Toshiba Satellite Pro S500 review: Toshiba Satellite Pro S500

The
Toshiba Satellite Pro S500 is a no-nonsense laptop that’s primarily aimed at
business users. It has a large, 15.6-inch screen and an impressive range of
ports and is available for around £630.

Big, bright and business-like

The
first thing that strikes you about the S500 is just how large and heavy it is. Weighing
a hefty 2.54kg, it certainly won’t appeal to those who need to work on the move.
The design feels rather chunky, too. This isn’t surprising, considering it’s
quite tall and wide, measuring 374 by 250mm. The black finish on the lid and
wrist rest has a slightly pimpled finish, but the rest of the design is rather
staid and boring, although the laptop does feel very robust.

When
you flip open the lid, you’re met by the largish 15.6-inch screen. Surprisingly,
the screen has a TruBrite glossy finish, rather than the matte finish we’re used
to seeing on laptops aimed at professionals. The glossy finish is quite reflective,
but, as usual, this is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact it helps on-screen
colours appear deeper and more vibrant. If you want a laptop with a matte display,
you may want to check out Toshiba’s Tecra A11 instead, which is almost
identical save for the screen.

The S500’s display uses LED backlighting, so it
looks very bright, but its resolution of 1,366×768 pixels isn’t all that
impressive for a screen of this size. Nestled above the display is a webcam
with an integrated microphone, so you can use the laptop to make video calls with
software like Skype without having to hook up any external hardware.