Toshiba Portege Z830

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of the Toshiba Laptop Battery   First post by: www.itsbattery.com

The good: Lightest Ultrabook so far; long life battery such as Toshiba Satellite A70 Battery, Toshiba Satellite A75 Battery, Toshiba Tecra 8000 Battery, Toshiba Tecra 8100 Battery, Toshiba Tecra 9000 Battery, Toshiba Tecra 9100 Battery, Toshiba Satellite 1900 Battery, Toshiba Satellite A60-662 Battery, Toshiba Satellite A65 Battery, Toshiba Satellite 2100 Battery; generous number of ports and connectors.

The bad: Overpriced; system performance lower than expected; stiff and cramped keyboard.

The bottom line: Unless you really require the business-oriented features on the Portege Z830, you won't get your money's worth with this pricey laptop.

Review:

Since an impressive debut at the IFA tradeshow, the Toshiba Portege Z830 has been on our radar. Features such as a backlit keyboard and a 1.13kg heft that's less than its competitiors made it a frontrunner in the first wave of Ultrabooks. Our expectations were further raised by Toshiba's track record when it comes to ultraportable laptops. Exhibit A: The Editor's Choice-winning Toshiba Portege R830.



Although the Z830 fulfills some of that early promise--it has the longest battery life and is the lightest Ultrabook you can find now--it is priced closer to the premium ultraportables from the likes of Sony and Toshiba, rather than the mainstream, sub-US$1,000 price point that Intel dictated for Ultrabooks. System performance was also something of a letdown, with a less than competitive SSD. And while keyboards on Ultrabooks haven't been the most comfortable to type on, the chiclet version on the Z830 has small, truncated keys that are almost rectangular with shallow key travel.



We could have ignored these flaws if the Z830 had been more affordable. It's just a pity that Toshiba is only selling the US$799 Core i3 version (Portege Z835) in the US. With a starting price of S$1,999 (US$1,555) for the Core i5 and S$2,599 (US$2,022) for the Core i7 model we tested, the Portege Z830 is by far the most expensive Ultrabook in the market.   

Design

While competitors such as the Asus Zenbook went with an aluminum unibody design made popular by Apple, Toshiba has kept faith with the magnesium alloy chassis that has served it so well in its other ultraportable laptops. This lightweight yet strong material helps the Z830 snag the title of "lightest Ultrabook" currently at just 1.13kg.



With the Toshiba logo at the center of the lid, the Portege Z830 doesn't differ from the company's other laptops. It is definitely slimmer--15.9mm at its thickness point. However, unlike the Asus Zenbook or the Apple MacBook Air, it doesn't taper to a thin edge. 



Despite the thin and fragile-looking chassis, Toshiba claims that the Z830 can survive a drop test from a maximum height of 70cm with its screen and solid-state drive intact. This is part of the company's EasyGuard feature. We can't really test this for ourselves, but are reasonably confident that your data on the SSD will be come through unscathed.       

Price as reviewed	S$2,599 (US$2,007)
Processor	1.8GHz Intel Core i7 2677M
Memory	6GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
Hard Drive	128GB SSD
Chipset	Intel QM67
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 3000
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Dimensions (WD)	316 x 227 mm
Height	15.9 mm
Screen size (diagonal)	13.3-inch
System weight	1.13 kg
Category	Ultraportable

As part of the EasyGuard feature, the keyboard on the Z830 is spill-resistant. It's not the same as being spill-proof, so while it can handle minor accidents, you'll still need to turn off the laptop immediately. The keyboard is also backlit, which is something that's not found on all other Ultrabooks besides the HP Folio 13.



This is where things start taking a turn for the worst. Despite a chiclet design, the keyboard on the Z830 feels cramped. The height is compressed and the keys are truncated so that they appear more rectangular than square.