Toshiba Satellite U845: Ultrabooks Go Mainstream
by Vivek Gowri on October 8, 2012 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Intel
- Toshiba
- Ivy Bridge
- Ultrabook
Toshiba’s Satellite U845 is a bit of a mixed bag. They ended up with a pretty solid notebook from a design point of view, which is an encouraging step in the right direction for Toshiba. I’m very hopeful that the level of design and build quality found in their tablets and Ultrabooks will trickle down to the rest of Toshiba’s lineup, and having a well designed Satellite is the first sign of that happening.
But I do have some significant concerns here, though a lot of them aren’t isolated to the U845. The display panel quality is utterly mediocre, the bloatware is blatant nonsense in this day and age, and for a supposedly budget system, $749 is not that inexpensive (especially for the configuration that amount buys you). It’s not a bad system, but it doesn’t do enough to justify the price. I’d rather have something along the lines of Sony’s VAIO T13, a system that’s thinner, lighter, and better designed, with better battery life and a not quite as bad display.
I want to see this type of notebook, or something along the lines of this spec (say, the Samsung Series 5 NP530-U3C/U4C, the HP ENVY 4-1030us), end up around $600, instead of $800. And as fate would have it, that's exactly what we're seeing with the current price rebates. If those hold up, $600 for the U845-S406 is at least reasonable, and it goes a long way towards excusing the kind of display and other cost-related compromises found in the U845. It makes this a budget laptop that's actually priced like a budget system.
Initially, the U845 left me a bit disappointed. I wish that more companies would pay attention to the overall end user experience, the same way that manufacturers approach serious smartphone and tablet products, and the way ASUS is doing with their Zenbook systems. I'm not saying that every system needs to be super thin or supremely powerful; obviously, at certain price points it just isn't possible to create a mind-blowing system. But even at low to midrange price points, it's worth paying attention to the minor details that can affect the overall experience. Toshiba clearly knows this, as shown by their Excite line of tablets, which makes it all the more plexing why they can't do it with their portable PC products. It’s about time something legitimately shook up the notebook industry.
In the meantime, street pricing of the U845 is about $280 less than the MSRP, and that makes the product viable. If you're in the market for an Ultrabook but don't want to spend a lot, this is the sort of compromise you end up with. It won't win any awards, but after uninstalling all the bloatware you end up with a reasonable thin and light laptop.
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Calista - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
I sometimes wonder what ever happened to the Thinkpad T50.We had the T20, T30, T40 and the T60. But no T50..?
I must say the current naming convention make sense although, TXY0 where x equals screen size and Y equals generation. It doesn't tell the whole story, but it quickly gives an idea of generation and performance.
Netscorer - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
I looked at this portable briefly two weeks ago when it first started to appear at $600 price point. Ultimately, I chose Visio Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook which is now available at the same price and is a definite upgrade to the Toshiba Satellite.Gorgeous IPS 1600x900 screen, 128Gb SSD Drive (ironically from Toshiba) and sleek unibody aluminium design, weighting 1/2lb less then Toshiba. Visio is not known to release laptops in the past but if they will be judged by this first attempt, they have great future. Design is a monkey copy of Samsung Ultrabook series, just more stylish. It looses few ports comparing to other portables but they are not essential. Ethernet, for example is not the port used often in ultrabooks whose primary goal is to go unhinged by any cords. With Dual Band 811.n Wi-Fi onboard I don't miss it at all. And if you have to have it, buy a cheapo USB to Ethernet adapter and you are in business. SD Card reader may be more important to me but I already have 3 or 4 USB-based mega readers, so if I need to toss one in a bag with me, I am fine with that too.
The Core i3 ULV CPU may be the only thing that limits this Visio. Comparing to i5 in Toshiba it runs at the same (actually slightly higher) frequency but can not handle high-CPU loads, where i5 can boost it's performance significantly in these cases. Oh, and I am disappointed in battery life. It just does not last much longer then 4.5 hours for me before it needs to be recharged. I am still trying to understand if this is because of the hungry screen or design sloppiness by Visio or some bad drivers running in the background, but it is not acceptable.
bji - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
Pathetic.elitistlinuxuser - Saturday, October 13, 2012 - link
Why note just get an acer Aspire v5-171 if you want an ultrabook that is affordable. Even if it isn't technically ultrabookThegonagle - Sunday, October 14, 2012 - link
Lost me at 768. (As has every single other notebook/laptop that only has 768 lines.)marvdmartian - Monday, October 15, 2012 - link
Something is making the Office Depot link turn into gibberish, for their product search. Direct link (without the "detonator dynamite" garbage:http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/337660/Toshi...
raok7 - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
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