Reviewers Liked

  • Wider display complements Windows 8's interface, Brushed aluminum finish and soft-touch texturing make for a handsome look
  • Gorgeous ultra-wide display ; Snappy performance ; Loud and rich speakers
  • Wide screen can be useful for multitaskers or movie watchers, especially in Windows 8 or on the desktop using Toshiba's Split Screen utility, 21:9 content looks good without the letterbox, though other aspect ratios suffer a bit, SSDequipped models are ni
  • Widescreen high res display, excellent materials, good selection of ports
  • Super-wide 21:9 display makes watching movies a Hollywood experience, Suitable for arranging application windows side by side, HDMI, Ethernet, and three USB 3.0 ports
  • Extra-wide 21:9 screen is a boon for movie-lovers, Harman/Kardon speakers sound great
  • Attractive design; Crisp widescreen display; Loud accurate audio; Helpful window snapping utility

Reviewers Didn't Like

  • Equently, it didn't come close to crossing the 30 frames per second (fps) playability barrier in our benchmark tests much like the rest of its class, In our Aliens v, Predator test, for instance, it yielded a slideshow-like frame rate (12fps with medium-quality settings in 1,366-by-768 resolution; 5fps with maximum-quality in 1,792-by-768 resolution), effectively landing with a thud in the same p
  • Lackluster keyboard ; Touchpad can be finicky
  • Vertical screen space is still at a premium, TN panel is only average, which makes it less than ideal for movie watching (one of the U854w's main selling points), Keyboard is a bit shallow and mushy, Slow networking interfaces, A bit heavier than standard
  • Widebody isn't for everybody
  • Dependent on searching for streaming/download 21:9 content, Split screen can make for small text, A bit unwieldy compared to other 14-inch ultrabooks
  • Equently, the second score was weighed anecdotally, but isn't considered a standard benchmark score, Similarly, in gaming tests, Lost Planet 2 ran fine at 1,028-by-768 resolution and medium detail settings, producing 20 frames per second (fps), but when dialed up to native resolution, it ran at 9fps with a width of 1,796 pixels while chopping off the top half of the picture, Again, this score is
  • Mediocre keyboard; Runs hot on bottom; Can be a tight fit for some bags