Toshiba Satellite U920t review

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.