Toshiba Portege Z830 Review Review

Vishal Mathur

Lay your eyes on the Portege Z830, and you can immediately liken this ultrabook to what the Lenovo ThinkPad is for the laptop world – matter to fact looks, that may even border on boring for some users. However, if the ThinkPad inspiration goes anywhere beyond the looks, this could just be one solid ultrabook.

Look & Feel
True ultrabook form factor – lying on the desk, it wont be a surprise if the notepad sitting next to it may be thicker. And it isn’t a surprise that this magnesium alloy chassis draped machine is by far the lightest ultrabook we have tested so far. Call it finding a niche amidst a niche. Port placement leans towards being inconvenient, since all except one USB port, are on the rear panel. The idea seems to have been to keep the sides as clean and slim as possible, and utilize the usually thicker area where the display hinge sits to place the ports. Acceptable logic, and probably it is just about getting used to this placement. In fact, my very first laptop back in the early 2000s had all ports on the rear panel as well! What the left side spine does have is the dual jack combo for headphone and mic, and an SD card reader. The right spine has the lone USB 3.0 port.

The brushed metal finish of the lid looks classy, but could have done with a slightly smaller Toshiba logo! The same theme continues for the palm rest and the area around the keyboard. The bezel, however, doesn’t have the brushed look – instead has a plain finish. The dash of chrome near the two edges of the display hinge adds a bit of shine to an otherwise understated design.

Is it just us, or does the touchpad or the area around it look a bit cluttered? Appreciate the generous real estate space, but the fingerprint sensor separates right click and left click keys. Interestingly, just below the touchpad are a bunch of LEDs indicating power and battery status, wireless connectivity etc.

If you have placed the Portege Z830 on your lap and are typing out a document, you will notice a very annoying display vibration at times – the hinge isn’t very taut. If you push the display a little further back, the problem does reduce considerably. But at the optimum display angle, you will ideally have to type less furiously!

Despite using all the right materials and ideas, the Portege Z830 doesn’t feel as premium as it should. Weirdly, there is nothing really wrong with the build quality or the materials used. However, it doesn’t take that extra step to move above from the classy look to a very premium look. Have a look at the image gallery below:

 click to enlarge 

Also check out our video review of the Toshiba Portege Z830 :

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