Toshiba Satellite Radius 15 review

By and large, 4K laptops haven't really worked from over-promising UHD gaming laptops, like the Razer Blade, to the extra pixels choking the performance out of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3. The Satellite Radius 15, however, is one of the first few cases in which a 4K screen makes sense, and the 3,840 x 2,160 resolution only helps to make it an even stronger machine for media consumption and creation.

We liked

For its $1,599 price tag, the quality of the hardware inside this 4K laptop is practically a steal. The colorful Ultra HD display alone more than justifies the price tag you'll pay for this machine. Though this notebook does not come sporting dedicated graphics, it has no trouble running Windows 10 at Ultra HD, just so long as games aren't part of the equation.

We disliked

Although Toshiba doesn't have any aspirations to make the Radius 15 a gaming machine, the 4K screen still hampers its ability to run any graphically intense task. It's fine for image and video editing, but users will inevitably run into a performance ceiling when they try to run modeling programs and other more complex creative pursuits. Similarly, this machine simply can't stay away from power outlets for long, thanks to its short battery life.

Final verdict

Thanks to the combination of a great price and stacked hardware, the Radius 15 is one of the few successful UHD laptops. It joins a small pantheon of 4K laptops, with the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 being its closest exemplar. In some ways, the Radius 15 is a better overall system with a more vibrant screen, a sharper design that's also thinner and smaller to boot.

The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 is still one of the 15-inch best laptops we've ever reviewed and an incredible deal if you're on a budget. But if you're ready to make the resolution jump into 4K, you can't go wrong with the Toshiba Satellite Radius 15.