TechRadar Verdict
Pros
- +
Light and slim
- +
Good keyboard and touchpad
- +
Impressive speakers
- +
Good performance
- +
Plenty of connectivity
Cons
- -
Flimsy screen
- -
Too much bloatware
- -
Boxy design
- -
Quite pricey
- -
Matt screen will disappoint some
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If you wanted a stylishly light and powerful Toshiba laptop, you would immediately look to the Japanese company's Portege R830. That is, until you came across the Toshiba Satellite Z830-10U, priced at £999 in the UK (the US price isn't yet available).
Toshiba's shiny entry into the ultrabook market will go up against the likes of the Acer Aspire S3 and the Asus Zenbook UX21.
These super light and thin laptops are already among us, and are aiming to take some of the limelight away from the Apple MacBook Air. Helped by chip manufacturer Intel, which laid out very specific price and performance requirements for manufacturers, the Ultrabook is set to become a common sight in 2012.
At its thickest point, the Satellite Z830-10U measures only 16mm across, but Toshiba has still packed in Sandy Bridge power and given us one of the best trackpads we've yet seen on an ultrabook. It's not without niggles, however, and we found parts of the chassis to be inferior to stronger machines such as the Asus Zenbook and the MacBook Air.
The 13.3-inch Satellite Z830-10U is truly an ultrabook for the road. Giving us not only the lightest chassis we've yet seen, but also an excellent battery life, this could be the answer for frequent travellers who need a long-lasting machine full of performance for under £1,000.
Although this has the same 128GB solid state drive (SSD) that we've seen elsewhere, it offers better connectivity than other ultrabooks currently on the market. In what could quickly become its main selling point, the Toshiba Satellite Z830-10U gives you three USB ports, of which one is USB 3.0, and an Ethernet connection - the only ultrabook to do so.
We enjoyed our time with the Toshiba Satellite Z830-10U and looked past a couple of irritating points to find that it is certainly one of the ultrabooks you should be considering.
It sits alongside cheaper brother the Toshiba Satellite Z830-10T, which costs £899 in the UK or $849 in the US, while Toshiba's Portégé Z830 offers another ultrabook choice.
