Toshiba makes many different versions of the Satellite P50 series, but only one specific configuration has the 4K display, along with an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD, and an AMD R9 M265X GPU. It's a powerful set of components for mainstream use, but you need that kind of muscle to run smooth 4K video streams, as we discovered when reviewing the 4K-friendly Apple Mac Pro desktop. Toshiba takes a solid premium 15-inch laptop and adds a great-looking 4K touchscreen while keeping the price reasonable.
Disadvantages: There's little real-world need for this right now, and most photo or video pros are tied to the Mac ecosystem. It's hard to find good 4K content, and the AMD GPU can't play current games at 4K.
The screen of Toshiba Satellite P50t notebook looks amazing, and the system includes a handy app for switching between several presets highlighting different color temperatures and display settings. There's a case to be made for future-proofing with a 4K screen, as long as you're already thinking of buying a premium 15-inch laptop with a powerful CPU/GPU combo and planning to spend about this much anyway.
It's a bit of an indulgence to be sure, but because the Satellite P50t is a very good upscale midsize laptop even without the 4K screen, it edges just over the line into recommended territory.
Design and features
The big body gives you the ability to have a generously sized keyboard, a full separate number pad, and a large touchpad. Typing was solid, and there was little keyboard flex, although I still dislike Toshiba's penchant for very short space bars, which led to typing errors for me. The only other thing on the otherwise spartan interior surface is a backlit power button in the upper-right corner.The real star here is the 15.6-inch 4K resolution touchscreen display. The native resolution of the screen is 3,840x2,160, the same as 4K TVs. We've seen a lot of better-than-HD laptops lately, from Retina MacBook Pros to systems from Lenovo and Razer with 3,200x1,800 screens, but this is the highest native resolution I've seen on a laptop to date. Other 4K models will no doubt follow (including the one already promised by Lenovo), but until there's a lot more 4K content available -- plus a palpable consumer demand for it -- it will remain a bit of a gimmick for most of the marketplace, outside of a handful of photo and video professionals .
Ports and connections
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Toshiba Satellite P50t |
|---|---|
| Video | HDMI |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 4 USB 3.0, SD card reader |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | DVD burner |
