back to article Toshiba widens Ultrabook range

Toshiba revealed its Ivy Bridge hand this week, with the spotlight on the Satellite U840W, an Ultrabook with a cinema-savvy, 21:9 aspect super widescreen display. Toshiba Satellite U840W The Toshiba Satellite U840W boasts a 14.4in screen with a resolution of 1792 x 768 - specifications the company says are ideal for watching …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Low definition displays once more

    Yawn.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Low definition displays once more

      At least it's cheaper, but still no cigar.

  2. Dave 126 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

    ...but please make some laptops with taller screens as well!

    It might not even be the wider screen ratio per se that doesn't agree with me, but that it results in the the top of the screen being further away from my eye line.

    It's like Tosh read the Reg forums and then went and did the opposite.

    1. Patrick R
      Thumb Down

      Re: I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

      14", no optical drive... "cinema savy". Search the error.

      1. fourThirty
        FAIL

        Re: I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

        Netflix, Lovefilm, Blinkbox, Huluplus, CinemaNow....

        There are plenty of places you can stream films from, plus most people who are into their tech and films will more than likely have their own streaming media solution in house.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

        rip, transcode.

        Or if you can't be bothered, rent & download :D

    2. Piloti
      Thumb Down

      Re: I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

      I have to say I agree 100%.

      My employer gives me a laptop for mobility and when I drop into an office, there is a monitor. First thing I do is turn the monitor through 90 degs so it is in Portrait mode. It makes such a difference for reading and writing documents.

      A 21:9 aspect super widescreen display will be hopeless for actually doing an work on.....

      1. Andrew James

        Re: I'm all for variety of screen ratio choice...

        Depends what your work actually is.

        Ploughing through spreadsheets with 20+ columns is easier if you've got a wider screen, you can gain a column or two without having to make the whole thing smaller when zooming out.

        As someone else already said too, music sampling also benefits from a bigger horizontal space.

  3. Bob H
    Mushroom

    Boom!

    The boss will be pleased, he just spent over £1k on an Asus with Sandy Bridge.

    Those prices seem unreal though, tempted to get one for home to replace my aging R61 slab.

  4. Cannae Tech IT
    Go

    Nice niche Tosh

    This widescreen ultrabook isn't for cinéastes; it's obviously for music producers on the go: they tend to think horizontally with their sequencers, so the wider they can see, the better. It's Toshiba's play on the muso Mac fanboi market, fo sho

  5. James 51

    Am I the only one who read U840 as UB40? It looks like a netbook though hopefully it's a bit faster than one.

  6. Fuzz

    Wow

    is this the most stupid laptop screen ever?

    The aspect ratio is there for watching movies, not any movies but specifically ones that are 2.35:1.

    Lets start with the aspect ratio, where is this content for 2.35:1 screens? Almost all content for small screen viewing is produced in 16:9. Films that are shot in 2.35:1 are delivered to your screen in inside a 16:9 letterbox. I'm guessing that if you take this laptop and go to watch a film on netflix or lovefilm you will get a letterbox at the top and bottom and pillarboxes down the side. A lot of content isn't even 16:9 it's 4:3 with a letter box so that will look even worse.

    Then you have the bizzare resolution 1792x768, if you're watching 720p video then you have 1280x544 which will need to be upscaled to fit the screen, if you've found some 1080p content then that will be 1920x817 so it will need to be downscaled to fit the screen.

    Nobody is going to buy this laptop, if they sell 100 I'll be amazed.

    As for the other two offerings, so what.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. P. Lee
      Happy

      Re: Wow

      > is this the most stupid laptop screen ever?

      Nope. Split screen means you can watch a film *and* watch your IM/email feed.

      Multi-tasking at work!

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