Toshiba’s lineup of 2-in-1 devices has been steadily growing over the last year, with multiple detachable-hybrid tablets on store shelves. But the best of them is actually a convertible-hybrid laptop, the Toshiba Satellite Radius P55W-B5224 ($899.99 as tested), which is basically a laptop that folds up for use as a tablet. Boasting an Intel Core i7 processor and a spacious 1TB hard drive, the Radius P55W-B5224($495.00 at eBay)(Opens in a new window) offers some of the best performance we’ve seen in any convertible system, and earns our Editors’ Choice for midrange convertible-hybrid laptops.

Design
The Radius P55W-B5224, available exclusively at Best Buy, is a slim laptop that uses a dual-hinge design—similar to that of Lenovo’s Yoga 2 13($797.88 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) and other Yoga laptops—to let you bend the display back and around for tablet functionality a number of different use modes: Laptop, Tabletop, Presentation, Audience, and Tablet.

Measuring 0.75 by 15.0 by 9.7 inches (HWD), the laptop is covered in brushed aluminum with a Satin Gold finish, giving it a premium feel. At 4.9 pounds, it’s lighter than the similarly sized HP Envy x360 15t($799.99 at HP)(Opens in a new window) (5.29 pounds), but considerably heavier and more unwieldy than the more common 13-inch models, like the Lenovo Yoga 2 13 (3.4 pounds).

The 15.6-inch display boasts an In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel and 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. For touch and tablet use, there’s also 10-finger tracking. The picture quality is excellent, with wide viewing angles and sharp details. Sound is equally good, thanks to two Harman/Kardon speakers built into a speaker bar that runs along the top of the keyboard.

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3.5

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Lenovo Yoga 2 13

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4.0

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Lenovo Flex 2 (15-Inch)

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There’s both a full-size keyboard and a
10-key numeric pad, which you won’t see offered on smaller systems like the Lenovo Yoga 13 2, though the multimode Lenovo Flex 2 (15-Inch)($299.99 at Lenovo)(Opens in a new window) does have it. That numeric pad provides a little more comfort for anyone who has to routinely enter data into spreadsheets. The touchpad positioned below the spacebar offers a smooth and comfortably wide touch sensor, though it can’t match the extra-wide sensor found on the HP Envy x360 15t. The sensor still offers all of the gesture support you need in Windows 8.1, like edge-swiping to access menus, and two-finger scrolling and zooming.

Features
The laptop is outfitted with three USB 3.0 ports (one with sleep-and-charge capability), an SD card slot, a full-size HDMI port, and a stereo headset jack. Wireless options abound, with dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi for network connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 for pairing headsets and peripherals, and Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) for streaming HD content without a cable to any WiDi-equipped HDTV or adapter.

For storage, the Radius P55W-B5224 has a 1TB, 5,400rpm hard drive, which is double the capacity of the 500GB drives found in the Lenovo Flex 2 (15-Inch), the Lenovo Yoga 2 13, and the HP Envy x360 15t. What those other systems do offer, however, is an extra solid-state cache, for faster performance. While the drive may be a tad slower, the relatively enormous storage space should more than make up for it.

Toshiba includes some preinstalled programs on the system, like Hulu Plus, Netflix, and reader apps like Amazon Kindle Reader, Zinio Reader, and NextIssue. The Radius P55W-B5224 also comes with a 12-month subscription of Norton Antivirus, Dragon Assistant dictation and voice control, and a 30-day trial of Microsoft Office 365. Toshiba covers the system with a standard one-year warranty.

Performance
Outfitted with an Intel Core i7-4510U processor—designed for mobile devices like ultrabooks and convertible laptops—and 8GB of RAM, the Radius P55W-B5224 offers better overall performance than Core i5-equipped competitors. In PCMark 8 Work Conventional, the system scored 3,184 points, well ahead of the HP Envy x360 15t (2,682 points) and the Lenovo Flex 2 (2,683 points). It had a similar lead in our multimedia performance tests, finishing Handbrake in 2 minutes 50 seconds and Photoshop CS6 in 4:10.

While the Radius P55W-B5224 relies on Intel’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400, the Core i7 processor also provides a boost in graphics performance, with higher 3DMark scores in both CloudGate and Fire Strike Extreme, and producing higher frame rates in our gaming tests than its competitors. But while the overall graphics performance is better, the Radius P55W-B5224 is still bound by the limitations of its integrated graphics. It should do very well with streaming media and even some multimedia creation and editing, but it won’t work as a gaming machine.

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In addition to impressive performance, the Radius P55W-B5224 also boasts the longest battery life seen among the convertible-hybrid laptops. It lasted 7 hours 51 minutes on our battery rundown test. The closest competitor, the Lenovo Flex 2 15, lasted only 5:30. Thus, the Radius P55W-B5224 is the only laptop-class convertible that will take you through a full work day.

Conclusion
With its slim design and excellent performance, the Toshiba Satellite Radius P55W-B5224 is one of the best convertible-hybrid systems we’ve reviewed. Admittedly, the 15-inch size is too big for most people to use as an on-the-go tablet, but for a 15-inch laptop that also offers touch and tablet functionality, it’s hard to beat. With superior performance and longer battery life, the Toshiba Satellite Radius P55W-B5224 is easy to recommend, making it our Editors’ Choice for midrange convertible-hybrid laptops.