Toshiba Tecra R850: Business Class on a Budget
by Dustin Sklavos on June 6, 2011 12:01 AM ESTConclusion: Money Talks
Before I start talking about the very compelling price of Toshiba's Tecra R850, I want to tip my hat to Toshiba for the design of the notebook itself. While the screen may be abysmal and the keyboard leaves at least a little something to be desired, the rest of it is incredibly thoughtful and smart. When my best friend called saying her boss needed a 15.6" notebook for work, but one that was still portable, the R850 was the first one I thought of. Connectivity is excellent across the board, and it's just damned sleek and light. After testing the Tecra R850 and the HP EliteBook 8460p, I really am forced to conclude that notebook shoppers who want something of quality (both aesthetically and practically) would do well to spend up on a business-class machine.
And how about that price? To get one of HP's new beauties you're looking at spending an extra $150 to get comparable specifications in this form factor, and that's for a notebook that's both bulkier and heavier. While I'm a huge fan of HP's new styling, if someone wants something that's simultaneously easy to use and portable, the Tecra R850 is going to be an excellent choice.
What about Dell? Well, Dell is more competitive. The Latitude E5520 starts at $979 for the same processor, which is a great deal. But start adding upgrades to get performance competitive with the R850, and you wind up spending an extra $50 for a system that's still heavier and bigger, and that's with a smaller battery to boot. I hesitate to also ding the Latitude E5520 for not having dedicated graphics since the AMD Radeon 6450M in the Tecra isn't exactly a big winner, but I do think that's at least a minor point in Toshiba's favor. Admittedly Dell has one excellent competitor here, the Latitude E6520, which features a 1080p screen, quad-core processor, and NVIDIA's entry-level 512MB Quadro NVS 4200M. At $1,299 that's a great deal, and if you're willing to sacrifice running time and bulk for it, we wouldn't fault you.
Ultimately the Tecra R850's combination of performance, price, and build quality makes it an easy recommendation, though, and if you're willing to take a small hit to processor performance and don't mind forfeiting the Radeon, you can get it down to $1,129 from Toshiba. That's an excellent deal for a laptop that runs cool, runs quiet, and won't break your back. If they could fix the screen and change the finish of the keyboard they'd be in Silver or Gold Editor's Choice territory, but we do like the overall design and feature set, and coming up with a Bronze isn't half bad.
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JasonInofuentes - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
How much of an affect did it really have, I mean could you tell if you put an average screen side by side?TrackSmart - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
As an owner of a Toshiba R705, which has similarly low contrast, I can tell you that the screen is noticeably more washed out than on a 3 year old Dell Inspiron sitting next to it. And it's noticeably worse than the acer netbook we have on hand. And compared to a decent desktop monitor, it becomes obvious that a huge swath of the color spectrum is missing. When I first got it, I kept tilting the screen forward and back, thinking it was washed out because of a less than optimal viewing angle. Nope. Just terrible contrast. At least the screen is plenty bright. That's the only good thing I can say about it.Belard - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Crappy keyboard, gloss... cheap screen, "business machine".Why bother with this? A ThinkPad has a real keyboard, no gloss. A better screen with optional higher rez display that is well worth the extra $50.
T-Series starts at $800.
JarredWalton - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
While I won't disagree with the general idea, the T520 with similar specs to the review system comes to $2019, but Lenovo has a sale right now that brings the price down to just $1357. At that price, yes, I'd definitely go with the T520. I'd also take advantage of the option to upgrade to a 1080p LCD (and if you need a better than HD 3000 GPU, grab the Quadro NVS 4200M for another $150 added to the cost).However, the T520 dimensions are 14.68" x 9.65" x1.25-1.40" and weight is 5.57 lbs. So the Toshiba Tecra is slightly wider but .2 to .4" thinner and .3 lbs. lighter.
I'd still lean towards the Lenovo; shame they won't send us anything for review these days.
Penti - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
The L-series should compete well with this model though! On the low end. Lacking the dedicated graphics then though. But this can also be had without. They also even support docking stations. With their low starting prices. So they should make some sense in business scenarios. Add $50 on the Lenovo L-520 and you also get the 1600x900 screen. Add another $50 if you like the 9-cell battery. However the Toshiba stands pretty well in this regard. So does Dell and HP. A 14" E5420 can be had for the same price with 3 year basic warranty and the 1600x900 screen. Where the Toshiba falls, is for my taste the screen. If you just want a 15" model with NVS 4200M you could grab the Dell E6520 for about 1200 dollars. For about same as this with 1080 screen. So you shouldn't need any special deals to match this. A T-520 or E6520 and HP 8560p matches just fine, but with the added bonus of coming with higher res screens.The 8560p even comes with a comparable GPU, the HD6470M, preconfigured option with 4GB DDR3, 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M, 320GB 7200, 15.6" 1600x900 anti-glare and HD6470M is $1299. Or about $1200 from resellers such as pcmall. Then with the i5-2540M. And the i7-2620M model is $1339.99 at newegg. So they are not the only game in town.
Penti - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
And of course if you just like a semi-gaming (or laptop with discrete graphics) but don't need any business features, there is lots of others. Even if you like higher res screens. You get quad-core notebooks with GT540 or there about for around 1000 dollars if you can handle the lousy 1080 screens.Belard - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
I'd choose the L (Lame) Series over this Toshiba... The L-Series still has a good keyboard with a more generic layout... which is not as good as the oldschool ThinkPad layout that is found in the T series.Features quality of the L are not up to the level T and are priced about $200~300 cheaper.
Anyways... JarredWalkton. Lenovo is always having some sort of sale. I bumped up the T520 with camera, 500GB HD and top end wireless package. and of course went with the 1600x900 screen. The price is $1444, which is $95 cheaper than the T-520 I configured against the Toshiba in this review.
The Toshiba includes a 3yr warranty. Its a $100 more on the ThinkPad for a 3-year ONSITE parts and labor package which is a bargain.
The current T520 doesn't have USB3.0 yet. (The 420s does)
So for $95 more, get a serious NVIDIA NVS 4200M graphics (I like AMD).
- Killer keyboard - I don't think anyone else is making normal keysboards.
- Higher rez graphics and better screen
- Spill resistant keyboard (has 2-3 channels to drain your beer)
- Crash cage frame (take a ThinkPad apart, you'll see it - * L and Edges are not included)
Looking at the photos of the Toshiba 850... its rather, generic looking... The HP Elite or Dell Latitudes are much better looking ThinkPad clones...
(When Dell, HP and Toshiba add a tracking stick to their business notebooks and using heavy duty hinges - they are making ThinkPad-like notebooks)
wvh - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Toshiba seems to be headed in the right direction, but 1366x768 on a 15-inch laptop? This is not a consumer-oriented netbook. I would never buy anything with a 1366x768 resolution, and it's hard to imagine my needs would be far different than those of any other serious geek. I'm not a fan, but it seems that so far only Apple can get the bare basics of screen/keyboard/trackpad right... If you screw one of those elementary in/out interfaces up and handicap basic usability, it really doesn't matter anymore what sort of i-something, amount of memory or usb666 ports you put in it.Mumrik - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
"15.6-inch LED Matte 16:9 1366x768"That is disgusting...