Toshiba Satellite l850

After the red dress TV44 Packard Bell, here is the blue frame Toshiba L850! The bright color is in fashion, it seems, and it is not displeasing to us: it changes a little neutral colors, black or white. After this point of view very personal, what about the finish, design, build quality of this model? Let's remove the grid pattern on the shell around the touchpad, and even the latter is not the most flattering. This seems a little loaded. Similarly, the circumference of the pointing device, a large electric blue rim denotes frankly and contributes to rising visual appearance.

The notebook does not shine with its build quality and finishes. Plastics seem robust and do not score too, of course, but they emit places the characteristic of a careless assembly noise. Some will also appreciate moderately broad black edges present around the screen, and then no device will avoid the inevitable encounter between the latter and the keyboard once the closed laptop. In addition, the L850 suffers from the same problem as that found on the HP model: Unable to open the screen without the mobile tipping backwards. Blame hinges certainly robust, but lack flexibility, or a relatively shallow and lightweight frame: 24 cm 2.4 Kg



This initial assessment is more mixed than the screen does not fall within the level. It is both bright and low contrast, implying inevitable reflections. Before calibration, the brightness is however important (294-cd / me), but black is particularly high (1.51 cd / me). Moreover, colorimetry is not much better, with an average 11.3 DeltaE. After calibration and luminance reduced to 200 cd / me, colors improve frankly (average 0.9 DeltaE), but blacks are still faded at 1.55 cd / me. On the honorable 192:1, then goes to a very, very average 129:1. Insufficient.

Hardware

Intel Core i3On rest here on the Sandy Bridge generation with a Core i3-2350M processor clocked at 100
MHz less than the model used by Sony. So, the frequency will be blocked at 2.3 GHz (Turbo mode fault) for CPU engraved in 32-nm and the thermal envelope of 35 W.

Good point, however at the memory: if Toshiba limited in frequency (1333 MHz, the maximum supported by Sandy Bridge processors), the amount is very generous, however, since there are 6 GB DDR3 on this laptop. Side of the display, it is very popular Radeon HD 7670M AMD which supplies the HD 3000 Intel. Little originality in relation to two other laptops with the same chip: 480-stream processors are supported here by not one, but two gigabytes of dedicated memory. Frequencies do not change, however since the GPU retains its 600 MHz and 900 MHz memory her.

Storage was provided by a Hitachi Travelstar 640GB platters which spin at 5400 rotations per minute, and the rest of the equipment does not suffer any particular default compatibility Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0, card reader SD / MMC, VGA and HDMI video ports, audio connectors, DVD burner and 6-cell battery with a capacity of 48.6 Wh. As for the USB ports, they are 3 in number, two of which are compatible with the latest 3.0 standard. The latter, USB 2.0, allows for him to charge a mobile phone even when the PC is off.


The webcam of the Satellite L850, finally, is the best of those we tested in this roundup. Even in low light, the result is much better than what we could get elsewhere. Good point for Toshiba, although, in 1280 x 800 resolution, you lose the zoom functions that allow the software associated with this device and the image lacks some fluidity.





However, the speakers that fit this laptop produce it is just ok. It sounds hollow; the bass is almost non-existent, the sound saturates the whole is very rough. SRS Premium Sound provides slightly improve things, but it is very average. Moreover, as the HP model, we regret that the power connector is so long and cumbersome.

In use, ergonomics

The Satellite L850 keyboard is disappointing and suffers from multiple defects. The key travel, first of all, is too low: typing is dry, without relief, and it is rather unpleasant. It is even more than the keyboard sinks like no other in this comparison, while slightly lacking keys, downright wide. This is particularly the case of the "Input" or "Backspace" keys. Moreover, when this is not the width, the height is sinning: the function keys are too narrow.



This is also the case for the touchpad buttons, which measure just over one cm. Fortunately, the click is not adversely affected and this time, the race is sufficient. This lack of ergonomics is all the more regrettable that the pointing device itself is pretty good.




The software suite provided by Toshiba is quite uneven and varies between interesting features and useless gadgets. Between an unconvincing Eco mode which simply play with the brightness of the screen or PC Health Monitor, supposed to learn about the vital points of your machine, but the symbols refer systematically to the energy saving settings Windows, we've seen better ...



It also depends on the diagnostic tool, frankly dated and creation tool support restoration interface equally austere. Finally, only the Tempo solution is that one is interested as it allows the issuance of warnings of available software update. Damage, on the one hand that the drivers were not managed, and secondly that operation overlaps with that of the Service Station.




More interestingly, however, the HWSetup can play on different hardware settings such as SATA ports, the boot device or mode shortcuts: direct access or combination with the function key. Useful, as is the interface transfer Bluetooth, a childlike simplicity.

Specifications