New Portege Z830

Why aren't any of them listed with 6gb RAM?

 

I would wait for the US site to launch. They could have different specs.

This is the site to check: http://us.toshiba.com/z830/

 

What I meant is you can upgrade the non-soldered one... the slot memory.

Seems strange they would solder 2gb and then put 2gb in the slot. And since Toshiba says 6gb max, I don't think the slot can take an 8gb.

 

Thank you for the video. This is a great news. At least the Toshiba can be maxed out to 10GB unlike the Asus which has soldered 4GB on the board.

I still do not understand why they soldered 2GB on board. Wouldn't it be cheaper to have two slots and just put 4GB in one and leave the other empty.

 

Since I want a matte screen, this laptop is really looking nice. I especially like the ease at which it can be disassembled for upgrades.

I am curious:

1) Why do some manufacturers offset the track pad (aka it is not in the center of the laptop)?

2) I wonder if Toshiba tests their products with a Geiger Counter before they leave the factory? Considering that components come from so many areas of Japan, that is a real concern. I am hoping that the back-lit keyboard is hooked up to a source of electrical power !

 

What type is the ssd? 6gb/s?

 

Whenever one you guys upgrade the RAM on this thing, I'd love a video to see exactly how to do it, I've upgraded desktops, but never a laptop.

 

It's pretty straight forward. You unscrew the bottom and remove the memory from the slot and pop in the new one.

 

Is it easy to do a clean install in toshiba laptops? I never owned one. Their driver site is pretty confusing. Hope this one turns out good cause i ll get it.

 

Does anyone know what type of SSD Toshiba will use in Z830? Is it SATA III?

I can only see 128GB options, do you think they will offer 256GB?

 

No one seems to know for sure yet but I think it will be SATA II and that there will be a 256GB SSD on the core i7 (saw the latter mentioned somewhere...).

 

Why do you think it will be SATA II (@ 3gb/s)? All others (Asus and Apple) are capable of handling SATA III.

 

It will definatly be SATA3. Why? Because it has usb3.

 

Huh? There's no relation to USB3 and the SSD they actually install -- it could be SATA II or SATA III (if it's capable).

 

Because vendors are not generally putting SATA III SSDs in the laptops (as they want to keep the costs down). The only confirmed Ultrabook is Asus.

I'm not saying that they're not capable of handling SATA III SSDs.

 

Was wondering that myself, they are known for a lot of bloatware from what I've seen, and I imagine a laptop like this will have several custom drivers.

 

I misread. I was talking about the connection. Yeah, the ssd will probably be sata2 to keep costs down. My guess, the ones macbook airs are using. Lets hope we are both wrong.

 

that is exactly what I meant. the syntax on mine is indeed a mess.

Im going to believe that it can take a 8gb so dimm in there, unless there are chipset or the memory controller in the cpu is going to be the limitation

 

Why would they limit it? No benefit can be justified.

 

I was waiting for the UX31 final build and was hoping for a added backlit keyboard which is important to me because I need it and have always wanted one. Now I'm looking at the Toshiba Z830 or a Macbook Air.

I have a few questions.

Do you get less eye strain and a brighter screen with a matte finish and do you get bad viewing angles like with a projection TV?

Is their a big difference in HD quality videos if the Toshiba resolution stays the same compared to the resolution of the Air or will the benefit of the matte screen help?

Should I wait for the Ivy Bridge or are we talking the middle of next year?

I'm not familiar with OSX on Macs but I fiddled with them and I pickup things pretty quick. I know the Toshiba is not out yet but which way would you go?

If their are other options available that I'm not aware of, here are the typical ultra book specs I would like. Quality screen with good resolution and good HD quality playback, backlit keyboard, 128gb-256gb SSD, i5-i7 processor, 4gb-8gb ram, ultra light 13"-14" and 15" would be awesome, 1,000 to maybe $1,400. I'm guessing all the machines will be capable of HDMI output and I know the Air doesn't have USB 3.0.

The Samsung Series 9 looked like my dream machine, to bad the WIFI and other issues plagued it.

 

I think UX31 is the best Ultraportable if we compare it with the others (Macbook Air, U300s, Z830, etc).

It has higher resolution; 1600 x 900 (very important !),
It has matte display,
It has a very fast SSD, (compared to others),
It has very bright display (400 nit),
Overally its very fast and you can get it from bestbuy for 1.049 USD.

I believe that Z830 will be more expensive than EX31 and it do not have any of the those I listed.

So, If I were you, go and get an UX31 now.

 

The UX31 and the Z830 both have their advantages.

The Z830 has a backlit keyboard (which many of us want).

The Z830 has dedicated Home and End keys (which many of us want).

The Z830 has actual left and right keypad/mouse buttons (which many of us prefer).

The Z830 has full sized HDMI and Ethernet ports (no adapters needed).

The Z830 is lighter (weight).

Etc...

 

The UX31 does NOT have a matte display, which is a deal breaker for me.

 

Yea, the matte display makes it for me. I'd learn not to use the left/right buttons on the UX31 if it had matte.

 

When will the first ultrabook be available with I7, 8g, <3lbs? (Other than Samsung 9 which I had and took back.)

 

And the Z830 has a legacy VGA port which some of us still use.

Which makes me wonder... can it drive video to both the HDMI and VGA? I doubt it, but that would be cool.

 

the chipset and the gpu allows that, its only a question if Toshiba made that possible.

 

Can someone answer my questions on page 7?

 

All these answers are my own opinion as the z830 has NOT been released yet. I also have no plans on buying a z830; don't need it.


1. Matte screen is praised by many because it does not have the same glare issues that a glossy screen has; can be viewed in sunlight, etc... As for angles, I don't know. I would expect good viewing angles [within reason]. However, since it has not yet been released no one actually knows.

2. Yes, there will be a difference [as for big I don't know], since the z830 has an actual 720p screen [thus not 1080p nor 900p]. Personally, I'm ok with it since it's a 13" screen [my mom's 13" SONY-S w/ matte screen looks great]. Others might have a problem; personal preference here.

3. Want Ivy Bridge? Sure you can wait. First Ivy Bridges come out April of 2012.

4. Go whatever way you feel comfortable with. If your comfortable with Windows 7, then you'll be fine. If your worried about "bloatware" you can do a clean install, or you can walk into any Microsoft Store, and they will perform a clean install for you free of charge.



Good luck

 

alexmuw

You seem to be very informed so I would like to ask couple of questions.

Will the Z830 have SATA III enabled? I was just browsing through older posts and found that the R830 does not have SATA III enabled and people are kind of angry about it. Has Toshiba addressed the R830 SATA III issue?

I think in many ways the Z830 will be very similar to the R830 and that is why I asked that question.

PS
My apologies for asking the same SATA III question again but it is really hard to find information.

 

Hey mz/x,

You are correct, the current r830 does have SATA-III disabled [why I have no idea, really lame on Toshibas part]. Speculation has it that Toshiba can re-enable the SATA-III support with a BIOS upgrade.

Here's a thread form Toshiba forums highlighting the problem. Also many threads in the Toshiba forums that also discuss this:
R835 - Limited to SATA II Transfer Rate (3 Gb/s) -... - Toshiba Forums

Here's a link I saw that looked promising: R835-P56X?i can use SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) Now - Toshiba Forums



Also, it was pointed out on the Toshiba forums that the z830 may have SATA-III support since it will be launched with a SSD drive. However, we still will not know until it launches.


Thank you for bringing this to our attention mz/x.


Good luck

 

alexmuw,
I think the reason why Toshiba did not enable SATA III is because all of the Toshiba made SSDs are still at SATA II. (I am just speculating here) I went to the Toshiba website and did not find one Toshiba SSD that is SATA III.

I think it is simple paranoia from Toshiba and I am afraid they would do the same with the Z830.

One more question, has anyone put more than 8GB RAM into the R830/835? I hope they did not limit this as well.

 

I would assume each ram-slot can hold a max of 4 GB; my Qosmio has this limitation [2 slots, 8 GB max]. However, this is an assumption and we won;t know until November.

 

alexmuw
Thanks for the answer. I guess we have to keep an eye on these two. It would be a shame if Toshiba would do these limitations.

 

Considering their own specs say 6GB max, and we know that 2GB is soldered on... I think the assumption of only up to 4GB in the slot is safe.

At least you can expand on the Z830, you are maxed out at 4GB on the ASUS UX series (and I believe the Acer S3).

 

What I was wondering whether the max RAM will be limited in the bios to 6GB. I know that many other makers have similar claims for example the Lenovo X220 specs indicate 8GB but in reality people successfully installed 16GB.

Since we know that there are 8GB modules I was wondering whether Toshiba would limit it to 6GB or allow it to go beyond (in the bios).

My other concern is the SATA III ....

 

Ok I found this video of a Z830 vs an 11" current model Air Toshiba Z830 Ultrabook Vs Apple's MacBook Air - YouTube . It could well be video recording angles but the Airs screen looks much more vivid with vibrant colors compared to the washed out Z830.

I've noticed this with Apple products vs company's with higher end specs. For example the iPhone 4g has a retina display and lower megapixel camera compared to the Samsung Galaxy S which boasted it had a better screen with higher megapixel camera. The quality of the videos, pictures and phone display in the same exact setting looked much better on the iPhone, why?

 

Reality Distortion Field?

But seriously, I don't think anyone doubts the quality of Apple products (well... anti-Apple fans do)... it's just the price (although that is somewhat arguable now that everyone is trying to match their products).

 

The Apple laptops are great but they are designed to run OSX. Not sure why people keep talking about the MacBook Air in this forum. Suggest we focus on Wintel options.

Thanks

 

I'm just looking for the best Ultra Book with a backlit keyboard and the Air is one of the choices.

I was also baffled on how Apple products with lower end specs out perform other company's products with higher specs like my Samsung example with the Galaxy. Samsung should put out quality products that match their specs and should overcome Apple by now, but they just released a flawed Series 9. What is it, bad quality control with low end parts claiming to have high end specs?

Like you said, I don't know anything about Apples OSX which is holding me back and waiting for an Air competitor. Plus missing keys,single button touch pads and mouses, all new to me.

 

Not only does the z830 have a full HDMI port but the microHDMI port on the UX31 is limited to only 1900x1080, so no luck hooking it up to a 24" or larger monitor.

 

I had a dream last night about this laptop... I can't wait till it's out. Then again, I might wait till there are other ultrabooks with fingerprint readers.

 

Hadn't heard that. Is that a limitation of the UX31 because I don't think it's a micro HDMI limitation (as I used to hook my micro HDMI connection on my Samsung up to my 42" plasma)?

 

I hope your Italian hasn't gotten rusty:
Portg Z830 e Aspire S3: i primi due ultrabook a confronto - Tom's Hardware

Looks like they speak very favorably of the z830. The screen is bright and reflection free, the color space is decent, the keyboard and trackpad are a pleasure to use (cough cough asus cough). In terms of negatives, they did mention the HDD was smaller size. Also, all the connectors being on the back they thought was a bit of a pain, but I actually prefer this.

 

Not sure if it's a limitation of micro HDMI. But your 42" plasma doesn't go as high in resolution as a 16:10 24" monitor (1900x1200) so even if you had the limitation you wouldn't have noticed it on that T.V.

 

You're right about the TV but I also attached the Samsung's Micro HDMI to one of my ASUS 24" monitors (1920x1200). It worked fine.

EDIT: As I don't have the S9 anymore, I cannot confirm that I got that full resolution though...

 

In that case yes it is a limitation of the UX31.

 

You are aware that the Samsung Galaxy S has same megapixel count as the iphone 4? both of them have 5mp...the one that has the higher megapixel count is the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy S2 camera is way better (but to note megapixels != quality).

In the case of the original Galaxy S, you want to use a different camera then the one that comes with the phone. If you look the Galaxy S pictures are 2x smaller filesize then the iphone 4. Effectively, the Galaxy S is compressing the pictures to save space.

As for the display, the original Galaxy S display is pentile so it looses some clarity there, and iphone 4 has more dpi. But it has other advantages such as better contrast, faster response time and faster refresh rate. So it depends what your doing, for reading text Retina is better, for playing high action games or high action movies/sports super amoled is better.

------

so how long till the toshiba finally lands...:/

 

Portege z830 BIOS added to Toshiba Support page on 10/31.

ACPI Flash BIOS version 1.30 for Portege Z830/Z835 (PT224U/PT225U)
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/modelContent.jsp?origin=new&ct=SB


Hopefully a sign the z830 will be launching very soon.

 

Toshiba Z830 is showing up on the Best Buy Canada website. The price is CAD $899.99. Availability in warehouses is 2 December 2011.