New Portege Z830

[z830guy]

If you can pay 1200 USD, why do not you purchase the BEST Ultrabook: MacBook Air ?

Almost at every review agrees that Air has better screen, build quality, stability, resolution, etc if you compare it with other Ultrabooks. So I believe its much better to get an Air for 1234 USD.

I do not plan to pay more than 700 USD, so Z835 is the best (and only) Ultrabook for that price.

Guess it depends on whether or not you want *ports*. The MacBook Air is missing several key ports that I needed. In addition, it doesn't run our corporate applications well at *all* (Windows Apps).

[uniten]

If you can pay 1200 USD, why do not you purchase the BEST Ultrabook: MacBook Air ?

Almost at every review agrees that Air has better screen, build quality, stability, resolution, etc if you compare it with other Ultrabooks. So I believe its much better to get an Air for 1234 USD.

I do not plan to pay more than 700 USD, so Z835 is the best (and only) Ultrabook for that price.

Same reason why I gave back the Series 9 which has a better screen then even the macbook air.

To me there are 2 things that are extremely important that both AIR and series 9 lack:

1) A real touchpad, I tried the no button touchpads. They don't work..all of them are horrible. I don't need no fancy multitouch or etc, all I want is a decent touchpad which the air does not offer. The buttonless/1 button design looks nice but isn't practical.

2) Onsite warranty, I don't have time to send my laptop in or go to a store on other side of the planet, I prefer when they come to me to fix the laptop. Plain and simple.

Oh and obviously I need to use windows..

Also as far as build quality is concerned I don't see how the AIR is better then the other guys, their fail rates are worse then both ASUS and Toshiba for example.

As far as stability, I never had stability problems with my series 9 or this toshiba so can't say that I follow...

[Vogelbung]

The noise is similar to a fridge/freezer type noise (not as loud but same type of hum)

And yes fan is always on and eco mode does not fix it. This is probably why in the review they found the laptop being so low temp in general. Maybe in a future BIOS update *shrug*

I guess it's not a bad thing in terms of stability (a Macbook Air more stable? Don't make me laugh) but the fan profile could do with a lot more intelligence if it *can* be as silent as e.g. the Sony Z2 - or maybe it's just not engineered for silence. Either way it is noisier than I'd like.

[Vogelbung]

I'm curious - where did this assumption about the Toshiba being less stable (i.e. in terms of lid I presume) come from? The Toshiba has a purposely bendier screen (as with the Z2) but it does 'close with shake' in much the same way as a 11-inch Air, which is more it's equivalent (certainly in terms of weight - the machine weights 1100g vs 1080g of the Air) than the 13-inch.

Overall though - despite the fairly impressive achievements in terms of building an actually business-class machine for this little (I got the i5 model with the unbelievable 'give you your money back' 3-year warranty for ~10% more than a 128Gb 11-inch Air), not a fan of the screen, the SSD or the noise. I'll probably toss this one into the pool of notebooks for my staff to use but yeah - overall I get the feeling it's not good enough to be a second-string Z2 for me.

[Pseudorandom]

If you can pay 1200 USD, why do not you purchase the BEST Ultrabook: MacBook Air ?

Almost at every review agrees that Air has better screen, build quality, stability, resolution, etc if you compare it with other Ultrabooks. So I believe its much better to get an Air for 1234 USD.

I do not plan to pay more than 700 USD, so Z835 is the best (and only) Ultrabook for that price.

I don't see how the MBA is the best anymore. The Z830 is significantly lighter and has more ports. Its a tradeoff for the Air.

If build quality and ergonomics are really that important, just get an X220, T420s, or other business ultraportables.

[uniten]

I'm curious - where did this assumption about the Toshiba being less stable (i.e. in terms of lid I presume) come from? The Toshiba has a purposely bendier screen (as with the Z2) but it does 'close with shake' in much the same way as a 11-inch Air, which is more it's equivalent (certainly in terms of weight - the machine weights 1100g vs 1080g of the Air) than the 13-inch.

Overall though - despite the fairly impressive achievements in terms of building an actually business-class machine for this little (I got the i5 model with the unbelievable 'give you your money back' 3-year warranty for ~10% more than a 128Gb 11-inch Air), not a fan of the screen, the SSD or the noise. I'll probably toss this one into the pool of notebooks for my staff to use but yeah - overall I get the feeling it's not good enough to be a second-string Z2 for me.

I think they meant the rumored mac is more stable then windows rather then the lid. But from what notebookcheck wrote I think previous Toshiba models had shaky screens. This one does not. If anything, the shaking is more of a balance issue. This laptop is extremely light and most of its wight is distributed evenly, when you press to 1 side pressure the laptop obviously tilts a little which makes it look like is shaking.

And on a flat surface the fan sticking out on the back doesn't help either.

[hakkan]

But Windows is horrible on it... wonky touchpad drivers, poor battery life... I haven't bootcamped into Win7 for months. I would pay $1200 for 1920x1080... the MBA is only 1440x900... and the keyboard doesn't have the dedicated pg/home/end keys.

I want but do not have a MBA so I am sure you are right. I read almost all ultrabook reviews and most of them says MB-Air is better (stable, faster, etc.) then Windows based Ultrabooks. Its not my personal opinion.

If you want a 1920 x 1080 on 13.3 or 13.1 then as I know the only solution is Vaio-Z series. But as you know they costs almost 2000 USD.

[BigNerd]

@hakkan:

Most of the review sites are Apple users. OSX is great in MBA... but I prefer Windows... which isn't as great on the MBA.

And with the comparable MBA at $1400... $700 for a ubook is pretty good. And compared to the Z, $1200 for Win7 ultrabook with hi-rez display is an auto-buy (that's why I considered the UX31 with 1600x900 but disliked the keyboard and the other problems it has).

[heavyharmonies]

I'm starting to get tired of people saying "just get a macbook air; it's really the only choice." If my OS of choice is Windows, why the hell would I ever want Mac hardware? I spent 12 years using both a Mac and a PC on a daily basis, and there are enough differences in the keyboard that I would NOT want to have to use an Apple keyboard for Windows. Add to that the driver issues, and the Macbook is NOT "the only choice."

Regarding the Vaio Z compared to the Z835, yes the Vaio is a level above. I own both (see sig). It's an amazing piece of equipment... but it's not the same type of device. The Vaio Z is quite a bit heavier, double the thickness, and a well-equipped unit will set you back double to triple the cost of a Toshiba Z835. I don't consider the two comparable.

[uniten]

I want but do not have a MBA so I am sure you are right. I read almost all ultrabook reviews and most of them says MB-Air is better (stable, faster, etc.) then Windows based Ultrabooks. Its not my personal opinion.

If you want a 1920 x 1080 on 13.3 or 13.1 then as I know the only solution is Vaio-Z series. But as you know they costs almost 2000 USD.

Most review sites give their reviews based on what is popular to draw attention, not to mention most of it is aimed at casual users. That said the macbook air is a fine product that has its strength and weaknesses.

Since the AIR is the first biggest consumer adopted ultrabook, a lot of reviews seem to compare current ultrabook weaknesses in comparison to the AIR. I don't see to many reviews comparing the AIR's weaknesses in comparison to say other ultrabooks.

I had my series 9 for 90 days and this laptop for a few days and had no speed or stability issues.

At end of the day, as always get whatever works for you. In my case the AIR just doesn't work out. For others its different, there is no single "best ultrabook". Its a matter of finding the best one for your use.