New Portege Z830

[z830guy]

....

My Z830 is a i7 and absolutely no heat at all....not even warm. The fan does make a bit of noise and I will probably tackle unhooking that but it is not really bothersome at all. I had read that it is on always but this is not the case. I am only running on battery now but the tests I took yesterday with the RunCore T50 were 285/270. The 830 has bluetooth. ....

100% agreement on everything you observed, Series 9 Guy. Not warm, fan rarely spins up to audible level.

[SoundsGood]

Series 9 Guy, can you share some thoughts on how the Toshiba compares to the Series 9 laptop? The more detail the better.

Thanks...

[Apparition]

New Portege Z830

Samsung 9 Series laptop (ZX310 / 900X3A) unveiled

mSATA & 1.8" SATA SSDs available

I have been using this all day today and since I broke it open and switched over the SSDs last night

PROS

Lightest Ultra available by a noticeable difference
Backlit Keyboard
Battery life is 6 plus hours
Great finish with no fingerprint residue
VERY solid construction has a great feel
No heat whatsoever
Great Trackpad
plenty of ports
i7/6GB/SSD/USB3/Media Card Slot

CONS

Only SATA II SSD speeds
Max 6GB RAM as only one piece can be switched out (2GB integrated)
Max 768 Pixels.
Fan (I dont think its necessary at all)

[z830guy]

...
PROS

Lightest Ultra available by a noticeable difference
Backlit Keyboard
Battery life is 6 plus hours
Great finish with no fingerprint residue
VERY solid construction has a great feel
No heat whatsoever
Great Trackpad
plenty of ports
i7/6GB/SSD/USB3/Media Card Slot

CONS

Only SATA II SSD speeds
Max 6GB RAM as only one piece can be switched out (2GB integrated)
Max 768 Pixels.
Fan (I dont think its necessary at all)

I would 'second' all these. Same user experience. And again... fan doesn't bother me at all, even if we leave it. It's a bit like a refrigerator noise. Just a *slight* white noise... but I became accustomed to it in no time.

Also, keep in mind, if we use the cool custom key to switch to "Projector only" for screen resolution, it'll drive just about anything. For example, right now I'm working off of a *gorgeous* V7 monitor -- at 1920x1200. And I have another gorgeous external monitor at work. So the only time the 768 pixel thing is a limitation is when I'm not at either of my desks.

[uniten]

Don't know if this was addressed but anyone know the difference between the z835 and z830. And I don't mean the on paper specs. I mean in terms of quality of the components such as LCD, SSD, heatsink and etc..

I mean a lot of sites are reviewing the z835 and claiming its an z830 which I don't think is an accurate representation :/

customizing I see

13.3" HD LED Backlit Display (1366x768)
13.3" HD TruBrite® LED Backlit Display (1366x768)

are they both matte and whats the difference?

[leggy]

Planning to buy one from Bestbuy and have few questions:
- How is bestbuy's screen? Matte or glossy? There is no Bestbuy in Southern California that have it in store.
- Do I need to update drivers before using the laptop?
- How can I fresh install windows 7 specially there is no optical drive and I do not have external one?

Thanks for the responses.

[makryger]

Planning to buy one from Bestbuy and have few questions:
- How is bestbuy's screen? Matte or glossy? There is no Bestbuy in Southern California that have it in store.
- Do I need to update drivers before using the laptop?
- How can I fresh install windows 7 specially there is no optical drive and I do not have external one?

Thanks for the responses.

- BB screen is glossy. I don't think any of the screens are matte. For me its not a dealbreaker, as I have lived with a glossy screen for years, but it can get distracting at times.
- I had some difficulty connecting to my home network. Updating the wifi drivers resolved the problem instantly. Otherwise, I have not needed to do any driver updates.
- You'll have to find an ISO of Windows 7, then download the "Windows7 USB-DVD Download Tool" to turn a USB drive into a bootable disk.

[Apparition]

The Z830 is a matte screen. I have also no connection problems and have used it during travel the passed few days. In fact, as I sit here and type, I have access to 5 other WiFi networks in the neighborhood, in contrast to the Series 9 which was terrible.

[tom_in_uk]

Can anyone comment on the brightness of the matte screen?

[Apparition]

I can and have had the Series 9 in my hand which is, by the book much brighter. IF you are comparing each side by side at 100% brightness a visible difference is apparent. As for the Z830, I haven't found it necessary to use any higher than the preset 40/100 in any conditions as of yet.

In fact, thats just way too bright!

This brings up something else I particularly like about the 830 which is a button directly right of the power button for 'one stop shopping' of all brightness, volume, battery, wifi, connectivity, sync and presentation settings... quick and easy.

I cant tell you how many times I accidentally shut off my wifi on my other lappys.