Toshiba Unveils First-Ever Laptop with 21:9 Screen [HANDS ON]

There's something unusual about Toshiba's Satellite U845W laptop. Have a look at the pic — can you guess what it is? That's right, the new Toshiba has a screen with an "ultra-wide" aspect ratio of 21:9, perfect for watching many blockbuster movies.

The U845W is an Ultrabook, meaning it's an ultra-thin design that packs Intel Core processors, in this case the third-generation chips (a.k.a. Ivy Bridge). You can configure it with either 256GB solid-state drive or a 500GB hard disk that's paired with a 32GB SSD for the rapid booting and wake-up that's a hallmark of the Ultrabook label.

Back to the screen: It's 14.4-inch display with a 1,792 x 768 resolution. Toshiba picked the 21:9 aspect ratio for movies, obviously, and many of the big-ticket flicks (like Battleship) are shot in that cinematic format.

However, the wide screen may have other benefits as well. Toshiba suggests stretching things out horizontally is actually more conducive to multitasking, and it's thrown in a special feature on the U845W to make that easier. Toshiba's Split Screen Utility has pre-configured the screen for multiple windows, so when you drag an app to one of the predetermined areas, it'll automatically resize itself to fit, and not a pixel of space is wasted.

In our brief hands-on with the U845W, we couldn't really tell if the split screens actually made the thing more efficient for work, but we can tell you this: This sucker plays loud. It boasts Harman Kardon speakers, enhanced with SRS Premium Sound 3D audio processing, and when we watched a trailer for The Bourne Legacy on the laptop, it nearly blew our ears off — and that was at about half maximum volume.

SEE ALSO: Toshiba’s Touchscreen All-in-One: The Perfect Windows 8 PC? [HANDS ON]

The screen is beautifully bright and sharp, and even though the 768 pixels of vertical resolution is technically less than 1080p, you weren't going to use those pixels anyway if you were to watch a 21:9 movie on a "true" HD display. Rounding out the specs, it has HDMI and Ethernet ports, 3 USB ports and up to 8GB of RAM. The lightest configuration is 3.5 pounds, and it's 0.82 inches thick. It starts at $1,000

Toshiba also unveiled two other Ultrabooks today: First up, the Satellite U845 is a budget design with a 500GB hard disk (plus either 16GB or 32GB of Flash memory) and a 14-inch screen that starts at $750. Then there's the Portégé Z935, an extremely thin (0.63 inches thick) and light (2.5 pounds) design that boasts Ivy Bridge processors and eight-hour battery life. That one starts at $900.

What do you think of Toshiba's latest Ultrabooks? Does the cinematic screen sound like something you'd use? Sound off in the comments.