT - I do like the laptop though, big screen, 10key, etc

 

 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, Tristerin said:

Stahp Im looking at SSDs and RAM now (no seriously I told myself I wouldn't buy PC parts through Corona debacle and now all of a sudden I itch to upgrade this laptop lol)

i feel that. i'm lucky to have spare parts.

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Twilight said:

i feel that. i'm lucky to have spare parts.

You just reminded me - I have a 60gb SSD somewhere not in use, going to locate it when I get home

AND

AND

an HP Laptop I haven't used in years that takes DDR3 Ive never opened up under the bed (its needed repasted for...years - but its got an A10 APU in it so much more slower than this i7 Im guessing)

 

You may have just saved my wallet, and my will to not break my own promise to myself LOLOL

 

So thank you, not stahp lol

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, Tristerin said:

You just reminded me - I have a 60gb SSD somewhere not in use, going to locate it when I get home

AND

AND

an HP Laptop I haven't used in years that takes DDR3 Ive never opened up under the bed (its needed repasted for...years - but its got an A10 APU in it so much more slower than this i7 Im guessing)

this i7 will handily outperform an A10. i had a lenovo with a quadcore A6 and this handily outperfomed it with the i5... i don't know by how much and i cant benchmark the lenovo because i gave it away to someone who needed a computer but couldn't afford one so like, i can't ask them to run a benchmark. i do know that this toshiba was noticably faster.

 

do keep in mind that this particular toshiba hates 8gb modules. the cpu limit is 8gb max, but i tried it with 1 8gb module and it didn't post. you need 2x4gb. that 8gb module is known good and works in another laptop so...

[Tristerin]

41 minutes ago, Twilight said:

this i7 will handily outperform an A10. i had a lenovo with a quadcore A6 and this handily outperfomed it with the i5... i don't know by how much and i cant benchmark the lenovo because i gave it away to someone who needed a computer but couldn't afford one so like, i can't ask them to run a benchmark. i do know that this toshiba was noticably faster.

 

do keep in mind that this particular toshiba hates 8gb modules. the cpu limit is 8gb max, but i tried it with 1 8gb module and it didn't post. you need 2x4gb. that 8gb module is known good and works in another laptop so...

Yeah Im going to check my other laptop, Im not sure what it has in it tbh I haven't cared in years lol - even if it mixes funny Im going to try just to alleviate the lack of RAM - I plan on (even if I end up buying a kit for it) going 2x4 for the dual channel anyhow (or trading some items here for SODIMMS etc)

 

I do have 2x4gb DDR3 SODIMMs in my MFF Dell but that has a purpose and gets used daily

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

27 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I plan on (even if I end up buying a kit for it) going 2x4 for the dual channel anyhow (or trading some items here for SODIMMS etc)

why if i may ask? these laptops don't use the intel graphics at all. they run on the dGPU all the time, so dual channel has no advantage here. single channel ddr3 is more than quick enough to run an aging dualcore...

[Tristerin]

2 minutes ago, Twilight said:

why if i may ask? these laptops don't use the intel graphics at all. they run on the dGPU all the time, so dual channel has no advantage here. single channel ddr3 is more than quick enough to run an aging dualcore...

Cause Im not versed with laptops at all (basically) - if not advantage Ill just get whatever the cheapest solution to 8gb is then if I make a purchase (Im hoping theres 8gb in that laptop I have, it was used for work many years ago)

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

2 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Cause Im not versed with laptops at all (basically) - if not advantage Ill just get whatever the cheapest solution to 8gb is then if I make a purchase (Im hoping theres 8gb in that laptop I have, it was used for work many years ago)

lol, you get an andvantage if you have integrated graphics, since they use system memory for vram. you can actually get a 30 to 50% boost sometimes if you get dualchannel ram. for these laptops that have dGPU's with their own dedicated vram it doesn't make a difference.

[Kilrah]

On 4/30/2020 at 4:24 PM, Twilight said:

Ok so backstory here, recently i got so angry at apple that i decided to sell all my Mac laptops

Huh, weren't you all about how macs were so great just a week ago?! 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

4 hours ago, Kilrah said:

Huh, weren't you all about how macs were so great just a week ago?! 

a bit longer, but then my Mac started having battery problems, and i was quoted €250 to have the battery fixed and €500 for the battery and keyboard. which is plain stupid. on the laptop i reviewed here the keyboard is secured with 4 screws and then it can be removed and the battery is removable. that really made the line snap for me and i put all my Mac's up for sale and moved back to the windows side.

[Intergalacticbits]

I have 2 old laptops myself and I feel a similar way.

The one is an old HP with Vista on it  bought in 2008 that I just use for backing stuff up and what ever.

I don't want to get rid of it because it is nicer in almost every way compared to the laptops I see in stores today.

It is thicker, heavier and feels more quality in materials then the newer stuff.

It has a boat load of ports on both sides of it and a very nice keyboard.

I can't upgrade it to Windows 10 ( it only has a core 2 duo in it ) but I just don't want to throw it away. 

 

 

The other is my daily use, newer but cheaper Windows 10 HP laptop.

Which I still prefer over the newer stuff in stores now because of its thickness and no lack of ports.

Keyboard is bad but still feels better than most of the ones on laptops I touch in the stores today.

 

I keep window shopping for a new laptop but I hate everything I see.

I don't want to pay money for something with no ports, crap feeling keyboard and so thin it looks like it isn't worth $50.00  .

To me the newer laptop stuff just feels so cheeseball cheep all around.

I just want some hardware for the money.

 

 

 

 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

17 minutes ago, Intergalacticbits said:

I can't upgrade it to Windows 10 ( it only has a core 2 duo in it ) but I just don't want to throw it away. 

A core 2 duo is more than capable of running 64-bit Windows 10.

[Tristerin]

On 5/1/2020 at 1:53 PM, Twilight said:

lol, you get an andvantage if you have integrated graphics, since they use system memory for vram. you can actually get a 30 to 50% boost sometimes if you get dualchannel ram. for these laptops that have dGPU's with their own dedicated vram it doesn't make a difference.

Its an AMD Athlon II M320 - DDR2 I actually am surprised how well its running Win 7 pro atm so I think Im just going to clean this system and paste it, and try to snoop around for a cheap Ebay SODIMM stick and got my 60gb SSD in hand for the Toshiba

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

28 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Its an AMD Athlon II M320 - DDR2 I actually am surprised how well its running Win 7 pro atm so I think Im just going to clean this system and paste it, and try to snoop around for a cheap Ebay SODIMM stick and got my 60gb SSD in hand for the Toshiba

oh that's very different to the one i have... double check what ram and how much it supports.

[Tristerin]

1 hour ago, Twilight said:

oh that's very different to the one i have... double check what ram and how much it supports.

I do have the Toshiba that's an i7 that's not here atm, but got into the HP ProBook from way back when to harvest that DDR3 (or so I thought) and that laptop was older than I remembered - oh well!