Toshiba Tecra R850-S8540

Toshiba Tecra R850-S8540

Carrying a 15-inch business laptop can be a drag on the road, but all that screen real estate often warrants lugging it around. What's nice about the Toshiba Tecra R850-S8540 ($1,349.99 direct) is that it comes with the best of both worlds: An ample 15.6-inch widescreen on what's arguably the lightest frame in its class. Though it doesn't seem as sturdy as theHP EliteBook 8560p or Dell Latitude E6420, the R850 packs a nice performance punch and a big battery that yielded more than 6 hours of battery life. The Tecra R850-S8540 is one of the lightest laptops in its class. Its plastic chassis is reinforced with fiber glass so this desktop-replacement laptop tips the scales at just 5.3 pounds. That is the same as the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) (5.3 pounds). In contrast, the HP EliteBook 8560p (6.4 pounds) weighs over a pound heavier with a similar screen. It's even lighter than the Dell E6420 (6 pounds), which has a smaller screen. The downside, though, is that the frame doesn't seem as sturdy as the HP 8560p, Dell E6420, or even the Lenovo ThinkPad T410 (The screen flexes and frame gives way when pressing your palms against it).