Toshiba Satellite P50t B-11D review

A 4K laptop with a superb display

P50t

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

With a weight of 2.3kg / 5.1 pounds, the Satellite P50T B-11D is just heavier than the MacBook Pro. Its dimensions of 377.5 x 244 x 27.9mm / 15 x 9.6 x 1.1 inches mean it's almost the same width and depth as the MacBook, but half as high again.

Laptop

Here is the Toshiba Satellite P50T B-11D configuration given to TechRadar:

Spec Sheet

  • CPU: 2.4GHz Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ Processor (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost)
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon™ R9 M265X (2GB DDR5 RAM), Intel HD graphics 4600.
  • RAM: 16GB DDRL (1600MHz)
  • Screen: 15.6" Toshiba TruBrite® Ultra HD TFT High Brightness touch display with Chroma Tune colour calbration.
  • Storage: 1TB HDD (5,400RPM), 8GB SSD Solid State Hybrid Drive.
  • Optical drive: Blu-ray disc
  • Ports: 4 x USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, Headphone jack, Microphone jack, Ethernet, Multi-Card Reader (SD, miniSD, MicroSD, SDHC).
  • Connectivity: Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 + Bluetooth® 4.0 + LE
  • Camera: HD web cam
  • Weight: 5.1 pounds
  • Size: 15 x 9.6 x 1.1 inches (W x D x H)

There aren't really any options to upgrade the Satellite Pro, given that both its memory and SSD slots are maxed out, but that core specification is solid enough.

The Blu-ray drive is absolutely essential for legal 4K content - especially as Netflix UHD doesn't support many hi-res devices yet. The hybrid hard drive isn't quite up to the standard of a modern SSD, especially considering the price point, but functions adequately and is delivered roughly 120MB short of its 1TB.

The Radeon R9 265X might be an odd choice in this era of Nvidia dominance, but it performs better-than-adequately, proving quite capable of running most modern games on mains power. It doesn't perform well on mobile power, continuing the theme of this as a desktop replacement.

Those luxurious 4 USB 3.0 ports are split between the device's sides, whilst the card reader is concealed beneath the front lip of the