Toshiba Satellite U840t

The Satellite U840t is one of three references in the Toshiba ultrabook range. It is a laptop with a 14 inch touch screen whose main mission is to follow you wherever you go. It comes in several versions and we had the opportunity to get your hands on one that is the most affordable it U840t-109-sold 800 euros.

Read more after the photos



This Satellite ultrabook is a notebook PC that is intended to take anywhere. Not too heavy (1.7 kg) and having a thickness just in the middle (2.2 cm), this gear 14 inch screen fits easily in a bag. Its battery gives it a more than 4 hours video playback. It could be higher than two hours (on average) if Toshiba opted for Intel Haswell components instead of keeping the "old" Ivy Bridge platform. However, it is more than enough to make applications run every day: word processing (Word), spreadsheet (Excel), Internet browser, video, music, etc.. Prefer headphones to speakers of the machine, despite the presence of SRS sound enhancing software gives relatively poor results. As the webcam elsewhere.

Some finishing details to review

Finishing "imitation magnesium" type of case is generally successful. Hood, rigid and thick, protects the machine and can withstand shocks related to transportation. On the sides are the regulatory range of connectors (1 and 2 USB 2 USB 3, HDMI, Ethernet, stereo output, microphone and memory card reader). The outline of the screen, shiny black plastic denotes fully with all and suffers from some minor assembly defects. Because it is soft, it deforms easily and tends to leave his home, creating small days. This phenomenon is particularly visible at the bottom of the screen. On a machine sold 800 euros, it goes hard.

A configuration that lack of storage

Equipped with a touch screen of 14 inches, a good backlit keyboard and a large touchpad, this device gives you the choice of weapons to control Windows 8 and your favorite software. They do not also have to be too resource intensive 3D because U840t does not carry a decent graphics card that name. It is indeed a small graphics controller of Intel Core i3 processor is responsible for displaying HD images (1366 by 768 pixels). The rest of the configuration comes down to 6 GB of memory and a hard disk of 500 GB, supported by a module 32GB SSD can not store anything on it. It simply and effectively boosts the storage unit to speed-among others-starts and exits before the machine. Note, there is no optical drive on the sides of the machine. Finally, applications side, Toshiba aligns its competitors also small game software or system maintenance, the manufacturer offers only limited evaluation versions of 90 days (virus for example).

Toshiba 14-inch ultrabook that is quite satisfactory given the price machine. Small finishing problems aside, the machine is fun to use. We only regret that Toshiba is behind a generation of processor on such machine. In fact, Intel's new platform significantly improves battery life in portable PC, which is always beneficial for a ultranomade machine.

Italy

Samsung UE65F9000

The new flagship of Samsung TVs is a UHD for Ultra-high resolution. UE65F9000 this model displays images in 3840 x 2160 pixels on a slab 65 inches diagonally. But - most importantly - it comes with a box containing all the external connectors. And it is interchangeable, which should allow the TV to be able to adapt to future compatible interfaces such as HDMI 2.0 UHD. We tested.

Armed with a huge slab of 65 inches diagonally, this TV displays 8.3 million pixels in an enclosure with a fancy design. The edges of the image are very thin, and even the back of the TV is fun to watch with a smooth hull. Only flaw in our annoying: the TV stand can not rotate the panel from right to left.

A very clean 2D image

Once set to cinema mode (the other picture modes are not designed to provide accurate colors but rather to dazzle the eyes), the display quality of this TV is hard to criticize. Shades of gray and the colors are true (gamma of 2.29, average temperature of 6411 ° K gray and medium DeltaE 1.87), with good coverage of 93% of the sRGB color space. The contrast ratio is good with deep blacks: it goes up to 3572:1 and 2565:1 in standard mode in movie mode (white at 165 cd / m² and black at 0.06 cd / m²). If necessary, the maximum brightness of the TV up to 409 cd / m². Will ensure good visibility in a brightly lit room.

Little better on some points

The uniformity of the backlight of the screen is pretty good, no obvious effect of clouding (gray spots on a solid black). We just found two minor light leakage in the left and right bottom corners of the slab. Another downside: the quality of the 3D (active) display of the TV is less than that of other Samsung TVs. Residual double image (crosstalk effect) is regularly seen in 3D when it had almost disappeared in the latest TVs from the Korean manufacturer. Finally, the viewing angles of the screen are still limited: the technology of the slab undergoes a loss of contrast as soon as viewed from the side.

Clever and well equipped, but some omissions

Samsung offers the most attractive and most ergonomic market menus, with an interface that has the merit of being smooth and responsive. It's rare enough to be appreciated. Only the interface of LG televisions are the same level. Connected services and many features are well presented, although some (like YouTube) are still far too slow to compete with a tablet (Apple iPad or Android) or laptop.

The problem is that the new remote from Samsung. It is equipped with a touchpad, which is not enough. It lacks a gyroscopic system score (to move the cursor on the screen), and also a real physical keyboard, to simplify the user's life. While it is possible to overcome this problem by controlling the TV with the smartphone. But we would prefer a remote control!

Ready for the future, for now it tinkers with videos UHD

You said it was very difficult to find and disseminate 4K video to "feed" the new UHD TVs ... Samsung illustrates the problem with a craft that makes you smile. The TV can not play video in 3840 x 2160 pixels through its USB ports. The only solution for now, Samsung has provided us with a USB stick containing four separate Full HD video, the TV assembles into a single image UHD when playing. A very convoluted system ...
However, Samsung is the only manufacturer to offer a UHD TV really ready for the future. Indeed, all the electronics and connectors on the TV remote is in an external enclosure, which can be changed to take advantage of new UHD interfaces (including HDMI 2.0). Warning, this case very hot, and the future model UHD can be costly ...

In short, it UE65F9000 Samsung is one of the most successful UHD TVs we've tested (face models from Sony, LG, Philips), but it is not perfect either. Again, it has not made it very useful in the absence of video content available UHD. But at least this is the only really be ready for the future!