As one of two notebooks launching Best Buy’s Blue Label program, the Toshiba E105-S1402 incorporates a number of features and design elements based on customer research by the big-box retailer. The $1,199 E105, with a backlit keyboard and Toshiba’s funky Fusion Finish, certainly looks different from other notebooks from the company. Although we don’t love the design or the feel of the keyboard, this notebook will meet the needs of consumers looking for a thin and light system with long battery life and good overall performance.
Design
The E105’s footprint has a unique squarish build with rounded edges that’s reminiscent of the old MacBook Pro, and at 13.4 x 9.7 x 1.2 inches and a shade under 5 pounds, this notebook slips easily into a bag and can be comfortably carried around.
The E105 sports Toshiba’s high-gloss Fusion Finish—a series of lines that intersect to create geometric patterns—that extend from the lid to inside the notebook. The pattern on the outside is subtle, but on the inside the lines are brighter and louder, which some onlookers found more distracting than stylish.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard, done in a solid mocha color that matches the lid, was comfortable to type on, but we were a bit disturbed with the amount of flex. Pressing a single key caused a large portion of the layout to cave in temporarily, and keys made a sound as if they were sticking when depressed. We like that the keyboard is backlit, which can be activated by pressing Fn+Z; it would be nicer if the backlighting activated automatically in low light.
The grid pattern also appears on the touchpad, where it is raised to provide a tactile feel, and helps distinguish the pad from the glossy palm rests. The ridges are just enough to notice, but not so much that they slow finger movements. Below, a fingerprint reader separates two mouse buttons, which while a bit noisy provided good feedback.
To the right are backlit multimedia touch controls that were very responsive. When a user presses the Function key, a list of all of the available options appear as a row of icons on the top of the screen. It saved us from having to hunch over and squint at the top row of keys to find the command we were looking for.
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