We had to wait for quite a while for Toshiba’s upgraded line of Satellite ultrabooks. It has been almost two years now that we last saw a new ultrabook machine in their Z series. But now that it’s already in our hands, let’s try out Satellite’s second generation Z930 ultrabook – the one we testes is 17g.
The grey metallic chassis is durable and immediately suggests premium build-quality
This here is an ideal representation of a consumer ultrabook. Let’s start off with the design – this is one really beautiful-looking machine. The grey metallic chassis is durable and immediately suggests premium build-quality as it is made of magnesium alloy. Actually we should really emphasize on how slim the body is – only 17mm. Its weight is also minimal at a little over 1 kg. Or in other words –it’s a classical ultrabook.
However, in spite of the fact that it is a really compact machine it actually packs a lot of power.
The machine runs on a 3rd generation IntelCore i5 3337U processor
The machine runs on a 3rd generation IntelCore i5 3337U processor. It works at 1.8GHz, but thanks to the Turbo Boost 2 technology it can be overclocked up to 2.7GHz. Unlike its predecessor, the Z830, this one here gets an the low-voltage Ivy Bridge architecture CPU. System performance is supported by 6GB of RAM. The Satellite Z930 performed very well, running a few demanding applications simultaneously. The work of the dual-core CPU is slightly sabotaged by the lack of enough cooling.
The fast solid state drive additionally boosts work processes. Its capacity is 128GB. Video performance is dedicated to Intel HD graphics 4000 GPU which is good enough for everything but more demanding professional video and photo software as its memory is shared.
Now let’s pay more attention to how graphics come out on the outside. Toshiba Satellite Z930 offers a 13.3-inch display.
Thanks to the Turbo Boost 2 technology it can be overclocked up to 2.7GHz
The resolution here is 1366×768 pixels. The LED-backlit display looks good and copes especially well with light reflections because of its matte top layer. In this case, however, the contrast and colors are not that strong and clear. Although the display is well-visible even outside we wish it was a little bit brighter as it looks dim. Viewing angles are the other thing we did not like. They are pretty narrow, which is a big drawback if you like watching videos on your computer.
The 8-cell Li-Ion battery showed an average result. If you are careful with power consumption and brightness it will provide enough juice for over 5 hours. But if you go and push this machine to its limits the battery will barely make it for over 2 hours.
But if you go and push this machine to its limits the battery will barely make it for over 2 hours.
So in terms of battery life we place this machine in the group of the ultrabooks with a short battery life.
The keyboard is not a full-size one, which may be disappointment for some users. Due to the machine’s extremely thin chassis the keys have a very short travel. The typing experience is assisted by a keyboard backlighting.
The interface of this ultrabook offers 2x USB 2 ports, 1 USB 3 ports, an HDMI and VGA port and a 5-in-1 card reader. Toshiba Satellite Z930-17g comes with the 64-bit version of Windows 8.
