I remember few of you asked me about the specs of my Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook. I know that specs are pivotal in finding the best laptop that works best for you, especially if you work on something heavy like doing graphic works or video editing. Below is a list of basic specs and the rest you can find out here: Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook

• Model : Toshiba Portege Z830-2004U
• Processor: Intel® CoreTM i7-2677M Processor (with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.9GHz, 1.8Hz, 4M Cache)
• Selling price: RM4,899.00
• Memory: 4GB + 2GB DDR3
• Hard disk drive: 128GB SSD
• Resolution: 1366 x 768
• Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 32-bit

It is almost a month now that I am using Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook. I brought it everywhere; during meetings as well as when travelling. It has travelled some 3750km to Shanghai on an Airbus 330-200 (Air Mauritius) and about the same distance back to KL on a Boeing 777-200. It has recently travelled some 45km across the South China Sea from Merang, Terengganu to Redang Island in a speedboat. Not to mention the road trip from KL to Perlis to East West Highway to Terengganu and back to KL.  If you have had the experience taking a ride on speedboat, you must’ve already known how hard it bumps on big waves. And same goes to airplane when it flies through cumulus clouds. I am happy to say that after travelling through bumps on accumulated journeys of about 10,000km, Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook is tough and durably stands the test of time.

This reminds me of a friend, Hadi Hussien who sets the record of travelling alone from KL to UK on his small bike. He had problems with his laptop during the ride in India as the roads there are not tarred. Although he wrapped it in three layers of thick shirts, the laptop was not durable and he had to ship it back to Malaysia and had no laptop to update. He had to hop from one cybercafé to another to update his stories.

Anyway, back to Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook. With the weight of 1.12kg and thickness of 15.9mm, I have no problem at all carrying it. It fits well in my shoulder messenger bag (it has both shoulder sling strap and handles) and nobody knows that I carry something precious inside my bag. Every time I need to work on something when I am on the move, I just took it out and do my work right away as it loads within 2 seconds.

During the trip to Shanghai, I carried it in my laptop bag and Siti, the journalist form Harian Metro asked me, “are you carrying a laptop?” Isn’t it heavy?” I took it out from my bag and handed it to her and proudly explained that it is not a typical laptop, it is Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook; currently the lightest laptop in the world. Siti rolled her eyes and had that ‘wow’ look on her face. I swear that I heard her saying that she must get one Ultrabook.

My Z830 having a nice rest on a table in Andaz Shanghai Hotel after travelling some 3750km. With the built-in camera, I did get to Skype with my son and show him the room and Shanghai city line. – 28 February 2012.

Connecting to the internet is also really easy with this Ultrabook. Having an android phone, I just need to connect the USB cable and turn on the USB tethering. Or if I don’t have the cable I just turn on the Mobile AP and voila, I get a connection instantly. And whenever there are wireless connections available, it will let me know instantly.  Being a blogger and an illustrator who actually works and communicate online, getting a connection is very important, no matter where I am.

And if I ever need a bigger screen to view my video or illustrations at home or in hotel, I can always connect my Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook to the television using the HDMI cable and port. Look:

Other than HDMI port, Toshiba Portege Z830 also comes with USB super speed 3.0 port (works great with my USB 3.0 external hard drive), and two USB 2.0 ports at the back which I use to charge my mobile phone and stick my wireless mouse USB receiver dongle. If I need to connect to my drawing tablet, I will use the USB3.0 port; that means I have to plug out the external hard drive and plug in the drawing tablet. Why don’t I use USB splitter or hub? I am trying to save power and not to overheat the motherboard. But maybe I can consider buying a splitter/hub with power supply so that it won’t consume power from the Ultrabook’s port but for the time being it is not that important.

One more great feature that I like to highlight is the fact that Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook is equipped with TOSHIBA Eco Utility mode. This mode helps reduce electric power consumption and also helps me monitor my power savings by showing approximate real time power consumption.

My power consumption is 13 Watts.

When eco Mode is turned on (by pressing the eco button), it changes the power plan to “eco”, which includes: lowering the display brightness, lowering the dimmed display brightness, turning off the LED illumination, reducing the time before the monitor dims, shortening the time before the monitor turns off, reducing the time before the hard disk drive turns off, and reducing the time before the system goes to sleep.

Below is my eco score:

A score above 71 is considered a high score and I am glad that I managed to contribute to CO2 reduction. Yay! (50 below – low score, 70 below – medium score, above 71 – high score)

Also one more thing I like to highlight is that I now bring this Ultrabook whenever I see my publishers. This is because I am trying to be as environmental as I can be and trying to avoid printing manuscripts and artworks on papers. If a manuscript is about 100 pages (both sides), imagine if I have to submit few sets of amended manuscripts. This is my own personal effort to save money on buying papers and inks as well as help reduce the energy consumption to make papers.

If you read my 1^st post, you should already know that this Ultrabook does not come with a CD drive. At first, I thought, how hard it is not to have CD drive and how am I supposed to install all my software. I currently do not have an external CD drive and had to turn to my old laptop to transfer the CD content to my external hard drive. But in the long term run, come to think of it, not having a CD drive will help me save on buying CDs or maybe put a stop to buying at all. I can always e-mail my works to my publishers and if the files are too big, I can always upload to my hosting server and gave them the link to download and save the file. It helps reduce the consumption of natural resources, waste, and energy.

I know you might think that one person alone cannot make a difference but I believe that there are hundreds (or thousands, or tens of thousands) of people who have the same thinking. Imagine how much energy consumption has been reduced.

Anyway, I hope with the real experience that I have gone through and the specs listed above can really help you choose what’s best for you. I remember when I told a friend that Z830 is the lightest laptop in the world; he simply told me that it’s not the ‘cover’ that fancy him; it’s the ‘book’. When I told him about the specs of Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook, he was quite impressed. I know some of you are loyal to one brand only but I do hope you do a comparison research in terms of specs before making that big decision to buy a laptop. In Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook, you can judge a book by its cover. It can also help you be as green as possible.

To summarise it all, Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook inspired by Intel is a companion to boot. Being always on the move, I am thankful that it is very light and thin as well as durable. I love the 2 seconds waking-up fact, really saves a lot of my time. And working my illustrations on this pretty sleek machine is the best experience so far.  It’s fast, stunning and visibly smart; top-of-the-line performance .

This post is brought to you by Toshiba and Intel. Join the conversation on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, Inspired by Intel at www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.

Remember the mini-contest? Well, I have the winner’s name already. Sorry for the delay.

Without further ado, the winner is Phatelara! Phatelara wrote the most creative one!

Here is what Phatelara (Debbie) wrote: “My #toshibaultrabook wakes up faster than me trying to type the phrase ‘Grease Lightning’!” I tried typing it and managed to do it in 4 seconds. Tried for few times but still cannot beat the loading time of Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook Inspired by Intel.

Congrats, Phatelara! Please e-mail me your home address. Will send the prize once the shipment arrives from Singapore.

Note: Winner is selected based  on the most creative object/action that they came up with that takes longer than 2 seconds or heavier than 1.12kg. So in order to find out the best one, I have to eliminate those who submitted lighter/equal weight. Same goes to action that loads or achieved less/equal than 2 seconds.

And…the last game of the day was a Weight Guessing Challenge. It was really a simple challenge where participants have to guess the weight (in the form of mathematical signs; <, = and >) of objects placed beside Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook. Basic knowledge of objects’ weight is an advantage.

At first, I thought “Uh-oh, this is easy…” but after round 1, I had to admit that despite being a simple game just like 10X10BET, it was actually quite challenging in the sense of sending signal from my brain to my hands. When my brain said <, my hands would pick >. Sometimes both of my hands would pick up both signs. I wonder what happened to the electrical impulse along the way from my brain to hands. Tired of jumping from one cell to another until it reaches its destination?  This reminds me of my habit during travelling; I always find excuses to make my husband stop at every R&R just to have coffee. Maybe my electrical impulse stops somewhere along the axon for a break or two. LOL.

Anyway, on the last round of the game, as predicted, I was slow at guessing which was lighter; orange peel or Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook? Haha, it is not making sense, right? Beatrice took only a second or two to pick up the < sign and of course in the end, she won. Her electrical impulse is at its best. Congrats, Beatrice!

Here’s the video:

The objective of this game is to point out the weight of the Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook compared to other light objects and where does it stands on the scale of orange peel to a trumpet.

Now let me compare this Ultrabook to things around me. I weighted these items myself using my small red food scale:

•  Martha Stewarts Encyclopedia of Sewing & Fabric Craft – 1.9kg
• A ream of simili white papers – 2.45kg
• Camera bag – 2.6kg
• CD wallet – 1.8kg
• My handbag – 1.85kg
• and the list goes on…..

So basically, haha, most of my items are heavier than Ultrabook.

Overall, all four challenges were fun and I get to learn more about Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook in one day. I learned that:

• it is durable; can handle bumps and drops,
• it is fast loading (within 2 seconds) that I don’t even think I can beat that in a dart throw
• it is very thin (15.9mm thickness ) that is very easy to hide or keep it anywhere.
• Ultrabook is one of the lightest objects with the weight of only 1.12kg.

The challenge ended around 6pm, a surprise announcement was made. When Miko said, “The Toshiba people are very happy with all of you and they decided to let you keep the Ultrabook”, we were all (8 of us) jumping and screaming! It was a dream came true. Thank you Toshiba! Thank you Intel!

Although very tired, I was very happy. I went home with extra item in my hands; a Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook.

This post is brought to you by Toshiba and Intel. Join the conversation on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, Inspired by Intel at www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.

Hello! How do you like to stand a chance to win a cool pair of Toshiba Compact In-Ear Earphones EM1 with Mic? You do? Now, all you need to do is tell me how light or how responsive the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook^TM is! Sound like music to your ears? Great – it’s so easy to join!

Just fill in the blanks of any of the two statements with your answers:

• My #toshibaultrabook is lighter than _______________!
• My #toshibaultrabook wakes up faster than _____________!

Start sending in your answers now! Be creative! You have to leave the answer in my comment box. You can tweet it if you want but be sure to put the #toshibaultrabook and @emilayusof at the end of the answer so that I can keep track of the contest.

Contest runs from 16 April 2012 until 23 April 2012. Winners will be announced on 24 April 2012.

Prize
1 x Toshiba Compact In-Ear Earphones EM1 with Microphone.Perfect for people on the go, this sound-isolating earpiece minimizes street, train and traffic noise so you can enjoy listening to music.

Features:

• Lightweight and compact design – perfect for travel
• Closed-ear silicon ear pieces deliver an immersive audio experience, as well as comfort for long wearing
• Concealed mic boom stays hidden until you’re ready to use it
• In-line volume and mic-mute controls allow for easy audio adjustment
• Plug & Play with no external power required
• Noise-canceling microphone lets you communicate clearly

Product comes with a one-year limited warranty.

The Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook^TM Inspired by Intel is the world’s lightest 13” Ultrabook^TM with the most complete set of ports. For more information on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook^TM, join the conversation at  https://www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.

If you have followed me on Instagram, you might have came across with a series of photos which I let you guess which among the books is Toshiba Ultrabook Portege Z830 Ultrabook. It was fun. Most of the pictures are guessed correctly by first guesser except for this one below here, no takers.

If you are up to some fun and challenge, let me know which one of these is Toshiba Ultrabook Portege Z830 Ultrabook. No prize, just for the fun of it. But I do hope to come up with a contest with a prize! Currently still in a discussion. Do stay tune to find out more about  it soon.

Happy hunting! I will let you the answer tomorrow!

Can you guess which one is Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook?

When I first received an e-mail saying that I was shortlisted in the Intel-Toshiba Project, I was so happy. Being a blogger in the area of art for almost 6 years, opportunity does not come often as I fell in the category that people thought is not connected with technology. Well, that is not true. And I need just the right technology to keep my work going and I am so happy to be chosen as one of the participants in this project.

I went for the first meeting on January 30 at Intel’s office in Damansara and was given an insight about the project. There are 8 bloggers involved in this project; 5 from Malaysia and 3 from Singapore.  Participants from Malaysia include Amir, Ben Ashaari, Aaron Lee, Nicole Tan and myself. And from Singapore there’s Brad, Beatrice and Velda. We were introduced to the latest Intel-inspired laptop, the Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook powered by the Visibly Smart Intel Core processors.

The project is named Mark of Perfection: Toshiba – Intel Ultrabook Challenge. And the best thing is, it is not just another ordinary campaign, it is a contest too. We were all will be given a loan one unit of Ultrabook each and have to complete tasks within the timeframe given. At the end of the campaign, there’s a cash prize to the top influencer! Interesting, right?

Altogether there are 3 phases:

• Phase 1 – Write about the Ultrabook
• Phase 2 – Experience the Ultrabook Challenges
• Phase 3 – Write about the Ultrabook and share it online

And so as promised, we were all given the Ultrabook on February 18. I received mine while having a cup of coffee and a slice of cheesecake. Sweet!

And the unboxing was done immediately after I got back home.  Wow! That was my first impression. So light and sleek; lighter than my handbag, seriously.

I took some pictures of the unboxing but it turned out bad without proper lighting. I had to wait for my husband to come home to help me with the lighting. And so, this is the outcome of the video; unboxing without all the plastic wrappings. Hehe.

Anyway, setting it up is easy. A Windows 7 Professional OS popped up and first thing to do is to choose the language.

Then, it will prepare the desktop. Later, Toshiba recommends me to protect my Ultrabook, so I choose Protect Now. Agree.

And voila, the configuring starts. It takes about several minutes. Later, I have to key in user’s name and password. And after logging in, I was asked to enroll my fingers. One cool extra feature!

Here’s the process (click to see larger image and read from left to right):

So basically, it is strongly recommended that I enrol more than one fingerprint. So I did it the second time with my right index finger. It later asked me again whether I want to enrol the rest of the fingers but I think two index fingers will do for now. I can add other 8 fingers some other time.

I later installed my Adobe CS5 Design Standard. It comes with 3 CDS. Since the Ultrabook does not come with CD drive, I had to copy the CD content into my external hard drive and did all the installations from there. I deactivated the licence on my old laptop and activated it on this new Ultrabook. I am glad that Adobe made it easier to transfer the licence. And after that, transferring of fonts and artwork begins.

I finally get my hands on this Ultrabook the next day to do my work. I am impressed with the speed. If previously, I am impressed with what Intel Core i5 processor on my old laptop, now I am even more impressed with Core i7 on this new Ultrabook. Working on heavy graphics and artworks need speeds and I found it in this Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook. Weeeeeeeeee.

Finally, technology has caught up with my expectations.

This post is brought to you by Toshiba and Intel. Join the conversation on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, Inspired by Intel at  www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.

P/s Please leave comments or ask questions only about this Ultrabook and do mention the name in full. Thank you so much!