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While design might not be at the very top of the Toshiba P855's list, power certainly is – with spades of it present.
Aside from the lack of an SSD, there are lots of high-end components here, including that strong processor, 8GB of RAM and a pretty meaty graphics card – if not truly a gaming one.
You can be guaranteed that your £650 will get you a laptop that's going to still be current for the next couple of years.
If we were to be picky, we'd say that some laptops in this price category have featured Core i7 processors in the past, but it's not a deal-breaker at all.
The 1TB drive representing means there is plenty of space for storing your chunky media collection without having to resort to an external hard drive until things get out of control, which further enforces the P855's home entertainment intentions.
The P855 also features a smattering of other nice hardware touches.
There is, for instance, a full showing of ports here, including a whopping four USB inputs – all USB 3.0, no less, and two of them even allow you to charge your USB devices while the laptop lid is shut and it's in a low-power sleep state.
There's also an HDMI output for watching hi-def movies on your big screen instantly, a VGA connector (if you'd prefer to just get your screen onto a desktop monitor), headphone and microphone jacks, an Ethernet port, and an SD card to round things off nicely.
It really is absolutely complete in this regard, so those who are fussy about their ports will find happiness here.
The more standard features you'd expect at this level include an 802.11b/g/n wireless card and Bluetooth 4.0, so no matter what media streaming you're into – whether it's beaming files to the P855, or to other devices around the home – it should be a breeze.
Intel's Wireless Display technology also features, so should you ever feel the need to send movies straight to a compatible TV without the need for wires in future, you're nicely covered.
There's also a 1.0MP web camera for all your video conferencing needs, and it does the job, but let's be honest – it's nothing to rave about here.
The only big omission on the Toshiba P855 is the lack of a 1920x1080 full HD display. OK, so there's no Blu-ray player in tow either – a standard DVD drive does the job instead - but people still watch 1080p movies in other formats and this feels like a missed opportunity, especially for a laptop that is all about home entertainment – although in that respect it delivers on every other front.
