Sturdy casing, full Windows 8.1, expandable memory, budget price
Underpowered processor, so-so screen, screen not touch sensitive
Toshiba's snappily named Satellite CL10-B-100 is the Japanese company's answer to the Chromebook -- light and portable, but relying on the web for most of its storage.
The CL10 is certainly lightweight at just 1.1kg, though at 20mm deep it's not exactly slimline. Its all-plastic casing looks distinctly budget too, though it feels sturdy enough, which is a pretty good compromise considering the low price. In fact, it looks very similar to the recent Chromebooks we've been seeing this year -- cheap, but mostly cheerful -- and it manages to include a pair of full-sized USB ports and an HDMI port, as well as an SD memory card reader on the side. There's also a very basic 0.9-megapixel webcam.
Screen & Chassis
The 11.6-inch screen delivers a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels -- okay, but nothing to get excited about. However, that screen isn't touch sensitive, and considering it's running a full-fat 64-bit version of Windows 8.1, that's a problem. The Windows 8 operating system works best when it's tactile, when you can press and stroke and move things around with your fingers. Yes, you can bring up the navigation charms from the right hand side of the screen by moving the mouse into the corner and sliding it down, but that's nowhere near as easy as simply sliding your finger in from the side.
There's a mere 32GB of storage on board -- less than you'll get with a high-end smartphone these days. The trade-off is that it comes with 100GB of OneDrive online storage from Microsoft. That's only for two years though, after that you'll have to pay Microsoft's usual online storage rates -- currently a couple of quid a month. Then again, in two years' time you might be ready for another laptop.
You get the Office Online suite as standard, with Office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint available to you so long as you're connected to the web. Or you could just use Google Docs of course.
Software & Processor
The CL10 is powered by a dual-core 2.16GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor, which sounds pretty good, but it's supported by just 2GB RAM, and that can soon show its limitations when you're multitasking. Opening apps can be a bit more leisurely than is comfortable, and frame rates while playing Portal averaged in the sixties, making for a stilted and juddery experience -- this is not the laptop for you if you're an enthusiastic gamer.
Battery life proved to be quite good however, and we were able to keep it running all day before it needed recharging.
Conclusion
Cloud-centric laptops are a great idea, and their day is certainly coming, but it may not quite be here yet. The 100GB of free storage is a good start, but even if you have to pay a monthly fee it's still a pretty cheap way to access everything you need.
It's also a bit awkward to use Windows 8.1 without a touchscreen and if you're a power user, you'll find the processor struggling to keep up with your demands.
As your sole laptop the CL100 is likely to feel a bit limited, but as an additional device that you can easily carry around, it's a pretty good deal -- as long as you know you can get internet access of course.
Software: Windows 8.1
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
