Toshiba Satellite U925t: A Windows 8 Tablet With a Slide-Out Keyboard

The Toshiba Satellite U925t tablet/laptop. Image: Toshiba.

The Windows 8 computers are here and they continue to get more interesting by the hour today. On the heels of Samsung's new Windows 8 devices, Toshiba is announcing its own sliding tablet with a keyboard - the Satellite U925t. The company showed off a bit of it back in June, but today it is revealing more details about the tablet-turned-laptop.

Toshiba calls the U925t an ultrabook, and from a quick glance of the spec list it really does look just like a regular laptop. It has a Core i5 processor from Intel and an 128GB solid state drive. But see this computer for yourself and you'll very quickly realize that it isn't just another laptop.

When it's folded up it looks like a thick (.78 inches) tablet with a 12.5-inch screen, but you can then slide the screen up to reveal a full-size keyboard with a touch pad. The entire package weighs 3.2 pounds, which is in line with many ultrabooks, but quite a bit heavier than most tablets.

I got a look at the device this week and found the sliding mechanism worked well. I also found the device sits nicely on one's lap; with the keyboard out it didn't topple over while I sat with it in a chair.

It is heavy to hold in tablet mode, though. But, that said, the touchscreen was very responsive to my swipes across the Windows 8 Start Screen and from the edges to bring up other Windows 8 settings. My biggest issue with Windows 8 here was the presence of extra preloaded software on the Desktop. On the unit I saw, there was a WildTangent games program. (So much for thinking Windows 8 would bring an end to bloatware.)

There's also another trick in the U926t - a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. Located in the palm rest, Toshiba says it will make it possible for users to tap the computer against other devices to transfer files. There is also a webcam on the front of the screen and a 3-megapixel camera on the back of the device when in tablet mode.

Toshiba isn't discussing the pricing of the U925t yet, but it says it will be available on Oct. 26 when Windows 8 officially hits.