Toshiba Portege Z30t - The portable workhorse

Overview

The Portege series is Toshiba's long running category of notebooks tailored for business users, and the Portege Z30t is one of the company's premier slim-line model that's made for heavy duty mobile warriors. This 13.3-inch Ultrabook is the touch version of the Portege Z30 released last year, and is so portable and lightweight that we could have easily mistaken it for a dummy model. The older Z30 came with an unimpressive screen with a 1366 x 768 pixels resolution display. Thankfully, the refreshed Z30t that will retail from the end of July 2014 have bumped the display to Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution, as well as adding the long-needed multi-touch capability. The Z30t (with the "t" denoting touch) is what we've got our hands on for this review.

Our unit runs on Windows 8.1, powered by the latest fourth-generation Intel Core i7 processor with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, with integrated Intel HD 4400 graphics and a 10-finger multi-touch display. This configuration will set you back a hefty S$2,799, and we're told that this will be the only configuration available, which is odd as there usually are a few other configuration options for processing power, RAM and storage (the latter contributes a fair bit since it's using solid state drives).

Design and Build

Dimensions-wise, as a 13.3-incher the Toshiba Portege Z30t is a compact and lightweight business notebook, and not much larger than a stack of A4 paper. This is one solid machine with a magnesium alloy chassis, complete with a 'Magnesium Silver' finish, with an internal honeycomb structure for added sturdiness. This is pretty much the same DNA that's utilized in notebooks like the older Z830 and Z930 models. It looks darker than one would expect from a silver color though, compared to other silver notebooks such as the MacBook Air.

Together with Toshiba’s branding at the bottom corner instead of the middle, this Ultrabook remains relatively low-key, something that its target market of business users would more likely prefer. The smooth shiny exterior gives it a high-end feel that repels fingerprint marks, which we expect with its premium positioning.

Being a business Ultrabook, it comes with the usual slew of ports for productivity and presentation purposes. It has three USB 3.0 ports, supporting a combination of external hard drives, thumbdrives and/or mouse simultaneously without issues. It also comes with a full sized HDMI and VGA ports for connecting to external projectors or monitors, but lacks a Mini DisplayPort that is more commonly found in competing models that caters to more modern monitors. Even so, the HDMI and VGA combination should suffice for most needs.

For busy executives on-the-go who carry their notebook with them everywhere, a Kensington Security Slot gives users the option of attaching a cable and lock for added security. You can also opt for fingerprint verification during login to protect your data from prying busybodies.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The Portege Z30t comes with a chiclet-style keyboard with a blue pointing stick residing among the square keys. When you first place your fingers on the keyboard, you might find the keys a little small, especially for users with larger hands and fingers.

Fortunately, in actual use, typing on it didn’t prove to be a problem. There is also substantial travel and tactile feedback, giving you confidence that your keystroke is registered without having to exert much force. The audible yet non-distracting clicky sound gives much satisfaction as well.

The Toshiba Z30t has no lack of navigation options. Generally, users would use the touchscreen for most of the button pressing and scrolling activities, but if you prefer to keep your fingers near the keyboard, you can use the blue pointing stick or the touchpad to control the mouse cursor.

The pointing stick feels rough to the touch, and might even be described as unfinished. It provides good friction, but does not seem to fit in when placed among the smooth keys and metallic chassis of the Z30t, more so with its bright blue hue and rough texture. It does its job and tracks accurately, but users coming from Lenovo and Dell pointing sticks might have differing views regarding the prickly touch.

The touchpad comes with two buttons, for left and right clicks, placed directly below the spacebar for the convenience of pointing stick users. You can also click at the bottom corners of the touchpad (otherwise also known as a clickpad), marked by two subtle raised grooves, which is a nice touch so you don’t have to tear your eyes away from the screen. The navigation area is pretty roomy, but again, you probably won’t use it as much with the touchscreen panel available. The touchpad has a smooth surface, with minimal friction while we enjoy effortlessly gliding our cursor across the screen.

And south of the trackpad is a horizontal silver piece housing the fingerprint reader and three indicator lights - battery/charging, power on/off and read/write. We feel that the indicator lights are at an odd position -- instead of residing near the screen where users will look at most often, they are near to your chest, and might even be obstructed from view if you are a lefty. An alternative location is to place these indicator lights at the front edge such that when the notebook's lid is lowered or closed, you can still check on the status of the notebook effortlessly.

Performance and Benchmarking

The Toshiba Portege Z30t runs on a Haswell Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 4400. We pit it against Toshiba's previous Portege Z30, and similar class business Ultrabooks like the HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1, the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch and the consumer-targeted Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro.

PCMark 8 

We ran PCMark 8 on all the machines and noted the scores on four benchmarks: Home, Creative, Work and Storage to find out how the notebooks perform in regular usage scenarios, ranging from web browsing, document writing, video encoding, photo editing and casual gaming. The Home benchmark gives an idea of overall performance by a combination of the mentioned tasks. We also included scores of the Adobe CS6 and Microsoft Office benchmarks to get a gauge of each machine's performance on these commonly used applications (except for the older Z30, as we did not have the figures on hand).

The refreshed Toshiba Portege Z30t scored marginally worse than its predecessor, the non-touch Z30. It is good to note that, while the Portege Z30t received an upgrade in display resolution, there is almost no upgrade in the other departments, except for swapping out a Core i7-4500U 1.8GHz processor with an Core i7-4510U 2.0GHz processor. With minimal change in hardware capabilities, we suppose there's a small hit when running programs and benchmarks at a higher resolution and the fact that driver differences have contributed to the small discrepancy in results between both models.

When compared to other business Ultrabooks such as the HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1 and Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch, the Toshiba Portege Z30t did not stand out from the competition and tended to score slightly lower than either of them. But it actually performed well in all six benchmarks and did not score exceptionally low in any of them, in contrast to the HP which fared badly in the Microsoft Office benchmark, and the Lenovo which had a disappointing score at the Work benchmark. Also note that both its business competitors use a speedier CPU, which easily accounts for whatever lead they may have.

3DMark and Far Cry 2

Given the integrated graphics engines used by all of the compared notebooks, we've chosen to run simpler graphics benchmarks to assess their graphical prowess:-

Both the Toshiba Portege Z30t and Z30 performed well in the 3DMark CloudGate Benchmark, able to handle graphics processing better than the similarly spec'ed HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1, despite both running on the Intel HD Graphics 4400. It lagged behind the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch however.

On the Far Cry 2 benchmark test, the Toshiba Portege Z30t scored the worst here, reflecting poor real-life gaming performance. Although it's apparent that none of the models are ideal for gaming, Toshiba is unfortunately not the best machine for users who probably have thoughts of enjoying a moderate game or two over lunch break.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

The Toshiba Portege notebooks come with an impressive 52Wh battery that kept it running past the 300-min mark, allowing it to last at least 5 hours on a charge with moderate usage as was tested with Futuremark's Powermark test suite . The Z30t didn't score as well as last year's Z30 as the same battery has to drive and light up more pixels to the new Full HD display at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, compared to the previous resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Even so, it lasted almost an hour more than another FHD Ultrabook, the HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1.

The Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro features a far higher resolution screen that definitely consumes more power as seen in the second graph, and thus it didn't last as long as the Toshiba Portege Z30t. This brings about the question if resolutions beyond Full HD are practical in 14-inch and smaller notebooks. For the purpose of business computing, it's likely that any higher resolution beyond 1920 x 1080 pixels will not be readily appreciated unless one has specific usage needs. Besides, the prospective users pay a price in terms of battery life. In this regard, perhaps Toshiba's Portege Z30t plays the right mix of hardware attributes by pairing the small 13.3-inch screen with a Full HD resolution to derive the best battery life for its intended user group. It also helps that is has a sizable battery capacity within its thin frame, which easily gives it the edge in battery performance.

Portability Index

Our Portability Index factors in battery life, weight and volume so you can see which notebook is the most worthwhile to carry around. With the petite frame of the Toshiba Portege Z30t, it is inevitable that one would doubt its battery life. But as proven above, it lasted longer than other similar Ultrabooks, and coupled with its feather light body and tighter dimensions, it achieved an impressive index of 3.321.

In comparison, the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch, which Lenovo claims to be the lightest and slimmest 14-inch notebook, barely scraped past a three, which translates to about 10% less portable than the Toshiba Portege Z30t, although one could argue that the smaller battery needed to power a 2K resolution display and a slightly larger display than the Toshiba unit are enough differentiation that each notebook stands its own ground.

Conclusion

The Toshiba Portege Z30t is a very lightweight business notebook, with a 13.3-inch screen allowing to fit into tighter compartments compared to the more common 14-inch form factor of its direct competitors. It boots up quickly, as expected of an Ultrabook, with a practical matte touchscreen that we ended up using more often than we had expected, especially since we did not have to worry about wiping away fingerprints.

It does not have any outstanding features to let it stand out from the competition other than its lack of bulk. The keyboard is okay, the clickpad is okay, the TFT display is okay... it does not have brilliant viewing angles like the IPS display on the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch. Even its Full HD screen update is rather late into the market, with many business Ultrabooks already offering FHD display options since last year, and some moving into 2K resolutions, like the X1 Carbon Touch mentioned above.

But then again, the portability of the Z30t is compelling enough to be the sole reason to purchase this workhorse. If you are comfortable with a 13.3-inch screen, its 1.2kg weight is still a few hundred grams lighter than most other business Ultrabooks that come with 14-inch screens, with insignificant differences in performance.

However, if you already have the previous generation Z30, or a similar Ultrabook, there is no need to rush out and bring the new Z30t home. The touch screen is very helpful in navigation, but most business users would spend their time in the desktop environment anyway, which has always been easily navigated via a mouse or touchpad. The bumped up resolution is nice, but not a deal breaker for number crunching on Microsoft Excel or report writing in Microsoft Word. If  you are perhaps upgrading from a two-year old notebook or older, you'll appreciate the updated capabilities on the Z30t such as the fourth generation Intel Core i7 processor, SSD storage, full HD resolution and a touchscreen - the key differentiators from an older generation notebook. Additionally, the Z30t's long battery life and great portability are strong plus factors going for it.

These improved features come at a hefty price of S$2,799, a large premium compared to the retail price of S$1999 on a similarly configured Z30 of yesteryear. But when compared to current generation business Ultrabooks, it is still gentler on your bank balance, with the HP Elitebook Folio 1040 G1 retailing at S$3,499 and the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch at S$3,599.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.