The Toshiba U505-S2980's main gimmick is a multitouch touchscreen. Outside of that,
it is, for the most part, a decent laptop, even above average in many ways. But that
one gimmick is the root of my issues with this 13-inch notebook--and helps raise its
cost to a somewhat pricey $1050 (as of 11/24/09).
Because the panel is a touchscreen, the U505-S2980 suffers from grainy picture
quality. This exacerbates a more basic problem of the screen just being dim. Viewing
angles and backlighting are all right--the hinge actually sets the screen to the
perfect angle when the unit is fully open--but the screen is really not bright
enough. What you wind up with is a display that's made too many compromises for an
idea that just doesn't work in practice. (In all fairness the touchscreen variant of
the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and the Dell Latitude TX2 were also a little dim--it's not
something unique to Toshiba).
I suspect Toshiba wants you to use the touchscreen more than anything else, but I'm
just not sold. The 13-inch screen runs at a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, far too
fine for a proper touch interface without a stylus. Sure, you can up the font size,
but it grossly reduces usable space on an already cramped resolution. Multitouch also
seems silly, given how awkward it is to reach forward and manipulate the bundled
multitouch application when the notebook is upright. That bundled app--software for
posting notes and images like a blackboard--is in itself quite cute, but hardly
practical. That said, with the touchscreen, it's a breeze to zoom in and out of
images or Websites.
Tags:Toshiba U505-S2980,Toshiba U505-S2980 latest reviews,Toshiba U505-S2980 laptops,Toshiba U505-S2980 specification,Toshiba U505-S2980 features
it is, for the most part, a decent laptop, even above average in many ways. But that
one gimmick is the root of my issues with this 13-inch notebook--and helps raise its
cost to a somewhat pricey $1050 (as of 11/24/09).
Because the panel is a touchscreen, the U505-S2980 suffers from grainy picture
quality. This exacerbates a more basic problem of the screen just being dim. Viewing
angles and backlighting are all right--the hinge actually sets the screen to the
perfect angle when the unit is fully open--but the screen is really not bright
enough. What you wind up with is a display that's made too many compromises for an
idea that just doesn't work in practice. (In all fairness the touchscreen variant of
the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and the Dell Latitude TX2 were also a little dim--it's not
something unique to Toshiba).
I suspect Toshiba wants you to use the touchscreen more than anything else, but I'm
just not sold. The 13-inch screen runs at a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, far too
fine for a proper touch interface without a stylus. Sure, you can up the font size,
but it grossly reduces usable space on an already cramped resolution. Multitouch also
seems silly, given how awkward it is to reach forward and manipulate the bundled
multitouch application when the notebook is upright. That bundled app--software for
posting notes and images like a blackboard--is in itself quite cute, but hardly
practical. That said, with the touchscreen, it's a breeze to zoom in and out of
images or Websites.
Tags:Toshiba U505-S2980,Toshiba U505-S2980 latest reviews,Toshiba U505-S2980 laptops,Toshiba U505-S2980 specification,Toshiba U505-S2980 features
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