Top End Toshiba L40W Radius Notebook Panned By The Australian

Under siege from the likes of Lenovo, whose top end  products are running hot off the shelves at JB Hi Fi, the new Toshiba Radius L40W is the product that Toshiba management was hoping would take it up to the highly popular Lenovo Yoga Pro 3, which is proving so popular at $2,300 that it has resulted in a 40% lift in premium notebook sales at JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman. 

Writing in the Australian newspaper, seasoned technology journalist Chris Griffith described the Radius L40 W as “Nothing noteworthy except price”. 

The review that was set up by Ogilvy PR who won the Toshiba account back last year, the PR Company has been selective in who has been able to do a review of the top end Toshiba notebook.

Griffith said that the notebook failed to impress in several areas.

He described the 360 degree tablet as “awkward” because the screen and keyboard can’t be separated.

This resulted in the keyboard sitting underneath the screen with the keys facing downwards. 

He said this made it uncomfortable on your lap and you can accidentally trigger the keys.

He also described the overpriced notebook and tablet as heavy at 2kg, he pointed out that the weight was four times the weight of an Apple iPad Air.

Toshiba are still using a USB2.0 port in a $1799 machine a move that “perplexed” the reviewer.

Griffith wrote “There’s also a curious Windows button on the left-hand side that switches from the standard desktop to Windows tiles mode. I don’t see the need for this when you have a Windows key on the keyboard”.

He added “Given its $1799 price tag, you’d expect 2015-style innovation: maybe impressive battery life with new, energy-efficient chips, maybe a cutting-edge USB-C port for ultrafast data transfer, maybe a biometric fingerprint reader that eliminates passwords, or a cutting edge design such Dell’s XPS (2015) with its ultra-thin bezel. But nothing stands out”. 

He also described the 1366 x 768 pixel, 720p display screen as “ordinary” especially as several brands such as Acer and Asus are delivering significantly better display screens. 


How the Australian saw the Toshiba top end offering. 


After extensive use Griffith only got six hours and 15 minutes battery life which means that on a flight to Asia the battery will run out without a top up. 

Apple’s MacBook Air offers 9-12 hours battery life and Lenovo ThinkPad X250 is reported to last more than 15 hours.

As for the 14-inch, 720p display itself, it is well below full high-?definition or the 2K definition quality you’d expect in a top-line notebook and incredibly reflective.

The review unit was a top end specked machine with an Intel Core i7 5500U processor at 2.40 gigahertz, 8 gigabytes of DDR3 memory, on-board Intel HD5500 graphics, fast 802.11ac wireless and Intel WiDi.

The CPU scored 285 cb which is at the lower end of the Core i7 range.

Giving the device just 5/10 he described the Toshiba Radius L40W as a highly priced mid-range laptop. It’s a convertible, sure but as the flagship of Toshiba’s new Australian range, it is a disappointing device.

Rating: 5/10

Price: $1799 for Core i7 model