Toshiba Portege Z835-P330 13.3" Laptop (Intel Core i3-2367M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SATA Solid State Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit)

by Toshiba

• Intel Core i3 2367M Processor 1.3GHz
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 128GB Solid-State Hard Drive
• 13.3-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Toshiba Portege Z830 vs. Asus UX31 March 7, 2012

By Schnel

I actually purchased both the Toshiba Z830 and the Asus UX31 so I could decide for myself which one I liked the best. Both come with a 128GB solid-state hard drive and 4GB RAM. The Asus has an i5 processor while the Toshiba (which costs $100-200 less) has an i3 processor. Here's what I liked and what I didn't like:

Appearance
The Asus with its spiral design is gorgeous. The Toshiba is boring gun-metal gray with sharp corners.
Winner: Asus

Weight
The Asus is heavier than the Toshiba by a half-pound. As a result, the Toshiba's display has some flex to it and will wobble if the laptop is bumped. In the end, however, I can deal with this. That half-pound is something I can really feel when I'm carrying the laptop around.
Winner: Toshiba

Speed
The i5 processor in the Asus easily beats the i3 processor in the Toshiba I purchased. Of course, you always have the option of purchasing a Toshiba online with the faster processor.
Winner: Asus

Touchpad
The Asus I purchased came with a Sentelic touchpad. The latest driver (ver. 9177) stinks and results in the mouse jumping all over the place. I finally had to uninstall it and rely on the built-in Windows 7 touchpad driver (which meant I had to give up gestures like scrolling). Newer versions of the UX31 apparently ship with a far improved Elan touchpad. The touchpad on my Toshiba is significantly smaller with shiny chrome buttons that pick up fingerprints but it's so far superior to the Sentelic in terms of its functionality. Furthermore, there's a button just about the Toshiba touchpad that allows you to enable or disable it.
Winner: Toshiba

Keyboard
Too many times, I found I had to hit keys on the Asus multiple times before I got them to register. Not so on the Toshiba. Furthermore, the Toshiba's keyboard is wider which allows it to have dedicated Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys on the far right. On the Asus, I have to hold down the FN key. Finally, the Toshiba's keyboard is backlit, a very nice touch.
Winner: Toshiba

Display
The Asus has a gorgeous 1600x900 resolution screen. The Toshiba comes with a commonplace 1366x768 display.
Winner: Asus

Ports
The Toshiba has built-in connections for Ethernet, external VGA monitor, and HDMI. The Asus ships with dongles for Ethernet and VGA but requires you to purchase a micro-HDMI adapter separately. Furthermore, the Toshiba has 1 USB3 port and 2 USB2 ports while the Asus only has 1 and 1. Obviously, the Toshiba wins hands down for its plentiful built-in ports.
Winner: Toshiba

AC Adapter
The Asus AC adapter is small and lovingly designed. The Toshiba adapter is bulky and unwieldy by comparison.
Winner: Asus

System indicator lights
The Toshiba has an entire array of useful indicator lights just below the touchpad. The Asus has a couple spread across the keyboard.
Winner: Toshiba

Accessories
The Asus ships with a padded sleeve. The Toshiba doesn't.
Winner: Asus

Heat and Fan Noise
With an updated BIOS in each machine, heat and fan noise was not a problem for me.
Winner: Tie

Speakers
Both sets of speakers are nice and loud, but the Asus Bang & Olufsen speakers sound better.
Winner: Asus

Battery
The Toshiba edged out the Asus by about an hour or so.
Winner: Toshiba

The Toshiba Z830/Z835 is easily my laptop of choice. Granted, it's slower than the Asus, but not noticeably considering how I plan to use it.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the price December 16, 2011

By Aviv

-Only an i3. We don't plan on doing any heavy lifiting on this laptop, as long as it plays Netflix fine, we'll be okay.
-Incredibly light. Almost too light for the size. But solid feeling.
-Keyboard backlight isn't too bright or too dim. Was a big factor for me personally, I want a backlight in my keyboard.
-Keyboard is just about perfect for both of us. It's about as wide as can be. Not too shallow.

Reviews I've seen have mentioned flimsy hinges (not a factor given the way we open and close by default), poor color quality (haven't noticed anything odd, again, main use is just internet browsing/movie watching), slow SSD (as far as I'm concerned it's better than a HDD).

The keyboard on this ultrabook is slightly recessed, you can see it in sideshots. When the lid is closed, it does flex some due to that gap. I don't think it's a big deal but it's definitely something to be aware of.

At night when there's no other noise, the low-pitched hum of the fan *really* gets to me. When I have the fan by my ear, the fan sounds normal, but when it's on my lap, it's just... the pitch or the volume or something is just right to where it annoys me.

To its credit, I haven't yet felt the wristrest/keyboard area get warm.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Might be the best ultrabook in its price range December 21, 2011

By Cory Lidle

I was very close to picking up an ASUS ultrabook that looked amazing before I decided to head over to my local electronics place and try it out for myself. After not being a fan of the ASUS keyboard and trackpad, I decided to try this ultrabook out.

Pros
--The keyboard and trackpad are great. Both components have a really nice feel to them. The backlit keyboard looks very catchy, and gives a nice level of feedback.
--Super lightweight. Very sleek look to it. I LOVE the look and feel.
--Battery life is pretty good for such a tiny system.
--Fast! Although other reviewers have mentioned they aren't doing much heavy-lifting on this ultrabook, and neither am I. I guess if you're crunching huge numbers of datasets, this might not be the unit for you. (To that other reviewer, what does "heavy word-processing" mean? Does that mean having 40 documents open, or typing at 500 words per minute, or what?)
--Has a USB 3.0 port, which is great because it's something like 10x as fast as USB 2.0

Cons
--no optical drive. While software is increasingly available online, this may pose an issue to someone not prepared for this. It is compatible with most external CD/DVD drives.
--"annoying hum" is pretty accurate. The fan is constantly whirring. I usually lay on my bed while browsing, and just breathing moves the ultrabook up/down makes the whirring pitch change, which isn't nice.
--integrated graphics card. That probably sounds neat, but that just means the graphics card is built into the motherboard... which means it's lower-performing. Not great for gamers.
--lacks the neat features that Lenovo offers (laptop "airbag", fingerprint reader, etc)

In general, I still think this is a 5 star item. I love the price and for such a lightweight and tiny laptop, I think Toshiba did a fantastic job. Glad I bought one (and another for my mom).