Toshiba

Toshiba offers several lines of laptops: Tecra, Portege, Satellite, Qosmio, KIRA, and Chromebook. The basic difference between them is that they are optimized either for business or consumer purposes.

Both the Tecra and Portege lines are enhanced for business purposes. While both come with above average hardware components and plenty of ports for data transfer and display, they also feature hardware and software amenities to deal with the common accidents, problems, and threats encountered by business people. Branded by Toshiba as Easyguard Technology, these amenities include a shock absorbing design, spill-resistant keyboard, hard drive impact protection, fingerprint reader, port lockouts, encryption software, and PC diagnostic utilities (over and above Windows). The Tecra and Portege lines are mainly differentiated by their design, screen sizes, and price.  The Tecra is built with a high-grade plastic chassis, weighs approximately 4.2-5.2 pounds, comes in 14 and 15.6" displays, and starts at $600, but usually sells in the $800-1200 range. The Portege is made with a magnesium alloy chassis, weighs approximately 3.2 pounds, comes in 11.6 and 13.3" displays, and starts at $800, but usually sells in the $900-1400 range.

DWSS focuses its selection of Toshiba laptops, however, on its consumer laptop lines: Satellite, Qosmio, KIRA, and Chromebook (Toshiba Chromebooks are listed separately in our Google section.) Focusing first on Satellites, they are Lenovo's all-purpose consumer laptops.  Optimized for consumers with a wide range of budgets and computing needs, Satellites are split up into the C-Series, L-Series, E-Series, P-Series, S-Series, and Radius Series.

Satellite C-Series

Ranging from $300-700, C-Series laptops are Toshiba's budget consumer laptops, great for handling everyday computing tasks like checking email, social networking, surfing the internet, creating basic office documents, simple video and photo editing, and enjoying mulitmedia entertainment.  C-Series laptops typically come with Intel Core or AMD E-series processors, integrated Intel or AMD graphics, 4-6GB RAM, 500-750GB hard drives, and 15.6 and 17.3", 1366X768 partial HD (up to 720p) displays.

Satellite L-Series

L-Series laptops are Toshiba's mainstream consumer laptops, which strike a balance between design, amenities, performance, and price.  Ranging from $400-750, they are perfect for everyday productivity and entertainment.  They typically feature Intel Core or AMD A-series processors, integrated Intel or AMD graphics, 4GB-8GB RAM, 500GB-1TB hard drives, and 15.6 and 17.3", 1366X768 partial HD displays.

Satellite P-Series

Ranging from $700-1100, P-Series laptops are Toshiba's premium consumer laptops, built for gaming, multimedia creation, and multimedia entertainment.  They typically feature i3, i5, or i7 Intel Core processors, integrated Intel graphics, 8-12GB RAM, 500GB-1TB hard drives, Harman Kardon speakers, and a variety of display sizes and resolutions, up to 1920X1080 full HD. Furthermore, select models of the P-Series have discrete NVIDIA graphics processors and Blu-ray players.

Satellite S-Series

Ranging from $550-850, S-Series laptops are Toshiba's ultraportable premium consumer laptops.  Less than 0.8" thick, S-Series laptops typically feature i3, i5, or i7 Intel Core processors, integrated Intel graphics, 8-12GB RAM, 500GB-1TB hard drives, Harman Kardon speakers, and 15.6 and 17.3", 1366X768 partial HD displays.

Satellite E-Series

Starting at around $800, E-Series laptops are Toshiba's designer or Ultrabook consumer laptops.  As set by Intel, Ultrabook standards include Intel processors, less than .83" thick, wake up speed under 3 seconds, 9 hours of idle battery life, touchscreens, and voice control.  Current E-Series laptops qualify as Ultrabooks.

Satellite Radius Series

Radius Series laptops are convertible laptops with displays that can be folded back up to approximately 360 degrees into various modes, such as presentation mode (an upside-down V-shape), audience mode (keyboard down and behind display), table mode (laid out flat at 180 degrees), or tablet mode (folded all the way around at 360 degrees.) They typically come with Intel Core processors, integrated Intel graphics, 12GB RAM, 1TB hard drives, and 15.6", 1920X1080, touchscreen displays.

Turning to Qosmios and KIRAs, they are Toshiba's luxury consumer laptops, designed for hardcore gaming, professional-level video and music production, and luxurious multimedia entertainment experiences.

Qosmio

Offering the ultimate in luxury and performance, Qosmio is Toshiba's main luxury consumer laptop line.  Built primarily for gaming, it also offers the highest-quality multimedia creation and consumption capabilities. Its main hardware specs include an Intel Core i7 processor, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX770M graphics processor, and 12-32GB RAM. Additional hardware and software amenities include a 17.3", 1920X1080 full HD display, Harman Kardon speakers, Blu-ray player (on select models), and pre-installed Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. Qosmios start at $1200, but usually sell between $1400-1900.

KIRA

KIRA is Toshiba's ultraportable luxury consumer laptop line.  Purporting to exceed Ultrabook standards (hence its marketing as the KIRAbook, or the Ultrabook redefined), KIRA is built with design, portability, and battery life in mind while still offering upscale amenities and peak performance. Sporting an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and 8GB RAM, Kira impresses with a 256GB solid state hard drive, 13.3", 2560X1440, touchscreen display, Harman/Kardon speakers, and a magnesium alloy chassis that contributes to its ultraportable 2.66 lbs. starting weight. It is also 0.7" thick and offers approximately 8 hours of active battery life.  Kira ranges from $1600-2000.