Toshiba Z830 Ultrabook hands-on preview: what the experts think

The Toshiba Portegé Z830 Ultrabook caused some serious waves at the recent IFA 2011 technology show in Berlin, with the world's leading technology writers queueing up to get see – and play with – Toshiba's super-slim new laptop. Let's take a look at what the experts had to say, as we check out a selction of Toshiba Z830 Ultrabook hands-on previews.

There's no question that the biggest attraction of the Toshiba Portegé Z830 is its size. To meet Intel's Ultrabook specifications, a laptop needs to be under 21mm thick, yet the Z830 comes in at an incredibly slender 15.9mm and weighs just 1.12kg.

Given such extreme dimensions, the natural fear would be that the Z830 would be fragile or flimsy, but PC Pro's Sasha Muller was quick to dismiss any such concerns: “Despite that headline-grabbing weight, the internal honeycomb structure allows it to feel unusually burly. Given its millimetre-thick stature, we could barely coax any flex out of the Z830’s base.”

He also dismissed notions that Toshiba had compromised on connectivity in its quest to keep particularly the weight down: “we initially assumed that Toshiba had been forced to compromise on connectivity; not so. Somehow Toshiba’s engineers have managed to squeeze in a comprehensive selection at the rear.”

Techradar's James Stables was equally amazed by the Portegé's strength given its slim shell: “it felt liberatingly weightless in the hand, much like picking up a large tablet, and despite Toshiba slimming down the ultrabook to mere skin and bone, there was little flex in the lid or keyboard.”

And in the all-important battle against its ultra-portable rivals, he argued that its connectivity strength could play a decisive role: “This will be extremely attractive to business users.”

Seth Barton of Expert Reviews argued that Toshiba has every right to boast about the Portegé Z830, as designing anything even more compact won't be easy. “Undercutting the Z830 will come with its drawbacks,” he wrote. “Any thinner design will have to resort to clever design such as hinged ports behind flaps.”

And for a verdict, he delivered a neat summary of the state of play in the Ultrabook market in these very early days: “we particularly like that Toshiba hasn't made compromises for the sake of a slender design, and if the pricing is right this could be a very strong contender for our favourite Ultrabook.”

What are your own first impressions of the Toshiba Portegé Z830 from what you've read so far? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know.

And while we're waiting for the Z830 to launch here in the UK, why not head over to the Toshiba UK website to find out more about the current Portegé range and what it offers?