Toshiba prices up Portégé Ultrabook
Pro, consumer models on offer
Toshiba's first Ultrabook - the Portégé Z830; see our eyes-on, launched during September's IFA consumer electronics show - will finally go on sale this month.
The skinny machine will come with a choice of low-voltage Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, up to 6GB of DDR 3 memory, Intel's integrated HD GMA 3000 graphics core, and a 128GB solid-state drive.
Your £1078-1319 (depending on spec) inc VAT outlay will get you 2.4GHz/5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet and a 1.3Mp webcam.
So far, so like any other 13in laptop. No, the Z830's real stand-out feature is its 8.3-15.9mm thickness and 1.12kg weight.
The claimed battery is a reasonable eight hours.
Toshiba will also release a consumer-centric version, the Satellite Z830, which comes in at £899 or £999, depending on whether you want an i3-2367M CPU and 4GB of Ram, or an i5-2467M and 6GB of memory. ®
COMMENTS
Close but still worse than it's main competitor
Yes, it's lovely, lovely, lovely.. yet it's screen still doesn't match up to the MacBook Air's 1440x900... who did they think the competition was with, Packard Bell? This machine costs a grand for goodness sake.
With a forced widescreen aspect then the important bit is the vertical resolution and 768 looks pretty poor compared to the 900 of the Air.
er, yes, it is less weight
"sure, its slightly "thinner" but not really less weight..."
Er, yes, it's less weight. The SA weighs 1.61kg, or nearly half as much again as this.
To get a Vaio in the same weight class you need to go to the 2011 Z, which weighs 1.17kg, nearly exactly the same. It's a lot more powerful than Ultrabooks, but costs just about exactly twice as much.
compare this with Sony Vaio VPC SA***** models and it looks really old
sure, its slightly "thinner" but not really less weight...
With the VAIO, you get a real computer, not some stinky glorified netbook with crummy resolution and intel graphics...
On Sony's 'SA' models, you get a bright, non-reflective 1600x900 screen with extended color space,
an internal optical drive of your choice,
an i5 or i7 processor with integrated HD3000
and a switchable AMD HD 6630M GPU, which is within a few FPS of an Nvidia GT540M.
lastly, your choice of 750GB drive or dual solid state drives up to 1GB total.
Excellent backlit keyboard as well.
Now thats a real computer without having to carry more...
So far, Ultrabooks look like sorry excuses for a real computer, made for people who buy computers based on fashion and the hope to impress people by being on the latest Apple fad...
Of course, if you only browse and skype and nothing else, I guess an overpriced low resolution, skimpy but skinny portable typewriter is all you need. Seems like you could just buy a little bluetooth keyboard for your mobile phone and save yourself the whole hassle of yet another device.
iPhone 4S (I genuinely like this phone)
16Gb - £499
32Gb - £599
64Gb - £699
Now since everything else is constant between these models we can say that you're paying £200 for 48Gb of Flash memory.
Hey Sean....
I've got some killer USB sticks for you at a very reasonable price.
