The No products found. – Convertible with a Difference
When 2-in-1 laptops first came on the scene, they were all the rave in the computing world. Not just because they were cool, powerful, and a new concept – but also because they were pricey – very pricey.
But soon, a niche opened up for budget convertibles, and every laptop manufacturer was trying to get a piece of the pie.
And to be honest, a few of them do make pretty decent convertibles for the ordinary Joe.
But that’s where the Toshiba Satellite Radius sets itself apart.
The Toshiba Satellite Radius is a well-built convertible that offers you enough juice to make some power moves other 2-in-1’s in its category can only dream of.
Let’s take a look at some of its specifications so that you can see exactly what I mean.
For a convertible laptop, the Toshiba Satellite Radius carries more power than most of its competitors.
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Sporting a big screen and only weighing 4.5 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite is one laptop you’ll have no trouble commuting with. It hits the sweet spot when it comes to size for convertibles.
Looking at the Toshiba Satellite Radius, you won’t really get the wow factor at first. Featuring a matte black plastic chassis with a subtle brushed texture, it looks just like any other laptop.
That’s until you lift the lid.
Under the hood, you’ll definitely be wowed by the big screen that can rotate 360-degrees, transforming the laptop into a tablet. And the hinge is one of the strongest you will ever find on a convertible laptop.
You’ll also find a premium feeling metal deck with brushed finished that, unfortunately, might be a tad small for people with big hands. From front to back, the keypad on the Radius is a mere 10mm, 2mm shorter than conventional keyboards.
Other than that, under the lid, the Toshiba Satellite Radius certainly does have an appealing look.
But how does it perform when put to the task? Let’s take a look, shall we?
Performance
Sporting a 2.1-GHz Intel Core i3 5015U CPU, 6GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive, the Toshiba Satellite Radius is very much able to handle all your everyday needs, such as surfing the Net or streaming high-definition movies – with multiple tabs open.
The Toshiba Satellite Radius performed surprisingly well without slowing down.
When put through the Geekbench paces, the Radius scored an impressive 4,415, making it faster than other convertibles kitted with the same i3 processors, like the Asus Transformer Flip TP300 (3,992) and the HP Pavilion x360 13t (4,231).
And quite surprisingly, the Toshiba Satellite Radius came in just slightly behind Lenovo’s Edge 15 (4,722) which is equipped with a more powerful Intel Core i5 processor.
As for file transfer rate, the Radius’ 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive also impressed with its transfer rate of 29.9 MBps. Although not something really amazing, it definitely is a bit faster than similarly priced laptops. And quite surprisingly, in this round, the Toshiba Satellite outperformed the more powerful Lenovo Edge 15 whose transfer rate is 23.10 MBps.
When tasked with matching 20,000 names and addresses in OpenOffice, the Toshiba satellite Radius completed the task in 6 minutes and 31 seconds. Again, beating the Asus TP300 which completed the task in 7:15, about the same as the HP Pavilion x360 13t’s 6:28, and this time slightly trailed behind the i5-powered Lenovo Edge 15’s 5:07.
If you are a gamer though, don’t expect much from this laptop as it definitely wasn’t built for gaming, especially modern games that require powerful dedicated graphics cards.
As for battery life, the Toshiba Satellite Radius can give you more than 6 hours of battery life, making it one of the best workhorses to take with you if you want to get some work done while away from a power source.
These are very impressive stats for an entry-level laptop that costs less than $650.
Let’s now take a look at the display. It certainly has received a lot of flak from many reviewers, but is it that bad?
The Truth About the Display
Unfortunately, this is the Toshiba Satellite Radius’ weakness.
The Toshiba Satellite Radius’ 1366 x 768 display is a bit lackluster due to its weak color range and mediocre brightness. As for viewing angles, let’s just say Toshiba could have done a better job here as moving out of the screen’s “Goldilocks zone” causes the colors to shift significantly.
When tested, the Radius’ screen recreated just about 64.2 percent of the sRGB spectrum. This is pretty decent for a budget laptop, especially since it outperformed the better equipped Lenovo Edge 15 (58), and it was about the same as the HP x360 13t (64).
It’s true, 1080p video won’t look as sharp on this screen, but considering the price and other excellent features, it’s pretty easy to overlook the screen’s shortcomings.
Should you get the Toshiba Satellite Radius?
If you are looking for a budget convertible laptop, it’s simple – go ahead and get the Toshiba Satellite Radius.
But this is not the only Toshiba Satellite in Toshiba’s stable.