Toshiba Satellite U920t review

Windows 8 hasn’t been out long, but it’s already having an impact on the hardware market, with a swathe of innovative touchscreen portables and PCs launched in recent months. Toshiba is the latest to join in the fun with its 12.5in Satellite U920t.

It’s one of the new laptop/tablet hybrid brigade: a device that can be used as a laptop, complete with full-sized keyboard and touchpad, but with a screen that folds flat against its chassis, so it can also be used as a tablet.

It sounds exciting, and to find it’s slim enough at 20mm to be classified as an Ultrabook is encouraging, but get the Satellite U920t in your hands and it seems entirely less thrilling. To start with it’s too heavy. At 1.5kg it’s 200g heftier than the only other Windows 8 hybrid we’ve seen so far – the Sony VAIO Duo 11 – and it’s a bit of a lump compared to most standard Ultrabooks as well. Pick it up and your first instinct is to rest it on something; we certainly wouldn’t want to use it one-handed.

It makes much more sense in laptop mode. To transform it, you slide the screen slowly up, exposing the keyboard, then when it stops, haul it up into position. The mechanism feels cumbersome compared to the lighter, pivoting screen on the Duo 11, but it’s solid enough and does have one key advantage over its rival: the angle of the screen is adjustable.

The larger size of the U920t also means there’s plenty of room for a keyboard and touchpad, where the VAIO has only a trackpoint. The keyboard is sensibly laid out, and a stiff base means typing is comfortable whether you’re using it on a desk or propped up on your lap.

The touchpad is less pleasing. It has a smooth surface and it’s responsive enough, but the small size and horribly narrow integrated buttons make it fiddly to use. It lacks support for Windows 8’s edge-swipe gestures; the only gestures that do work are the two-fingered scroll and pinch to zoom in and out. Disappointingly, there’s no sign of a stylus either.

Happily, the rest of the design is far more practical. The screen housing feels robust and it resisted our attempts at twisting it admirably. The base is creaky, but again flex-free, and with the screen folded flat against the chassis things tighten up even further. Considering this isn’t a standard laptop design, we’re rather impressed with how well Toshiba has managed to screw everything together.

If there’s one aspect we’re not so keen on, it’s the U920t’s appearance. With an Ultrabook we expect brushed metal, smooth curves and sleek lines, but this is a rather butch and angular affair, built all from plastic. An ugly muddle of textured and grey finishes contrasts awkwardly with the glossy, glass edge-to-edge touchscreen display, and the only saving grace is the rubbery coating on the rear. This makes it less slippery in the hand than if it had been finished in smooth aluminium.

As this is an Ultrabook, connectivity isn’t generous. The right-hand edge houses an SD card reader and audio jack and there are only two USB 3 sockets. The only socket is an HDMI output, and there’s no sign of a stylus.

Performance, battery life and display

Inside, the Toshiba is powered by a dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor, backed up by 4GB of RAM, and it scored 0.51 in our Real World Benchmarks. It isn’t as quick as the Sony with its beefy Core i7, but it’s a score that still means the U920t is capable of running most applications without leaving you twiddling your thumbs.

In day-to-day use it proved perfectly responsive. Scrolling back and forth across the Windows 8 Start screen felt smooth and glitch-free – unlike the jerky experience we had with Toshiba’s touchscreen all-in-one, the LX830. The U920t delivered the same fast, fluid response when browsing, zooming and panning in Internet Explorer, and startup times, aided by a 128GB Samsung SSD, were swift. Press the power button on the left-hand edge and the Toshiba U920t will boot into Windows 8 from cold in a rapid 11 seconds.

Battery life brings it back down to earth with a bump, though: it ran out of juice after 5hrs 40mins in our light-use test – way behind the Sony’s 7hrs 6mins result. The display is better, with brightness measured at 320cd/m2, but it still can’t match the Sony’s 451cd/m2 result nor its Full-HD resolution. (Note: an earlier version of this review put the Toshiba’s screen brightness at 180cd/m2 – this was, however, with Windows 8’s automatic brightness control on.)

Verdict

We like the idea of a hybrid Windows 8 tablet/laptop, but we’ve yet to see a truly great example. The Sony VAIO Duo 11 suffered from ergonomic problems, and this Toshiba just adds to the disappointment.

It’s too heavy and cumbersome to function well as a tablet, and although general build, usability and performance are all perfectly acceptable, the battery life isn’t good enough for a machine that costs the best part of £1,000.

If you’re absolutely desperate to buy a Windows 8 hybrid right now, we’d go for the VAIO: it has a superior screen and a more attractive design, is much lighter and has longer battery life – plus, if the price is too high, you can always opt for a cheaper configuration. Our advice, though, is to hold onto your cash until something more compelling arrives. Either that or buy a proper laptop or tablet instead.

Warranty
Warranty	1 yr return to base
Physical specifications
Dimensions	326 x 213 x 20mm (WDH)
Weight	1.500kg
Processor and memory
Processor	Intel Core i3-3217U
RAM capacity	4.00GB
Memory type	DDR3
Screen and video
Screen size	12.5in
Resolution screen horizontal	1,366
Resolution screen vertical	768
Resolution	1366 x 768
Graphics chipset	Intel HD Graphics 4000
HDMI outputs	1
Drives
Capacity	128GB
Hard disk usable capacity	119GB
Hard disk	Samsung PM830 SSD
Replacement battery price inc VAT	£0
Networking
802.11a support	yes
802.11b support	yes
802.11g support	yes
802.11 draft-n support	yes
Integrated 3G adapter	no
Bluetooth support	yes
Other Features
Modem	no
3.5mm audio jacks	1
SD card reader	yes
Pointing device type	Touchpad
Integrated microphone?	yes
Integrated webcam?	yes
Camera megapixel rating	3.0mp
TPM	no
Fingerprint reader	no
Battery and performance tests
Battery life, light use	5hr 40min
3D performance (crysis) low settings	29fps
3D performance setting	Low
Overall Real World Benchmark score	0.51
Responsiveness score	0.60
Media score	0.56
Multitasking score	0.37
Operating system and software
Operating system	Windows 8 64-bit
OS family	Windows 8