TOSHIBA Portege Z830 Battery |
Posted: January 25, 2015 |
Toshiba made the decision to use the new "Fusion" finish on the keyboard keys and this gives the keyboard on the U405 a distinctly smooth feel. The key texture is almost like a thick automotive paint with multiple layers of clear coat and wax. That’s not to say the keys feel waxy but rather the keys feel obscenely sexy. Key presses are smooth, perfectly deep, well cushioned and quiet. The entire keyboard has almost no flex and remains firm even when significant pressure is applied. The glossy surface of the keyboard is a magnet of fingerprints and shows smudges from the oils in your skin, but this is a minor annoyance when the keyboard feels this good.The touchpad surface on the U405 is quite simply one of the nicest I have ever used. The surface is flush with the palmrests but there is a light application of what feels almost like soft sandpaper over the surface. "Soft sandpaper" might not sound enjoyable, but I assure you that your fingertips will glide across the surface and the cursor movement is both fluid and accurate. Toshiba even included a white LED backlight above the touchpad that not only looks cool but helps you locate the touchpad quickly in a darkly lit room. The audio performance on the U405 was a little better than average for a 13.3" notebook, but it was far from impressive. Both of the small speakers located above the keyboard produce a slightly "tin can" sound quality with plenty of highs but only acceptable levels of mid range and absolutely no bass. On the bright side, the speaker volume gets very loud with minimal distortion and both speakers are located in a good position to direct sound up and toward the user. Unfortunately, you will still want to use headphones or external speakers if you are an audiophile. On that note it’s worthwhile to mention that the audio out port on the U405 is located on the left side (a good location for an external speaker connection) and audio output was clean (there was no static or cracking in the sound coming from the headphone jack).Toshiba chose to offer the U400/U405 series in a range of configurations starting with the Intel Pentium Dual-core T2370 (1.73GHz) and up to the Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz) processor. While the entry-level Pentium dual core system with its 1MB of L2 cache and 533MHz frontside bus still provides reasonable performance under Vista, it’s good to know that the Core 2 Duo Penryn processor (T8100 or T8300 both with 3MB L2, 800MHz FSB) is an option for people who need faster multimedia encoding or image editing. The 2.1GHz Intel T8100 processor in our configuration provided a fast and flawless computing experience and surprisingly good battery life (more on that later). Build quality is above average for consumer notebooks although the thin design does have some weaknesses with the strength of the screen frame and cover. The screen cover flexed under moderate pressure but still protected the screen from distortion unless you gripped it very hard. The bezel around the screen on the inside of the notebook seemed to be warped but was only noticed since the mirror-like finish made reflections look distorted. The keyboard and palmrest showed only mild flex under strong pressure. Compared to the last Best Buy-exclusive notebook we reviewed-the Satellite E105-the E205 is a huge improvement in quality and design. The Intel Wi-Di technology does have a few limitations at this time. Wi-Di currently only supports streaming 1280×720 video and has restrictions on how the wireless display is setup. You are basically limited to a cloned display only, which is probably a good thing with the amount of lag the interface has. In testing we found that video and audio displayed through the Wi-Di connection were running about one or two seconds behind what was being displayed locally on the notebook. This doesn’t mean the video or audio was out of sync, just that the Wi-Di receiver uses a large buffer. For watching HD video from the computer or streaming PowerPoint presentations this won’t be a problem … but forget about using it for gaming. Even trying to accomplish basic tasks such as surfing the web over the Wi-Di connection was intolerable unless you were viewing the notebook screen. The screen lid on our review unit features the “Fusion Chrome Finish in Gemini Black” but Toshiba also offers this notebook with a red lid. Despite the fragility of the finish and the thin chassis design, the overall build quality of the T235-series notebooks is very nice. Unlike some of the thin-and-light notebooks we’ve reviewed from other companies, flex and plastic squeaks are kept to a minimum on the T235D. The screen cover feels durable and doesn’t suffer from much flex under pressure, although plastics used on the screen lid are prone to scratches. In short, while the overall structure of the T235D is sound, the glossy exterior of the notebook might not hold up to typical use and abuse inside a school backpack or an office briefcase. Even if the glossy finish on the body withstands most scratches you’ll need to constantly clean off fingerprints and smudges if you want to keep your laptop looking new.
If you’re interested in upgrading the internal components on your T235D you’ll be happy to learn that the system memory and hard drive are easy to locate beneath a single cover plate on the bottom of the notebook. Toshiba even makes upgrades easier by using a single screw to secure the access panel. Remove that one Phillips head screw and you’ll have access to the hard drive and RAM. We were a little upset that access to the wireless cards isn’t as simple. However, given the low purchase price and the target audience, it’s unlikely that T235 owners will bother trying to swap wireless cards. No warranty void if removed stickers were found anywhere, so it should be safe to swap out basic components without risking your warranty coverage. On that note, Toshiba provides a standard one-year parts and labor warranty as well as a one-year warranty on the battery. Of course, the mirror-like reflections on the Fusion finish have some advantages as well. You can use the laptop to reflect the sun and signal rescue planes if you are ever lost in the woods with your laptop. The LCD lid also comes in handy if you need a mirror for your morning shave. The Toshiba Tecra M8, like the Toshiba Satellite U300/U305 series, is a new 13.3" widescreen business notebook packing solid Intel Core 2 Duo performance in a relatively thin and light form factor. Add to that a thin integrated DVD SuperMulti drive, webcam, and fingerprint reader and this notebook starts looking even better. Toshiba calls the new M8 "a feature-rich fusion of mobility, performance and value" … but is the M8 worthy of such praise? As with many Toshiba notebooks, the M8 is configurable with your choice of hard drives including 80GB (5400RPM), 120GB (5400RPM), 160GB (5400RPM) and the very slow 200GB (4200RPM) drives. Although the 200GB hard drive option is attractive for people who need enough storage space for music, encoded videos, and photos, the 160GB still provides plenty of space and is a much faster drive. The PCMark05 benchmarks and HDTune results below show the difference a faster hard drive can make. The Toshiba U305 has an almost identical configuration but features the slower 200GB (4200RPM) hard drive.The M8 does an excellent job of controlling internal heat thanks in no small part to the massive copper heatsink visible through the air vent on the left side of the notebook. CPU temperatures peaked at no more than 54 degrees Celsius during benchmarks and hard drive temperatures averaged around 43 degrees Celsius. The palm rests never became too hot during our tests and the left palm rest spiked at no more than 91 degrees Fahrenheit. The bottom of the notebook remained reasonably cool despite the large warning sticker on the bottom of the notebook advising you to use caution when keeping the notebook on your lap. The memory expansion bay spiked at 108 degrees Fahrenheit during benchmarking. While the notebook got warm, it was never too hot to keep on the lap. The audio performance on the M8 was average for a thin and light 13.3" notebook, but it was far from impressive. Both of the small speakers located above the keyboard produce a "tin can" sound quality with plenty of highs but almost no mid range and absolutely no bass. On the bright side, the speakers are located in a good position to direct sound up and toward the user. The sound quality is perfectly fine for listening to business webcasts. Unfortunately, you will still want to use headphones or external speakers if you care about sound quality.
On that note it’s worthwhile to mention that the audio out port on the M8 is located on the left side (a good location for an external speaker connection) and audio output was clean (there was no static or cracking in the sound coming from the headphone jack).The keyboard on the M8 was a welcome improvement over the keyboard on the U305. The keys have a good texture with excellent cushion and travel. The keys are very silent in operation and there are dedicated page up and page down keys (nice to have on a compact keyboard). While the U305 keyboard has a significant degree of keyboard flex across the board, the M8 keyboard was remarkably firm. There was almost no flex … amazing for a notebook this thin and light. The touchpad was responsive and felt durable, but the recessed edges actually made the touchpad feel smaller than it already is. Unfortunately, the touchpad buttons on the M8 are quite bad. The buttons have almost no feedback and are not responsive at all. Not only are they uncomfortable to press because of the shallow feedback but I often had to press the touchpad buttons several times before a click was registered. On a positive note, the one-touch fingerprint reader does a wonderful job reading fingerprints without accidentally being triggered when you use the touchpad buttons. Once the fingerprint reader was set with my fingerprint and passwords all I needed to do was swipe my fingertip over the reader whenever an application or website asked for a password … a nice feature if you have multiple passwords.The M8 includes three additional buttons located above the keyboard. These include the power button, Toshiba Assist, and Presentation buttons. Toshiba Assist is essentially a glorified help application while the Presentation button is actually a useful button that allows you to quickly switch between the notebook LCD and a projector for business presentations. Although these buttons are a nice addition, media buttons are curiously absent from the M8. Sure, the M8 is a business notebook but it would have been nice to include CD/DVD control buttons.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|