Toshiba Tecra R850: Business Class on a Budget
by Dustin Sklavos on June 6, 2011 12:01 AM ESTConclusion: Money Talks
Before I start talking about the very compelling price of Toshiba's Tecra R850, I want to tip my hat to Toshiba for the design of the notebook itself. While the screen may be abysmal and the keyboard leaves at least a little something to be desired, the rest of it is incredibly thoughtful and smart. When my best friend called saying her boss needed a 15.6" notebook for work, but one that was still portable, the R850 was the first one I thought of. Connectivity is excellent across the board, and it's just damned sleek and light. After testing the Tecra R850 and the HP EliteBook 8460p, I really am forced to conclude that notebook shoppers who want something of quality (both aesthetically and practically) would do well to spend up on a business-class machine.
And how about that price? To get one of HP's new beauties you're looking at spending an extra $150 to get comparable specifications in this form factor, and that's for a notebook that's both bulkier and heavier. While I'm a huge fan of HP's new styling, if someone wants something that's simultaneously easy to use and portable, the Tecra R850 is going to be an excellent choice.
What about Dell? Well, Dell is more competitive. The Latitude E5520 starts at $979 for the same processor, which is a great deal. But start adding upgrades to get performance competitive with the R850, and you wind up spending an extra $50 for a system that's still heavier and bigger, and that's with a smaller battery to boot. I hesitate to also ding the Latitude E5520 for not having dedicated graphics since the AMD Radeon 6450M in the Tecra isn't exactly a big winner, but I do think that's at least a minor point in Toshiba's favor. Admittedly Dell has one excellent competitor here, the Latitude E6520, which features a 1080p screen, quad-core processor, and NVIDIA's entry-level 512MB Quadro NVS 4200M. At $1,299 that's a great deal, and if you're willing to sacrifice running time and bulk for it, we wouldn't fault you.
Ultimately the Tecra R850's combination of performance, price, and build quality makes it an easy recommendation, though, and if you're willing to take a small hit to processor performance and don't mind forfeiting the Radeon, you can get it down to $1,129 from Toshiba. That's an excellent deal for a laptop that runs cool, runs quiet, and won't break your back. If they could fix the screen and change the finish of the keyboard they'd be in Silver or Gold Editor's Choice territory, but we do like the overall design and feature set, and coming up with a Bronze isn't half bad.
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GotThumbs - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
I look forward to the day when SSD drives will be more of a mainstream option.Nice Review as always.
dananski - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
I've been thinking the same thing recently since I looked for a laptop for a friend on Dell's website and found she couldn't have an SSD without spending nearly £1000 (~$1650) for an Alienware gaming laptop she doesn't need (she has a desktop for gaming). Even then, Dell's only "SSD" option for non-business customers is actually a hybrid drive.A decent SSD makes even a low end system much more usable. It's not a feature that should be limited to the high end.
Stuka87 - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
You can get SSD's on Latitudes, which cost less than an alienware box.The issue is Dell SSD's suck. So its far better to go with a base HD, and then buy an SSD from NewEgg or something. Its both MUCH cheaper, and you get a better drive.
Shinobi_III - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
SSD would be more mainstream if general people understood why they would buy a laptop with 64gb instead of THREE THOUSAND!!!People are dumb, never underestimate the general public... :(
chrnochime - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
I might be behind on the latest status of SSDs but last time I checked they still die much faster than HDs do with repeated read/writes, because of them being NAND(or NOR) cells and not discs. I'd jump on SSD if that's not the case anymore.JarredWalton - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
General use with current wear leveling algorithms means the NAND should last upwards of 10 years on all current drives. The bigger problem is something else going wrong (i.e. faulty firmware, or some other glitch), so if you have critical data stored on an SSD I'd recommend a real backup strategy rather than just hoping for the best. If an HDD dies and you really need the data, you can pay data recovery firms a couple thousand dollars and usually get everything back. If you SSD dies, you're pretty much SOL.Roland00 - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
13.3 inchi5 2410m
Nvidia Geforce GT540m with Nvidia Optimus (it uses 2gb of ddr3 though instead of gddr5)
It gets rid of the crappy acer island keyboard, but keeps the glossy screen and has the resolution at 1366x768.
No Optical Drive.
4lbs 1 ounce.
It is $779 at frys, I don't know what the other places are going to have since this is a new product and hasn't made much news yet.
warisz00r - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
the also-new ASUS U41SV? It has pretty much the similar specs as the Acer above except it comes with a 14.1 inch screen, an optical drive, about 1" thick and comes in at about 2kg with an 8-cell batt. I'm hoping to get one of these as my new laptop.ppeterka - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Agreed with both of you! 15.6" AND HD resolution, AND business class? Oh my god, when will this end?And there is the absolutely redundant, never used keypad. Why?
Acers have a bad reputation regarding build quality (Me, and ym colleagues were having display problems in the Penryn era 57xxG notebooks), but I wouldn't buy this over the Acer 3830 series even if I was forced to. Big. Crap. And not THAT cheap! Even here in Hungary, Acer prices are quite reasonable, and they pack quite a punch for the money.
aylafan - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
I just saw your title and it is incorrect. Make sure you are buying the 3830TG and not the 3830T.3830T = ONLY has Intel Integrated Graphics
3830TG = NVIDIA GeForce GT540M with Optimus Technology