Toshiba Satellite P850

Don't even think of buying this – I spend a good amount of 1650 during 2014. Thats lots of money, with this amount I should have brought Mac but i went for the specs, everything looked superior and latest,1 tb Space, 8 gb ram, i7 processor.. I brought it, it was not fast as i was expecting. I just use for watching videos online and other day to day purpose, not for gaming. Now at 2018 it is slow than turtle.  Show details

Wondering if people are throwing these machines around? --------EVERYDAY USER------- – I'm with R.O. I Love this machine! Have replaced mother board and for some reason couldn't replace Blu ray? BUT have used this baby everyday for over 5 years and am rather sad that I've let the kids use it. Low profile back-lit keyboard, sturdy construction(have no idea how people are braking hinges??? mine goes travelling also) Noise has never… Read more

been an issue, screen size and colour excellent, sound excellent. Touch-pad sensitive, has always worked without issue. Heaps of ports.

I do not game.

I would really love another

Not value for money! – Had repaired the motherboard caused by overheating for 400++MYR just because of running Adobe Photoshop. Cant even start off a game smoothly (Counter Strike Global Offensive). and also have to buy extra cooling pad for the laptop if going to use for adobe premier pro , adobe Photoshop and also gaming.  Show details

Best I have ever owned!!! – I have had a Toshiba Satellite P850 for about 3 or 4 years now and i have got to say i am on it almost everyday and she is still purring strong as the day I got it and guess what... it is still pumping out medium to high textures on new games today like battlefield 1 (which still looks as sharp as a blade (im not kidding) I dont know why all these… Read more

people are saying bad things about the P850. personally i think the broken screen hinge problem comes down to people being rough with the laptop. (And just because its called a (LAP-TOP) doesn't mean it is a LAP-TOP people cover the vent on the bottom of the computer with their leg ... then the fan cant get any air... computer overheats (so get a flat surface to put on your lap.

But what i dont understand is the computer has a heat detector in it and it cuts power from everything so how can it overheat?????

Just poorly built – I've had this laptop for over a year and a half, thought I was getting a good deal with the I7, 8 gigs and GTE force graphics. Happy with performance other than a BIOS issue but the build quality is terrible. Like several others have mentioned, the hinges where the screen connect to the main computer have broken. They're only supported by 1 small… Read more

screw through a small piece of plastic. Not going to hold with average use! Also, my trackpad significant curves up on the top left. Doesn't effect performance but I guess for a $1k laptop I just expected more.

Worst laptop of all time. Don't buy Toshiba – The screen hinges support is weak and cracks. This was my worst laptop ever. I expect more quality from this thousand dollar laptop. It's a common problem. The design definitely had compromised quality.

Can't fault it – This Laptop is the best Laptop I've owned, fast start up, great battery life and bright LCD screen. Love the backlit keyboard! I can't understand some of these other reviews!?! They must have dud laptops! Mine never overheats (who buys a laptop for heavy gaming anyway! Hahaha) my Wi-Fi is always strong and never drops out, touch pad is great and… Read more

so is the overall performance. The only thing I could fault is, the top of the range 'Harman/Kardon' speakers are not as good as I hoped they would be.

Seriously unhappy, wish I could get a refund – TLDR; It overheats. I'll never game on it again, other than easy to run games, because after Toshiba fix it I don't want the overheating to come back. I wish I could just get my money back and buy a cheap one. $500 would probably buy me one that runs nearly as well on the desktop, and doesn't overheat. I paid $800 + tax for this laptop, about… Read more

$902 dollars after tax (and that was $100 dollars off on sale), on December 23, 2012. At first I thought it was great, dedicated graphics card, powerful quad core i7 processor, however eight months later I am extremely unhappy.

Several months after the initial purchase I decided to use it with an external monitor. I setup Magic: The Gathering (2012) on the external monitor running in 1920x1080 (1080p), and a tv show running on the laptop's built in monitor using VLC media player. The show was standard definition and not HD. I used the laptop like this for a couple of hours, and to be fair it was quite a hot day, but eventually it shut off. A full hard shut down, completely off as if you had pulled the power adapter and the battery. It wouldn't boot for around 20 minutes. The computer was fine running an external monitor, but loaded up a tv show on the built in monitor and a game on the external 1080p monitor was fair too much for it. I didn't do this often but one day I decided to try running DiRT 2 and Netflix, and sure enough it happened several times that day. Now, I understand that I was pushing the laptop extremely hard, but it doesn't change the fact that it should NOT overheat to the point where it shuts off, even in extreme performance. Now, a couple of weeks ago, this having never happened without an external monitor plugged in and games running, I loaded up Minecraft and Skype and started an audio call with a friend while playing with them on a minecraft server. Keep in mind, this is all WITHOUT an external monitor plugged in. My friend recommended a youtube video so I minimized Minecraft and muted Skype to watch it. It was a roughly four minute video, and just after I finished watching it, the laptop shut off. I had to login to Skype on my phone just to say why I'd disappeared.

Now the laptop often gets warm even when I'm just browsing the web or loading a youtube video. I'm sending the laptop back for repair, which is incredibly inconvenient as I'm about to start university in, of all things where I need a reliable pc, Computer Science. I've got a desktop now, but not having my laptop for a few weeks to take with me to class and code/take notes on is surely going to be very frustrating.

What's far more frustrating is that I've seen some overheating to the point of shut off online, and I'm sure this is an inherent flaw in the laptop's design, so even if it's fixed the problem could easily just come back, and I wouldn't be overly surprised if it did. Now that I've got a powerful desktop, the only games I'll likely be playing on my laptop are fairly old ones that I can just run on the Intel integrated graphics. It'll be alright if the laptop really is fixed, but if the problem comes back, well, needless to say I'll be quite upset. If the problem doesn't ever comeback then I'll put an SSD in it, as well as a hard drive in the slot where the disk drive was, and I'm sure with an SSD, Windows 8, a powerful processor, and 8GB of RAM it will be a very fast computer for coding, word documents, and other school use, however as I said, I won't ever be running high performance games on it again (in fact I've just changed the settings in the Nvidia control panel to always use the integraded Intel HD 4000 graphics instead of the Nvidia).

Frankly, the thing that would make me happiest now is a refund. I would go buy a simple $500 laptop, put an SSD into it and be very very happy, however I highly doubt that's going to happen.

I just got off the phone with Toshiba support, so I'm pretty upset and basically just went to find somewhere to write a bad review but, I think it's well deserved. $902 (after tax) should have bought a laptop that doesn't overheat at less than a year old, that's just ridiculous. i7 3630QM quad core hyper threaded processor, dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 630m graphics card, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Backlit Keyboard Serious overheating problem, bad battery life, Webcam that has a very low fps and picture quality in anything but fairly well lit environments, graphics aren't nearly as powerful as I thought (although my expectations are not anyone's fault but mine).

does exactly what it should – I don't know what the other guys are talking about works perfectly even better than my mates alien ware laptop the toch pad is abit over sensitive I would recommend this product mine has a quite hard drive. The speakers are great I did find windows 8 abit to get used to would be great if it had a touch screen.  Show reply

Good for the price – It's a good laptop; however, my hard disk is a bit noisy; I might ask them to replace it. The other things look good. It's fast and if you disable Windows 8 Metro you get a good laptop for its price. The equivalent laptop with the same hardware performance will cost you twice. I can give you a list of pros and cons. Pros: - powerful CPU, -… Read more ·  1

good graphic card

- enough pre-installed ram

- good speaker

- good webcam

- good touch pad, you can disable it by a function key, it's so convenient when you are typing a long passage.

- 4 USB3 you can make it USB2 by just a click on settings

- average battery

- average DVD/BR player

- Not very heavy considering its size 15,6''

-

Cons:

- slow and noisy hard drive,

- a bit noisy fan

- bad LCD

- Not finger prints friendly on the screen

- big charger adapter and rough in design, old fashion !

- average keyboard

- average battery Performance, price, size, speaker, peripherals slow hard drive, noisy fan and hard drive

Terrible laptop – I absolutely hate it!! I can't get a decent wifi connection and it keeps messing up my router! I hate the mouse too. Bought it yesterday. May just take it back . Also, windows 8 sucks with this computer. I shelled out $1300 bucks and the specs really aren't that great!! Fortunately I bought it from my sisters work so should troubleshooting not… Read more

work I will try to get a refund The color and the backlit keyboard It's really heavy, the wifi doesn't work and the mouse sucks

Average performance, critical flaws – I spent just over $900 for my P850 (blu-ray, i7 processor, 8gb ram) and it runs fairly well. My first problem started when I ran a Toshiba BIOS up date. The computer locked up and was inoperable. I sent it in for repair and they replaced some small internal battery related to the CMOS? something or other. I'm not entirely sure what that was… Read more

about, its a bit above my head. I got the computer back and notice the corner of their horribly designed mouse track pad is starting to pop up and also 2 of the USB slots weren't working properly (toshiba's sleep and charge function didn't work).

I sent the computer back to for repair a second time, they didn't fix the mouse pad and, while they did fix the USB issue, they decided to replace my hard drive for some reason. I still don't know why. I called and complained that there is obviously some deep seated issue with this computer if it is having this many issues already.

They wont send me a new computer, they wont refund my money, instead, I get to send it back to the repair facility a third time so that they can run full diagnostics on it. I'm guessing they aren't going to do a darn thing and they are just going to send it right back to me. How long before the next issue? My warranty is only good for a year, it had better happen before then! Steer away from Toshiba. Decent performance for the price I've had to send it back for service 3 times already.

Don't get Toshiba – I bought the Toshiba Satellite P850/02C. First one had keyboard problems so returned it for another same model. Second one crashed on me. I ended up exchanging it for Samsung 5 series. Samsung is much lighter, better anti-glare, better graphic card and slimmer in appearance. I have been using Toshiba for the past few years but overall Japanese… Read more

products are going down the drain. I would recommend Samsung or Asus these days.

Bulky, noisy, get hot, keyboard is hard to type and other problems that I might have not picked up.

Could do better – Given the spec of the machine 8GB RAM and fast CPU (i7) it should fly. However, I find it pretty sluggish. It comes with a 5400 rpm disk. Even swapping it for a 7200rpm disk it runs like a dog. I'm guessing it's due to the bloatware. I'm sure Toshiba collects lots of $$$ from their associates for installed software. In the real world customers… Read more

want efficiency. However. they have been sold out for $$$. I've removed some of the bloatware but it's still slow. I've a Dell with 8GB RAM and a slower CPU and it runs faster. 4 USB Ports. Bloatware already installed. Slow. Track pad is bad.

power off – the actual lap top will turn itself off automatically completely would loose power and shut itself down. I bought it less than a year and its very annoying as work is lost. I had other brand lap tops and it seems to be better. tried this but would not be recommending this lap top Power problems

Good Specs, Serious Flaws – On paper, this looks like a great laptop for the money, and as other reviewers have stated, it seems solidly-built, it's not too noisy, and there are plenty of USB ports. I bought this to replace my Toshiba Satellite, which was purchased around 2007 and has served me well. The dying wifi on the Satellite is the only reason I replaced it. In terms… Read more

of intelligent design and well-thought-out features, the old Toshiba outperforms the P850 one in virtually every respect, which really isn't the way it should be.

The screen on the P850 is terrible, with possibly the narrowest and least forgiving vertical viewing angle of any laptop screen I've ever seen. Seriously, it has to be tilted back at approx 45 degrees to get a nice sharp, vibrant image. But if you slouch down a little in your chair, lean back a bit or sit up a bit straighter, the image looks washed out and is difficult to see clearly. This is, without a doubt, the P850's worst feature. I can't stress enough how disappointing and annoying the screen is. When I wandered through an electronics retailer's laptop section a couple of days ago, I noticed that just about every other brand of laptop on display (including other, cheaper Toshiba models) had a vastly superior screen to the P850, which was sitting there beside them. I bitterly regret buying the P850 online, as I would have rejected it immediately, had I viewed its screen in person.

Coming in at a close second: the trackpad. As another reviewer has noted, it's an all-in-one setup where you have to click down the bottom corners of the pad itself to click the mouse buttons. Doing so is very noisy, difficult, and counter-intuitive, particularly compared to the trackpad on my old Satellite which had two separate buttons. In terms of dimensions, I'd argue the trackpad is also too large, as even with the sensitivity maxed out it takes several swipes of the finger to move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. I could make the same movement in a single swipe on my old Satellite's much more compact pad. The only solution for me has been to buy a mouse, but the whole reason I bought a laptop was to be able to use it away from a desk.

Other niggles: My old Toshiba Satellite had a volume wheel on the front edge of the laptop - the P850 requires you to hold down the Fn button then press one of the Function keys at the top to adjust the volume. It's a serious hassle, especially if you're using the laptop in low light and can't read the keys easily. This is just one example of the poorly-conceived design aspects that plague the P850. Another example: the placement of the Del key, which is close-at-hand on the Satellite, right near the Spacebar. On the P850 it's way over on the far right, where you have to stop and look for it if you make a typo.

All these things I've mentioned might be a whole lot less annoying to other people, but to me, in combination with one another, they're dealbreakers. I've found myself going back to my old Toshiba Satellite and just putting up with the intermittent wifi. In fact, I'm writing this review on the Satellite right now - I haven't fired up the P850 in over a fortnight because every time I do so, I feel a great deal of inner rage at what I perceive to be significant backward steps in several critical areas of the build quality and user interface. Decent specs for the price. Terrible viewing angle of the screen, shocking trackpad, poorly-thought-out design, and counter-intuitive placement of many keys.

Seriously - You get what you pay for – Ok, I bought this laptop because the value for what it contained seemd to be excellent but it has some drawbacks as I shall mention. First off, the laptop seems sturdy, it has an abundance of USB slots (4) and everything seems well put together. I bought this laptop so I could play MMO games on it when I am away from home. It runs the games I… Read more

play without a problem. I can tell though the hard drive is slow and an SSD will no doubt fix that.

The keys are well laid out, but I can't find any back lighting. I like a solid keyboard and this one has one.

Everything booted up fine and once you remove the usual bloatware that come with it out of the box, the machine hums along quite nicely. Nothing has been too much trouble for it so far.

So what don't I like? Its butt ugly and the max resolution for starters. What April 1st designer did they use when they thought 1366x768 would be acceptable for a high end laptop in this day and age. Sorry it sucks big time. It comes with a blu-ray player for heavens sake - 1080p standard last time I checked.

The other clanger is the track pad. Its an all in one pad that has the mouse buttons at the bottom as part of the whole pad so when you press it the whole pad moves. Now this is just the wrong way Toshiba. If you're a two handed laptop user like me, one hand on the track pad to move the cursor around, then the other hand/finger on the button to select stuff. Using the trackpad on this thing it gets confused if I try to use two hands. Easy answer - don't use the track pad, get a mouse, which is what I did. Its a pity though, a laptop like this shouldn't have such a serious design issue.

So I have it now but would I recommend it to anyone? - no - don't waste your money on this one, get something with better resolution and looks like it wants you to use it.. inexpensive compared to other similar machines.Has the third generation i7 chip, good memory size - 8GB, good dedicated graphics card with 2GB, large disk drive, has all the slots I need. Its ugly. Seems slow, max screen resolution is 1366x768, track pad is the worst I have ever used.