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of the Toshiba Laptop Battery
Toshiba tends to take its time when it comes to new fads like Ultrabooks, or even updating its laptops with the latest Haswell processors. True to form, its Portégé R30 is a distinctly unassuming mid-range laptop with a modest specification and little in the way of eye-catching features. See The best laptops: What's the best laptop you can buy in 2014?
Even so, the R30 can make a sturdy and reliable workhorse laptop battery such as Toshiba PA3250U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3356U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3291U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3591U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3641U-1BAS Battery, Toshiba PA3641U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PABAS123 Battery, Toshiba PA3727U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3535U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PA3905U-1BRS Battery, Toshiba PABAS246 Batterythat will appeal mainly to business users – albeit at a rather high price.
The matt-black chassis of the R30 isn't going to win any awards for elegant design, and the chunky black bezel running above and below the 13.3-inch screen looks distinctly old-fashioned when compared to the thinner surrounds found on more elegant laptop designs.
The chassis is made out of magnesium with a shock-resistant ‘reinforced honeycomb' internal structure that is designed withstand knocks. An internal accelerometer can lock the hard disk to prevent damage in case you drop the laptop accidentally.
The R30 is a very chunky 27 mm thick, and certainly is no Ultrabook, although you do get an internal DVD drive in that fat frame. See also what's the best laptop for under £1,000?
Despite this, Toshiba has managed to keep the weight down to just 1.5 kg, which is light enough to carry around all day without shoulder ache. There are lighter laptops that don't include a DVD drive – the 13-inch MacBook Air weighs in at 1.35 kg – but if you do need an optical drive then the R30 is one of the lightest options currently available.
Connectivity is good too, with HDMI and VGA video interfaces, along with gigabit ethernet for office networks and three USB 3.0 ports. The keyboard feels firm and comfortable, and there's both a trackpad and a separate pointer located on the keyboard itself.
The 13.3-inch screen is something of a mixed bag, though. The lack of touch controls won't worry too many people, and we were pleased to see that the display's matt finish does a good job of reducing glare and reflection. However, the 1366 x 768-pixel resolution is somewhat low in laptop costing £900, and while the image is bright and colourful when viewed from directly in front we did find that the viewing angles were limited.