I took the new Toshiba Satellite U840 ultra book for a ride last week. After a week of bringing it along for meetings and presentations, it proved a good balance between portability and performance.
The Satellite U840 Series of ultrabooks is Toshiba’s first line of 14-inch ultrabooks – after the computer maker’s debut into the ultrabook arena with its 13.3-inch Z830 ultrabook last year.
Compared with its 1.12kg predecessor, the 1.59kg Satellite U840 is heavier and only slightly bigger, but is considerably more affordable.
The Z830 costs almost twice the U840, which starts at S$1,399.
The Windows 7 Satellite U840 is comparable with other ultrabooks on the market (such as the Samsung Series 5 Ultra and HP Envy 14 Spectre) in terms of appearance and performance.
Most ultrabooks feature similar metallic brushed aluminum casings.
But the U840 weighs lighter because it does not include an optical drive.
Read on below to find out what I liked and disliked about the Toshiba Satellite U840 ultrabook during the test-drive.