Toshiba Satellite M50-A-11C review

INPUT DEVICES

Fortunately, the keyboard was much more pleasant to use, as its well-spaced keys all gave a good level of tactile feedback. They’re not the bounciest laptop keys we’ve ever used, but they’re more than adequate for typing long word documents. A row of media buttons also run along the top of the keyboard, and there’s room for a numeric keypad on the right hand side.

We didn’t get on so well with the large all-in-one touchpad. Its large slightly textured surface was fine for dragging the cursor around the desktop, but swiping from the side to perform Windows 8 shortcuts often took a few times to get right. Like other Toshiba laptops, the touchpad’s main surface lies in a small recess compared to the rest of the laptop, so swiping from the side doesn’t always register.

Multi-touch gestures, such as pinch-zooming, were also a little stilted, but two-finger scrolling worked perfectly. You may want to change the scrolling direction in the Control Panel’s Mouse Settings, though, as this is set to reverse on its default settings, so scrolling down moves the page upwards and vice-versa. Luckily, altering the direction is simple. Once you’re in the Mouse Settings, click the ELAN tab and select Options. Click the cog button next to Scrolling and uncheck Reverse.

CONCLUSION

It’s a shame Toshiba’s had to compromise on the screen as the Satellite M50-A-11C is otherwise a great value laptop. It’s got the power to rival an Ultrabook and its dedicated graphics chip is a rare bonus in a laptop of this price. Had the screen been better, this could have been a Best Buy winner, but instead it falls just short of award territory.