A tidy, well-made laptop from Toshiba’s
Satellite Pro stable
Toshiba’s Satellite Pro range of laptops is
designed for business, though you’ll still find some in the line-up that don’t
run Windows 7 Professional. That’s the case here. There are six models in the
Satellite Pro L830 range, running a mix of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7
Home Premium. To complicate matters further, the Satellite range (without the
‘Pro’) is aimed at home users and has four L830 models all running Windows Home
Premium. Is it all designed to confuse, we wonder?
Toshiba
Satellite Pro L830 10J
Whatever, we were sent the Toshiba
Satellite Pro L83010J ($825 inc. VAT) with Windows 7 Professional on board as
our review model. It is aimed at the business user whether home or office
based.
It’s a neat little unit. The build is
plastic and there is some flex in the lid, but it is quite solid for all that.
You could easily crush it if you accidentally step on it, but carried in a bag
it ought to be fine. The slate grey colour and grid-like pseudo etched
patterning on the lid makes a change from the norm, and is reprised on the
wrist rest. We aren’t sure we like the shiny keyboard surround or screen bezel,
however - they’re fingerprint traps.
Second helping
If you are looking for the latest thing in
processors then look away now, as our review sample sports a second-generation
Intel processor and not a third gen’ Ivy Bridge one. The Core i3-2367-M 1.4GHz
model isn’t up to taking a great hammering, and our benchmarks put it well into
the lower third of the performance range. But, if document creation, web
browsing, catch-up TV and looking at photos are your bag it’s quite good
enough.
You
are more than likely to want to use a smaller laptop like this one as a travel
companion, so battery life is crucial
The 750GB hard drive can hold plenty of
photos and home-shot video, while the screen delivers quite rich tones and the
sound quality isn’t too bad either. More volume would be nice, but that’s not
an unusual criticism.
When it comes to actually creating content,
though, not everyone will like the keyboard. There’s a slight sponginess to the
action and a flex in the panel that we’re not altogether happy with. Having a
column of keys outside the Enter key might not be unusual, but it’s still all
too easy to hit them in error till you acclimatise.
You are more than likely to want to use a
smaller laptop like this one as a travel companion, so battery life is crucial.
Our Battery Eater test delivered three and a half hours of life, which is quite
respectable.
Connectivity is decent, with the range
including a webcam for those all-important Skype calls, VGA port, Ethernet,
microphone, headphones, multi card reader, HDMI and three USB ports, two of
which are USB 3.0. Four USBs would have been nice, but again we are being
picky.
For under $900 the Toshiba Satellite Pro
L830 10J delivers a small, neat laptop with fair battery life and solid build.
Performance leaves a lot to be desired, however.
What’s it best for
·
Web, mail & photos
·
HD, movies & TV
·
Light & portable
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Details
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Price:
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$825
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Website:
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www.toshiba.co.uk
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Key features
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E-Code:
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n/a
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Supplier:
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www.toshiba.co.uk
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Telephone:
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0844 847 8944
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OS:
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Windows 7 Professional
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Processor
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: Intel Core i3-2367M
1.4GHz
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Memory:
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4GB
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Storage:
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750GB
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Optical drive:
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DVD-RW
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Screen size:
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13.3-inches
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Screen resolution:
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1,366 x 768
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Graphics:
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Intel HD Graphics 3000
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Weight:
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1.86kg
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USB ports:
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3 (2 x 3.0)
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Test results
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Battery life (Mins):
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210
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Performance:
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4,499
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Gaming:
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3,223
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Verdict
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Value:
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3/5
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Features:
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3/5
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Performance
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2/5
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Total:
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3/5
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