Toshiba Tecra R850 review

Typing on the full-size Chiclet-style keyboard was comfortable enough, despite the shallow key presses that had little tactile feedback. Each one was fairly springy, and there’s a separate numeric keypad for data entry, but the flat keys just didn’t feel as responsive as those on other keyboards we’ve used.

A major clue you’re using a business laptop comes from the choice of mouse inputs – as well as a compact touchpad, there’s also a touch stick and two secondary mouse buttons. We thought the fingerprint reader in the centre of the primary buttons could have been moved elsewhere, as it means your fingers feel a little cramped when trying to click on things, but the buttons themselves feel firm and click audibly to let you know when an action has registered.

The Tecra R850 is well equipped but expensive for a 15in laptop, even a relatively portable one – for £60 more, you could buy the Samsung Series 5 14in Ultrabook, which is significantly lighter. If you want the best battery life for your money, the Toshiba could still be a good bet, but its business-oriented features such as the touchstick and fingerprint reader may not be necessary for most people. If that’s the case for you, there are better value laptops elsewhere.