New Toshiba Satellite Click 2 and Click 2 Pro: A 13-inch hybrid for any budget (hands-on)

Last year’s Toshiba Satellite Click was a product we did not particularly like at all. It was a budget-feeling 13-inch detachable hybrid, a concept that might have worked if it did not ask $600 for a low, low-power AMD A4 processor that simply didn’t perform well enough to justify the price.

Coming back for more with a revamped Click 2 is a risk for Toshiba, but based on a brief hands-on demo for the budget Click 2 and the upscale Click 2 Pro, the Click line seems to at least be on the right path.

The $586 Click 2 looks and feels a lot like the original, although the button-release hinge is not as awkward this time around (I’m still not a fan of that hinge/latch style, however). More importantly, it has a current-gen quad-core Intel Pentium processor, which is comparable to what you’d see in sub-$500 budget laptops and many smaller Windows slates.

To keep the price down, the 13.3-inch display only has a 1,366×768-pixel resolution, although it’s a decent-looking IPS screen. There’s also a traditional 500GB platter hard drive inside, which is an unusual move for a tablet/hybrid. Higher-end Toshiba laptops (including the Click 2 Pro) have Harman Kardon-branded audio systems, here it’s mainstream headphone brand Skullcandy. One nice upscale feature is 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Starting at $1,028 is the thinner, lighter, more powerful Click 2 Pro, which has a full aluminum body, Intel Core i5 CPU, 1080p 13.3-inch display, and 128GB SSD.

The hinge design is also different. This time the tablet sits in a small channel at the top of the keyboard base, and detaches when you push down gently on it, releasing an internal latch. Toshiba calls it a push-pull mechanism. In our hands-on time with the Click Pro 2, it worked well, although I’d be a little nervous to lift the entire system up by the screen. An optional upgrade adds an extra 500GB HDD and battery to the keyboard base.

Playing around with both systems, the Click 2 still felt thick and budget-minded, but the Click 2 Pro’s tablet screen was thin, light, and pleasing to use, especially as 13-inch slates are rare. The new hinge design gives it an especially upscale look, which it will need to compete with the new 12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro 3 .

Both the Click 2 and Click 2 Pro will be available starting late June at Best Buy and Toshiba’s online store.