In fairness, despite the way Toshiba presents the L635 line, the L635-S3104 shapes up more as a budget option for general use rather than a tool for parental supervision, as it didn't come with the NetNanny software and other parental control features available in some models. It achieves its moderate price in part through its ho-hum configuration, consisting of Intel's midrange Core i5 480M notebook CPU running at 2.67GHz, 4GB of DDR3 RAM (expandable up to 8GB) and Intel Mobile HD integrated graphics.

But this unremarkable configuration, running Windows 7 Home Premium, eked out equally uninspired test scores - a 74 on PC Worldbench and Unreal Tournament frame rates that never topped 25 per second at the lowest resolution (800 by 600). By way of comparison, the HP Envy 14 that currently tops the all-purpose notebook chart scored 88 on Worldbench and achieved frame rates as high as 112 frames per second. (Of course, the Envy is also a lot more expensive, but quite a few less costly units on the all-purpose chart also outperformed the L635-S3104.)

Battery life wasn't great, either. The unit pooped out shortly after the four-hour mark; most of the top performers on the general-purpose chart ran closer to 4.5 hours.

The Satellite L635-S3104 did a respectable job displaying DVD (480p) video, but 720p YouTube clips looked a big jerky, even when well-buffered. The integrated webcam disappointed, too-in test Skype calls, my image looked washed out and, at higher resolutions, grainy--even when I tried fiddling with various settings in Toshiba's webcam utility. Audio through the built-in stereo speakers located above the keyboard was tinny and feeble (not unusual for portables of this class); the volume and quality did improve through headphones, but still sounded somewhat flat.

For more general routine use, however, the L635-S3104 is perfectly fine. Its shiny charcoal grey case, while a bit chunky-looking in an era of netbooks and ultraportables, is still pleasing and, more importantly, feels sturdy.