Nearly physically identical to the R700, the new models add current-gen Intel CPUs,
along with USB 3.0, while keeping the same magnesium alloy chassis and thin,
lightweight design. The biggest surprise is the vastly improved battery life,
topping 7 hours, and beating even the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
A few different
configurations include or exclude Bluetooth or Intel's Wireless Display
technology, or drop to a slower Core i3 processor, so check the features list
carefully, especially as the price difference between most configs is only
about $30.
Much like last
year's R700 series, the R835 has a subtle dark blue tint to its brushed-metal
magnesium alloy chassis. The body feels sturdy despite its light weight, but
this is not nearly as thin as Samsung's Series 9 or the MacBook Air--both of
which are much more expensive. Sadly, this new version keeps the one visual
element we disliked last time: the overly chromed screen hinges, which just
look cheap.
The keyboard, like
most current consumer laptop keyboards, uses flat, widely spaced island-style
keys, except these keys are slightly more rectangular than most, which may
throw off touch typists. This does, however, leave more room for the oversize
touch pad, which is close to what you'd see on a MacBook, except with a pair of
large standalone left and right mouse buttons.
Toshiba's keyboards
typically have a vertical row of dedicated page-up, page-down, home, and end
keys along the right side. This makes them easy to find, but at the same time
pushes the Enter and Right Shift keys in from where you'd instinctively expect them
to be. Media control buttons, volume, mute, etc., can also be hard to find,
relegated to alternate F-key assignments and indicated on dark gray on black
keys. Like the R705, the R835 lacks a backlit keyboard; for $900 it should be a
standard feature. Despite these flaws, the R835 still offers an excellent
overall typing and touch pad experience.
Returning for the
second year is a handful of custom Toshiba software utilities. ReelTime
displays recent documents and Web pages in thumbnail form along the bottom of
the screen, and Bulletin Board combines photos and notes in a single workspace.
Both are slick, usable programs, but they're proprietary and require a time
investment in learning them, which you may not want to bother with unless
you're dedicated to using only Toshiba computers.
The 13.3-inch LED
display has a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels--roughly comparable with
the MacBook's 1,280x800 pixels, but less than the 1,440x900-pixel 13-inch
display found in the 13-inch MacBook Air. Though bright, the off-axis viewing
angles on the R835 weren't great, and we've never been impressed with the
onboard audio in the Portege laptops.
With a 2.3GHz Intel
Core i5-2410M, 4GB of RAM,and a 640GB 5,400rpm hard drive, our Portege R835 ran
slightly behind the newest Sandy Bridge Core i5 MacBook Pro, by a small amount
in single-app tests, but by a larger margin in our multitasking test. Both outperformed
Samsung's 9 Series 13-inch, which also has a new Intel CPU, but of the
low-voltage variety. While the Series 9 is thinner and all-around sexier, the
Portege R835 was much faster than the Samsung in all of our tests. It's also
worth noting that you could almost buy two Portege R835 laptops for the cost of
a single Samsung Series 9.
The latest Intel
integrated graphics are better than those from last year, but that still won't
make this a great option as a dedicated gaming machine. In our older Unreal
Tournament III test, the game ran at 63.9 frames per second at 1,366x768
pixels, which is respectable. But in a newer game, Street Fighter IV, we got 27
frames per second at the same resolution, just short of playable.
Battery life is
really where the Portege R835 shines. Last year's R705 model ran for 3 hours
and 56 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, which was decent, but
not spectacular. Thanks, we suspect, to Intel's more efficient new processors,
the R800 series model ran for 7 hours and 1 minute, beating even the 13-inch
MacBook Pro (if only by 19 minutes).
Many laptops claim
long battery life in this ballpark, but that's typically under a series of
unrealistic power conditions designs to fudge the numbers. That makes our
results even more impressive, as our battery test can be especially grueling.
Toshiba includes an
industry-standard one-year parts and labor warranty with the system. Support is
accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and a customized support search
page can direct you to online documents and driver downloads for this specific
model.
The good: With a new Intel Core i5 CPU, sharp
design, and nearly all-day battery life, the Toshiba
Portege R835 is a smartly priced alternative to the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The bad: Intel's integrated graphics are better
than they used to be, but still not gamer-friendly, and features such as
Bluetooth and mobile broadband are missing from some configs.
The bottom line: With three more hours of
battery life over last year's model, Toshiba's new R800 series of Portege
laptops are hard to beat, even in the highly competitive 13-inch laptop
category.
System configurations:
Toshiba
Portege R835-P56X
Windows 7 Home
Premium (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB
(Dedicated)/1696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Processor: 2nd Gen
Core i5 Intel i5-2410M / 2.3 GHz ( 2.9 GHz ) ( Dual-Core )
Memory: 4 GB / 8 GB
(max)
Hard Drive: 640 GB -
Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm
Display Type: 13.3
in TFT active matrix
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition
Price
as reviewed / starting price : $929 / $899
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