Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Reviews

Hands on: Toshiba Satellite P55t

Matthew S. Smith
By

Toshiba’s Satellite is a 4K powerhouse, but not the best choice for travel.

Though you wouldn’t know it from the name, the P55t is not like the hoards of Satellites already made by Toshiba. Why? Because it has a 4K display.

The proliferation of 1080p has raised the bar on quality, but the P55t easily hurtles it into the stratosphere. Pixels are virtually indistinguishable at any reasonable viewing distance, the backlight is bright, and colors are rendered with a vibrancy few laptops can match. Toshiba wisely made the most of the 4K screen with a looping Ultra HD demo reel that looked fabulous.

While there are other laptops available that offer 4K, most of them are Ultrabooks or otherwise built with portability in mind. The P55t, by contrast, is a straightforward 15.6-inch laptop. The chassis doesn’t look much different from previous Satellites and the keyboard, though spacious, is clearly designed for buyers who aren’t concerned about things like key travel and feel.

Performance should be strong. Though the specification sheet we saw yesterday stated the system would have a Core i5 processor, the model we handled on the show floor had a Core i7-4800MQ alongside 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. We didn’t have the chance to run benchmarks, but the specs suggest this Toshiba will be one of 2014’s quickest laptops.

Battery life could be a sore point. The spec sheet states the laptop comes with a 43 watt-hour unit good for only four and a half hours of endurance. That’s not much, but it makes sense because 4K displays consume a lot of juice. A 43Wh battery is barely adequate for a machine with the P55t’s hardware.

Then again, the P55t weighs 5.3 pounds and is over an inch thick, which means it wouldn’t be a great travel companion even with a larger battery. This is clearly a desktop replacement. And thankfully, it has the connectivity for the job, including four USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet and even a Blu-ray drive.

At a glance, then, Toshiba’s 4K Satellite looks like a powerful, robust laptop with an amazing display. The only piece of the puzzle that remains to be placed is price, and unfortunately that information is not yet available. At $1,400 or less the P55t could be a great pick, but we have no idea if it’ll be able to limbo under that price point. 

Highs

  • 4K display
  • Powerful hardware
  • Lots of connectivity and a Blu-ray drive

Lows

  • Short battery life
  • Heavy and thick
  • Price is an open question
Topics
Matthew S. Smith
Matthew S. Smith
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matthew S. Smith is the former Lead Editor, Reviews at Digital Trends. He previously guided the Products Team, which dives…
Quest Pro 2: What we know about Meta’s next premium VR headset
From a side view, you can see how glasses can be worn along with a Quest Pro.

While Meta’s Quest Pro is one of the best VR headsets available, it never reached its full potential as a laptop replacement for spatial computing. Meta hasn’t given up on making a work-centric solution, and rumors suggest a Meta Quest Pro 2 is still in development. Here’s what we know so far about Meta's answer to Apple's Vision Pro.
Meta Quest Pro 2 release date speculation
It’s difficult to make a solid prediction on when Meta will launch the Quest Pro 2. Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth made it clear in an Instagram AMA that Meta is continually prototyping new VR headsets to find out what’s possible with current technology. That gives Meta more flexibility than manufacturers that research for years before doing hardware testing.

If Meta is satisfied with the performance of the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 and LG can deliver enough micro-OLED displays, the Quest Pro 2 could arrive as early as this October at Meta Connect 2024.

Read more
Does RAM speed matter for PC performance?
Installing RAM sticks in a motherboard.

RAM is one of the primary components in a PC, and it's important that you have at least a certain amount of RAM depending on what you want to do with your PC. However, there are more things to RAM than just capacity: Frequency and latency are important considerations, too.

The question of whether RAM speed matters is especially important now that we have two generations of RAM available, both DDR4 and DDR5 -- and they have vastly different speeds. The official maximum clock speed for DDR4 was 3200MHz, while DDR5 starts at 4800MHz, an increase of 50%; however, you'll easily find RAM kits reaching above 7000MHz. Although latency significantly went up, from CL14 on most 3200MHz DDR4 kits to CL40 on most 4800MHz DDR5 kits, DDR5 is still found to be faster.

Read more
The 6 best 2-in-1 laptops for drawing in 2024
Portal RTX running on the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or enjoy drawing as a hobby, investing in a 2-in-1 laptop is a great idea for all sorts of artists. Drawing on a laptop makes it easy to quickly share your creation with others, which is especially useful if you're doing it as a professional–negating the need to upload your pen-and-paper sketch to the computer before sending it to a client. Moreover, working on a laptop lets you undo mistakes, zoom in to better handle small details, and quickly change utensils.

There are a lot of perks to drawing on a 2-in-1 laptop, but not all of them are great for creators. Some have unresponsive displays that can't register all your movements, while others might have a lackluster resolution or color spectrum that turns most images into a muddled mess. Because of that, it can be hard figuring out which laptop is best for your needs. And if you'll be spending a good chunk of change on the laptop, you'll want to make sure you get it right.

Read more