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13-inch laptops

Sony Vaio Z 13-inch shows up in Europe

Following a few leaks, Sony's new high-end Vaio Z laptop has been announced by the European arm of the Sony Vaio group, a few weeks ahead of its expected American debut.

The 13.3-inch laptop is slim and light, under 17mm thick, but still manages to pack in a full-voltage Intel Core i7 processor (paired with an SSD hard drive). The screen has a 1,600x900-pixel resolution, which is higher than most 13-inch laptops.

But the real interesting part of the new Vaio Z is its docking station. The vertically mounted Power Media Dock not only includes an optical drive and a rarely seen Intel Light Peak port, but also a fully functioning AMD Radeon graphics card, which can be used by the laptop when connected to the dock. Sony, in its European press release, says: … Read more

Toshiba's Editors' Choice Portege R835 available for even less

As it is an excellent update to last year's Toshiba Portege R705 (one of the most popular laptops we reviewed in 2010), it's no surprise we also liked the new Portege R835 model. We just reviewed the $929 R835-P56X, with a fast Intel Core i5 CPU and outstanding battery life, and awarded it a very rare Editors' Choice designation.

And now, just as it did with the R705, retailer Best Buy has just put an exclusive version of the R835 on sale at a steeply discounted price. The Portege R835-P50X is $749 at Best Buy, while Toshiba lists … Read more

Hands-on with the Toshiba Portege R835

One of our most popular reviews last year was of the 13-inch Toshiba Portege R705, a slim high-end laptop that managed to pack in a solid set of components for around $800. It became one of my go-to recommendations for people who liked the look and feel of MacBooks, but wanted to either spend a few hundred dollars less, or had to stay on Windows.

But in 2011, the still-popular system was hampered by being stuck on Intel's previous processor platform, while newer laptops moved to the latest Core i-series Sandy Bridge chips, which offered both outstanding performance and … Read more

Toshiba adds Sandy Bridge to the Portege R800

Sandy Bridge processors in laptops still haven't been seen yet, but we can start putting together a wish list of laptops we'd most like to see with the updated Intel Core i-series CPUs. The Toshiba Portege R instantly rises to the top of that list. The Portege R705 was one of our top-rated laptops of 2010, and at MWC in Barcelona, Spain, Toshiba has unveiled the next generation of these laptops, the R800 series.

The Portege R830, as it's being called in Europe, corresponds directly with the 13-inch R700 line we loved so much. The big changes come under the hood: the Sandy Bridge CPUs should add greatly improved integrated graphics, a missing feature in the R700 line. In addition, a newly engineered air-flow cooling system detailed by Toshiba could help run operations with a little less heat. … Read more

The $599 question: Is the Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 enough computer for the money?

Back when thin-and-light laptops were all the rage in 2009, a surprise contender for the most affordable thin 13-inch laptop came from Toshiba. The Satellite T135, an optical drive-free laptop with an Intel Pentium or AMD Neo dual-core CPU, managed to provide exactly the sort of computing power that most Netbooks lack. For everything from video streaming to general office work, it was more than adequate. It wasn't as cheap as a Netbook, but it wasn't as expensive as many thin laptops, either.

Toshiba's update, the Satellite T235, is much like its predecessor in many ways--perhaps in … Read more

Intel targets laptop Holy Grail with Core ULV chips

New Core i3, i5, and i7 ultralow-voltage processors have officially been announced by Intel. Consuming less power than standard-voltage Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, they're also slightly less powerful. We saw a similar move last year with Core 2 Duo ULV chips such as the SU7300, which wasn't as fast as a standard Core 2 Duo, but helped smaller laptops attain a higher battery life. We saw that processor in laptops ranging from the Alienware M11x to the 13-inch Lenovo ThinkPad Edge.

Though the spin on the news so far has emphasized "ultrathin" laptops, it'… Read more

Toshiba readying world's thinnest, lightest 13-inch laptop?

Thin-and-light laptops were a major trend in 2009, but is that still the case in 2010? A recently circulating series of photos from Vietnamese tech Web site vozExpress show what looks like a soon-to-be-announced Toshiba laptop, one that promises to be both the thinnest and lightest 13-incher on the market. Based on the corner we can see, it certainly looks attractive. As to whether it's truly useful remains to be seen.

We've gone down this road before with the Dell Adamo, MacBook Air, MSI X340, and the Dell Adamo XPS. Being extremely thin and light can be attractive … Read more