Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 Review: Affordable Office Power on the Go - stewartowereve

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Bluetooth enabled
• Very good multitouch touchpad

Cons

• Limited port configuration
• SSD only for system use

Our Verdict

The Toshiba Planet U845-S406 is a thin, light, low-priced system that will work well for business users active.

The Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 is a within reason priced ultraportable laptop that still manages to pack quite a punch.

It comes equipped with an Intel Ivy Bridge dual-nucleus processor (the Core i5-3317U) that has a stock speed of 1.7GHz, but can rev up high to 2.6GHz when victimization Intel's maximum Turbo Frequency. Those specs won't impress power Personal computer enthusiasts, but the Core i5-3317U nates handle most stressful tasks with ease.

Performance

The S406 earned a mark of 127 on our demanding WorldBench 7 Benchmark Suite, which means that it scored about 27 percent high than our base system–a background PC with a Core i5-2500K chip and a distinct graphics card. The system supports Intel's Smart Reaction technology. It ships with a decreased, 16GB solid drive for hard drive caching and a 500GB, 5400-rpm ossified-disk drive for storage. The caching SSD probably boosted the system's WorldBench 7 score, and it also delivered average boot times of 17.3 seconds from a completely powered-away state to a fully functioning desktop.

Like umpteen some other Ultrabooks, the S406 relies along Intel's integrated HD Graphics 4000 chip set, which supplies sufficiency world power to palm some less strenuous games, just not enough to ward of choking on our high-end tests. We ran two graphics-intensive games–Dirt 3 and Crysis 2–at a maximum firmness of purpose of 1366 aside 768 pixels and high settings, and the S406 managed a measly 19 frames per second on Dirt 3 and 12.1 fps on Crysis 2. At a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels and low settings, it managed a frame rate of 42.4 fps on Dirt 3 and 26.9 fps on Crysis 2, bordering on playable.

In gain to its small SSD, which it uses every bit the Windows 7 lay away drive, the S406 carries a 500GB 5400-rpm hard-disc drive for data and coating storage. Exploitation a small-scale caching SSD alongside a slower hard drive reduces toll, simply don't expect public presentation to be match that of a single, large SSD.

Usability

The S406 packs 6GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory and various connectors: one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD Card/Memory Stick reader, an HDMI-out port, ethernet, and the typical phone/microphone-knocked out ports. It also has a frontal-facing camera and microphone for web-chatting. To save blank, however, Toshiba omitted an sensory system labor; and then unless you clothe in an external drive, this won't equal your go-to machine for disc-based flic watching.

The pleasantly creaseless multitouch touchpad is altogether flat, with none texture the least bit. In my tests information technology was quick and responsive, and it didn't go knave with a ton of missed clicks. Eastern Samoa a user who swears aside the mouse, I didn't sense like pulling my hair out after working with this touchpad for a while, and that's about the nicest compliment I can give a touchpad. The keyboard's keys, on the other hand out, were a bit incommodious, shelfy, and stiff. Though religious music, they just weren't comfortable to type along.

The laptop is 802.11n Wi-Fi ready and Bluetooth enabled. The latter should enable you to find a much more comfortable keyboard to use than the built-in one. The option of adding accessories while not taking up any of the precious few USB ports is a plus.

The S406 weighs 3.7 pounds alone and 4.3 pounds with the included power adaptor. The laptop measures 13.5 inches wide by 9 inches deep by 0.8 inch high. It is small enough to fit easily in a typical backpack,and yet IT sports a 14-inch LED backlit display.

Along our battery test, which cycles 10 proceedings of video and so 10 transactions of typing, the S406 held out for exactly 6 hours.

If you'atomic number 75 looking for more power, albeit with a big hit to your wallet, the Acer Aspire S5 (priced at $1399 as of July 18) may be a better fit. It has a slightly littler screen (13.4 inches) and a 256GB SSD, which significantly boosts performance.

Boilers suit, the Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 is a great option if you need retributory a bit extra power for work active, but put on't feel like shelling out hard currency for a desktop replacement.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/460500/toshiba_satellite_u845_s406_review_affordable_office_power_on_the_go.html

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