Toshiba Satellite Click 2 review

Toshiba is one of those companies that dares to experiment with the shape of laptops. Just looking at the the company's small portfolio of convertible laptops alone we've have the Satellite U920T with a screen that slides into place and the screen flipping Satellite Radius. While many of these designs are novel, many of them have fallen to the wayside being either too weird or unwieldy for its own brilliance.

Now Toshiba has just updated one of its only hybrid designs to get a second pass with the Toshiba Satellite Click 2. Sporting a detachable screen, the Click 2's splits into a thick 13.3-inch tablet and exceptionally thin keyboard base. Compared to the last model, Toshiba has refreshed its laptop-tablet with slightly news looks, and more importantly, a more powerful Intel Pentium processor. Now the question is if this is enough to fix the ills of the original Click or is this the Click 2 destined to fade into obscurity like so many hybrids before it.

Design

The Click 2 is an odd looking laptop. With a screen three as times thick as its keyboard base, it looks lopsided compared to your traditional notebook. A friend even asked me whether the laptop was upside after placing it on a desk.

While the Click 2 is rather top heavy, the hinge is strong enough to hold the screen in place - that is when it's sitting flat desk. Trying to type with the Click 2 sitting on my lap causes the display to wobble back and forth, though, not violently enough to cause the machine to tumble away from me.

Compared with the previous Toshiba Click, this new model is decidedly squarer especially on the bottom edge of the screen. This is flat base allow the screen to stand up when its not sitting on its base. Unfortunately the Click 2 does come with kickstand, so you'll often look down at the screen, unless the you place the hybrid on a particularly tall, neck-high surface.

It's also awkward to wrap your hands around the wide 13.3-inch tablet-laptop. Hold it horizontally and your hands are constantly split at a chest's width. Turn the device vertically and the tablet tips away from you as its edges dig into your palms. Toshiba has also made a poor design choice by placing the speakers on the backside of the screen exactly where you rest your fingers whilst holding the tablet.

One of the strangest things about the Click 2's design is the majority of its ports are located on the sides of the display including the mini-HDMI, SD card slot, and USB 2.0 port. It would have made a lot of sense to keep the inputs located on the laptop base, as you probably won't be plugging in a mouse or hooking it to a TV while your hands are busy holding the device and tapping on the touchscreen.

Specifications

Weighing in at 4.85 pounds, the Click 2 is one of the heaviest convertible laptops even compared to equally sized, 4.2 pound Asus Transformer Book TX300. The Asus is even thinner measuring 13.30 x 9.40 x 1 inches while the Toshiba's dimensions are 9.10 x 13 x 1 inches. Unsurprisingly the 11.6-inch Lenovo Yoga 2 11 is the smallest hybrid, measuring 11.7 x 8.12 x 0.67 inches and weighing 3.19 pounds.

Here is the Toshiba Satellite Click 2 configuration given to TechRadar:

Spec Sheet

• CPU: 2.16GHz Intel Pentium N3530 Processor (2MB cache, up to 2.58 GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
• RAM: 4GB DDR3L 1600MHz
• Screen: 13.3-inch 1366x768 LED Backlit 10-point Touchscreen IPS Display
• Storage: 500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)
• Ports:1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, mini-HDMI, headphone and microphone combo jack, Kingston lock, AC adapter, SD card slot
• Connectivity: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 with Bluetooth 4.0
• Camera: HD 720p webcam
• Weight: 4.85 pounds
• Size: 9.10 x 13 x 1 inches (W x D x H)

Like what you see? Well, good then, because this is the only configuration the Toshiba Satellite Click 2 comes in other than the higher-end Pro version made with an aluminum body. The Click 2 has been on sale for a while and as a result it can be picked for a cool $499 (about £310, AU$569) at Best Buy.

The Lenovo Yoga 2 11 for also goes for an affordable $499 (about £310, AU$569) on Amazon as well. The Lenovo hybrid also matches the Toshiba with the same Pentium N3530 CPU and 8GB of RAM, plus the a little speed boost thanks to the 500GB hybrid drive with an 8GB SSD cache. Asus Transformer Book TX300 by comparison is in a whole other class of premium; equipped with a Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7 3517U processor and a 128GB SSD on top of its 500GB hard drive, this suave aluminum hybrid can be had for $1,099 at TigerDirect (about £683, AU$1,254).