Toshiba Portege Z835: A New Ultrabook Appears
by Dustin Sklavos on November 16, 2011 2:50 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Intel
- Toshiba
- Sandy Bridge
- Ultrabook
Unfortunately the Display is Dire
To look at it, you wouldn't think the Toshiba Portege Z830's 13.3" display is of particularly poor quality. Even though the panel is glossy and the 1366x768 resolution remains a thorn in the side of consumers everywhere, the gloss isn't particularly obtrusive, and the resolution doesn't look too bad on a screen this size. Yet when we subject it to actual testing, things take a major turn for the worse.
The ASUS Zenbook may have a hard time with black levels, but at least the color gamut and accuracy are worlds better than the Z830. None of these notebooks we've tested are particularly big winners here, but it's stunning just how poor the Z830 turns out to be.
Thankfully viewing angles aren't completely awful. Using the Z830, I found that its panel didn't have the major "sweet spot" issues that can occur with low quality TN panels (particularly smaller ones) in notebooks, where there's just no good angle to really look at the screen without substantially washing part of the image out. It's still a pretty lousy screen, but it'll get the job done at least.
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Meegulthwarp - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
1st page, 3rd paragraph. Is Turbo Boosy the drunk abusive cousin of Turbo Boost? Cuz I rather quite like the name.ciparis - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
+1JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
That's what I get for editing in the engine. Though I'm not sure how I hit the "y" instead of "t" given I have a split keyboard. Probably being bad and typing with one hand or something.Neptunian - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
192:1 contrast ratio and 40% of AdobeRGB ? Even my 12 year old eizo has better display quality.Also I don't get their obsession with the hideous sticker spammed all over the keyboard. Why is it only Apple that gets it?
gorash - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
They probably get paid some money to put stickers on there.JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Apple doesn't do co-branding, ever. If you buy a Mac, it's all about Apple and you don't need to know whether it has an Intel or Motorola CPU, an ATI or NVIDIA GPU, or any other details. You also shouldn't know whether the SSD is a decent quality Samsung a much slower and lower quality Toshiba. And for all of that, you get to pay a price premium.At least Apple knows how to select a good quality LCD and build everything well, but again, that's part of the price premium. The interesting thing is that Intel defines a price to qualify as an ultrabook, and everyone cuts corners to get there and thus kills the screen quality. And in this instance, build quality as well.
Kougar - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I am definitely sure "Turbo Boosy" exacerbates the issue!Not a bad ultrabook (if one can get past that cheap display), but I like the battery life on the Zenbook UX31 better. I'd can't stress enough that I'm willing to have a heavier machine if it meant more battery capacity... one criteria most ultrabooks aren't meeting. Regular laptops which have the room, or in some cases the battery capacity just fail to meet any of the criteria an ultrabook excels in.
Notebook vendors are still swinging and missing that niche market...
frozentundra123456 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Honestly, I would prefer the dm1z at half the price. Saw it in best buy a long time ago, but it appears to have disappeared off the shelves.And it seems there is a dearth of netbook size devices using the E350, which seems an ideal chip for a small portable. At least in retail stores around here, what I see is Atom netbooks and E350 15.6 in laptops. Seems a mismatch for both. Why would anyone want atom over the E350 in a netbook, and if I am going to get a 15.6 in "full size" laptop, I either want Llano for the graphics and decent CPU performance, or an Intel i3 or i5 for better CPU performance.
MrSpadge - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Go for the Thinkpad X121e instead. With TPFanControl it's nicely quiet and the only negative point is the horrible touchpad (can't really click with it). Otherwise it's almost perfect for such a small machine (can't expect a good screen at that price point).MrS
86waterpumper - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Since some think that 1600 is too large a resolution for 13 inch, and alot seem to agree that what most of them have now is pretty lame, why can't more of these ultrabooks have the same screen as the mackbook air, which has a 1440 x 900 resolution?