Z830

The only way the new Ultrabook laptop category can top the MacBook Air is to get cheap fast. But that won't necessarily be easy, according to an IDC analyst.

Ultrabooks--for the uninitiated--are very light, very thin Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air. The core hardware includes Intel second-generation "Sandy Bridge" processors and solid-state drives. One of the best examples is the 13-inch Toshiba Portege Z830.

The Z830 has a magnesium alloy case, weighs about 2.5 pounds, and is 0.63 inches thick. Toshiba claims it will sell for less than $1,000.

By comparison, … Read more

Amid all the laptop news this week, much of it coming out of the IFA show, there were a few announcements that especially stood out: two major PC makers unveiled their entries in the new (and untested) Ultrabook category. Even better, we got a change to get our hands on working demo units of both models, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s and the Toshiba Portege Z830. Those two new models join previously announced Ultrabooks such as the Asus UX21.

The Toshiba Portege Z830 has a strong lineage as a successor of sorts to the very popular Portege R835, which is one … Read more

It's a big week for laptops, thanks to the IFA going on in Europe right now, and Toshiba's addition is the Portege Z830 series. Toshiba says the system is part of Intel's new ultrabook platform, and at first glance it shares some common traits with the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s we saw earlier in the week.

The Portege Z830 has a magnesium alloy case and weighs around 2.5 pounds and is 0.6 inches thick -- Toshiba says that's about 20-percent lighter and 40-percent thinner than the Portege R835, which is one of our favorite current … Read more