Toshiba Satellite M840 Review

After using my Toshiba Satellite M840 for one full week, I'd like to share my review on this laptop.

The spec is identical to Satellite M840-1001XG on toshiba-asia.com except I’m running Windows 8, though I’m not sure if this is exactly the model. Firstly I'll list my specs below.

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i7-3612QM processor (6M Cache, up to 3.1GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

MEMORY: 4096MB DDR3 1600MHz SDRAM

DISPLAY SIZE: 14.0" WXGA HD Clear SuperView LED Backlight TFT display (16:9)

RESOLUTION: 1,366 x 768

GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon™ HD 7670M

HARD DISK DRIVE: 640GB (SATA) with shock absorbers

OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD SuperMulti Double Layer Drive (DVD±RW/RAM)

INTERFACES: 2xUSB 3.0 (Sleep&Charge), 1xUSB 2.0

SOUND SYSTEM: Stereo Speakers, 16-bit Stereo with SRS® Premium Sound HD™

CAMERA: Built-in HD Web Camera

BATTERY: 6-Cell Lithium Ion (47.5 Wh as said by Windows)

WEIGHT: Starting from 1.99kg

Things I like:

- comfortable typing, including the way Home, PgUp, PgDn, End arranged at the right of the keyboard: convenient and I can memorize where they are.

- Quad-core i7 third gen processor & dedicated videocard: I'm able to play a number of games even though I'm not a typical gamer.

- USB ports on both sides of the laptop.

- Temperature is alright for normal usage.

Things I don't appreciate:

- by default, important F-number keys such as F4, F2 especially are used for functions like switch screen and dim. I've switched it in BIOS thus I don't have to press "Fn" key to use them. Later on I may find a way to hack and remap the funtion keys to those I'll never use, such as the idiotic Fn-F1(Help).

- The Fn-Space to switch resolution is an annoying function also as I sometimes hit Fn key wrongly when I want to switch language inputs (Windows+Space).

- The DVD tray at the left side of the laptop is too easily hit to pop out.

- Battery life is only about 3 hours under wifi&office usage.

- 1366x768 HD display may not be enough for programmer's tight IDE layout.

*Battery life is obtained using Windows command: powercfg /batteryreport ,

Battery Life Estimates given by Windows: 2:50:00 hours at design capacity.

On my own calculation, it's about 3:10:00 hours at design capacity.

This 3&1/2-months old laptop has its battery capacity shrunk from 47,520 mWh to 42,120 mWh.