Product Review: Toshiba Portégé Z30-A1302
The Toshiba Portégé Z30-A1302 is an ideal choice for students and faculty in search of a capable and full-featured Ultrabook at a reasonable price. The Z30-A1302 features a lightweight, slim design that delivers excellent performance in an easily portable package.
End-User Advantages
The new Portégé Z30-A1302 is a sleek and lightweight Ultrabook. At only 0.7-inch thick and weighing only 2.6 pounds, the Z30-A1302 is super-slim and easy to carry. Despite its lightweight package, the Z30-A1302 includes a vibrant 13.3-inch LED-backlit display, powered by an Intel HD Graphics 4400 adapter with a default resolution of 1366x768 and an integrated 2-megapixel webcam.
The Z30-A1302 offers impressive performance, with a dual-core Intel Core i7-4600U (3.3-gigahertz) processor and 8 gigabytes of DDR3 SDRAM. A 256GB SATA-300 solid-state drive yields quick boot times and responsive performance under load, making the Z30-A1302 capable of performance-intensive tasks such as video editing or complex data analysis.
Ample network and peripheral connectivity, with a wired Gigabit Ethernet adapter and wireless support for 802.11n as well as the emerging 802.11ac standard, are other advantages. Wireless connectivity to peripherals is provided via Bluetooth 4.0, and three USB 2.0 ports provide wired connectivity. VGA and HDMI ports connect easily to external displays or projectors.
The keyboard is open and well spaced and is LED-backlit for low-light situations. The ultralow voltage processor yields excellent battery life, with the four-cell battery providing about 12 hours of use.
Why It Works for IT
A number of features are included for data security and system support. An integrated fingerprint reader and Trusted Platform Module security chip allow for simple user authentication and data encryption.
Intel Management and Security Status allows users to control remote-assistance settings, and Intel anti-theft technology provides the ability to enroll the ultrabook with a service provider that can remotely lock or wipe the device if it's stolen.
The Portégé Z30-A1302 ships with Norton Internet Security and Norton Anti-Theft preinstalled. In addition to the standard anti-virus and anti-malware protection delivered with Norton Internet Security, Norton Anti-Theft works with the preinstalled Intel software to locate, follow and lock down or remotely wipe data from a lost or stolen device.
IT departments and campus administrators will appreciate the energy savings and low ecological impact provided by the Z30-A1302, which is EPEAT Gold, RoHS and Energy Star certified. The Z30-A1302 also ships with a number of Toshiba recovery and diagnostic tools to assist in hardware troubleshooting and data recovery, and a three-year standard warranty provides added protection.
Disadvantages
The Z30-A1302's touchpad, while very versatile, takes some getting used to. Support for a number of different gesture-based actions coupled with high initial sensitivity makes the touchpad especially sensitive to inadvertent contact or unintended gestures. Decreasing the sensitivity and disabling unnecessary touchpad features greatly improves the touchpad experience.
