Toshiba Satellite U945-S4140 14-Inch Ultrabook (Ice Blue with Fusion Lattice)

This Laptop is excellent in terms of performance and ability, but what I don't like is that it doesn't meet the 5 hour minimum battery life requirement to be considered a Ultrabook. This is largely due to the fact that it has a 4 cell battery. It gets closer to a 2.5 hour during normal usage. The Intel i5-3317U is a good processor. Heck I even got this rig to run Skyrim, and the frame rate was actually pretty good. If you're looking for a primary laptop then this is a good decision although there are still laptops in this price range that I prefer more...cough cough...Lenovo is awesome. Toshiba needs to make some improvements into the battery life, but in terms of responsiveness we got this device to boot in 11 seconds, from completely powered off to powered on state so that is pretty impressive considering this still runs a Hybrid Hard Drive. I do like that it has 2 USB 3.0s which are fantastic for flash drives and external hard drive. I've even appreciated that they can charge my tablet, Nexus 7, and phone, Galaxy S III, while the device is powered off, due to USB 3.0 and not because of any special Toshiba technology.

I use my laptop for nearly all my work and browsing time. I can spend hours processing video, recording, writing, reading, etc. I consider myself a heavy user.

After a fried motherboard on another machine, I bought this windows 8 model.

My trepidation was hearing all the reviews about the need for a touch screen with windows 8, and this model doesn't have it. After two weeks of heavy use, I've figured out how to work with windows 8 to do what I need as if I was in windows 7. The new start screen is a layer that is useless for me, so I've reverted to the familiar desktop.

The F1-F12 keys came with a configuration that is different than all my other laptops the special functions were the default as in F4 switched the displays to an unconnected monitor (that's annoying). The F2 key was rigged to switch between active windows (CTRL Tab), rather than to edit a cell in a worksheet. All the keyboard short cuts I've been working with for years were not default. I had to tool around to figure out how to undo that unhelpful setting.

Here is the annoyance.

The mouse pad is way too sensitive to react to the heat of my hands, causing the cursor to jump around on the screen to where ever the pointer is when I'm typing. I can't tell you how many times this causes errors, formatting changes mid screen, loss of focus and how many times I've hit "buttons" when I'm not done writing. The other day, this happened so much I almost through the machine out the window.

UPDATE: JUNE 13, 2013. . . This problem is unfixable via the touch pad settings. It seems the sensitivity fields extend even an 1/2 inch off beyond the track pad. I have made the zone as small as possible, require the heaviest touch and still, the mouse jumps around. I am forced to by a Usb mouse and disable the track pad.

Annoyance 2:

The mic jack on the laptop has a ground loop buzz, only when the machine is plugged into a powersource. If I want to record an audio, or talk with someone VOIP via the headphone jack, the laptop must be unplugged, obviously limiting.

The same is true with a usb headeset I own it has a buzz when recording, only when the power supply is on.

I have a Dynex usb external mic on a stand. It works correctly whether the laptop is plugged in or not.

Buy Toshiba Satellite U945-S4140 14-Inch Ultrabook (Ice Blue with Fusion Lattice) Now

Great ultrabook format...my petite wife can drag this around with ease, and hardware wise, it is powerful. Windows 8, however, they just seemed to change things to change them, and made things that ARE relatively easy to use in Windows 7, obscure and difficult to find in 8...not sure HOW this is an advancement in user interface, just seems to be "different to be different".

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite U945-S4140 14-Inch Ultrabook (Ice Blue with Fusion Lattice) Here

Amazingly fast, responsive, cool. The only thing I miss is a port for projectors and the battery life is a bit too low. I wouldn't call it an ultrabook.

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I have been using this laptop for 3 months and its performance is incredible. It last around 13 seconds from the moment that you turn on the computer until you can even being surfing in internet.

Pretty good looking, fast and powerful, those works summarizing this incredible ultrabook.

Good work Toshiba.

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