Toshiba Portégé R30-A200SMB 13.3 inch business laptop [Review]

One size does not fit all when it comes to laptops. Sure, everyone loves a super-thin and sexy notebook, but business users in particular have much greater needs. For instance, an optical drive is much less popular with consumers nowadays, but many business workstations still have the need. Many consumers have moved on to HDMI and DisplayPort, but businesses still have older monitors and projectors that are VGA only, so a VGA port on a laptop is needed.

While Toshiba makes great consumer-grade computers, its business-class machines are where it truly shines. The 13.3 inch Portégé R30, a small and medium business laptop I have been testing lately, is no exception.

Specifications

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (Windows 8.1 upgrade media included)
• Processor: Intel Core i5 (4th Gen) 4210M Dual-Core, 2.6 GHz Max Turbo Speed, 3.2 GHz
• Video: HD Graphics 4600
• RAM: 4 GB (1 x 4GB) 1600 MHz
• Storage: 500 GB HDD / 5400 rpm
• Display: 13.3 inch 1366 x 768
• Optical Drive: DVDRW (R DL) / DVD-RAM Read Speed: 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD) Write Speed: 24x (CD) / 8x (DVDR) / 6x (DVDR DL)
• Wi-Fi: 802.11ac
• Battery: 6-cell lithium ion

Video Overview

Impressions

The Portégé R30 comes in many configurations, but my test unit is rather meager. The Intel Core i5 4210m is very powerful, but the computer only has 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5400RPM HDD. This is totally acceptable for my needs, and probably the average office worker's needs too, but you can always configure with more memory, an SSD and even a Core i7.

Upon taking it out of the box, I was a bit perplexed -- in a good way. You see, it is a rather thick laptop, so your mind expects it to be hefty; not so. Actually, it is impressively light (about 3.4 pounds), making you wonder if there are actually components in the chassis -- don't worry, there are, haha!

The body is made of luxurious magnesium, making it feel very premium. Don't get me wrong, plastic is a perfectly good material, but the magnesium both looks and feels much better.

Toshiba has outfitted the Portégé R30 with plenty of ports -- all of which can be restricted by an administrator. On the right side, there is an SD card slot for importing photos and other files. This side also features a USB 3.0 port, headset jack, Kensington lock hole, and Ethernet port.

Most importantly, however, the right side is home to a DVD burner. While consumers have less need for optical drives, small and medium businesses may still have need. the business may still utilize boxed software that comes on disk, making it an easy way to install without buying external options. Where it can really shine for a small and medium businesses is data backup. DVD is a wonderful media for archiving data to be kept on-premises. It is affordable and fairly durable.

The left side of the Portégé R30 has 2 more USB 3.0 ports, the power port, an HDMI-out port and a VGA-out port. I know what you are thinking -- who the hell still uses VGA? Uh, businesses do. Older projectors in particular are still mounted in conference rooms and feature this port only. Companies probably have perfectly working VGA-only monitors that be used when the machine is docked.

Speaking of being docked, Toshiba has a docking station/port replicator port on the bottom. This makes it easy for the employee to dock while in the office and easily connect to a mouse, keyboard, wired internet and large monitors.

Also on the bottom is something essential for road-warriors -- a removable battery! Yes, you can carry a spare battery or two when traveling and easily swap them.  While this used to be the norm on all laptops, the option is slowly being removed. With that said, you may not need to buy any spares -- I can easily get between 7 and 8 hours on a single charge with normal use -- impressive!

The bottom is also how you access the inside for upgrading. As you can see above, by removing 4 screws you can access both the hard drive and RAM. The 500GB 5400RPM is totally fine, but it is nice to know a future upgrade to an SSD will be super-easy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the 4GB memory was a single stick -- you can buy a matching stick to increase to 8GB if needed. You can also upgrade to 16GB with 2 8GB sticks if ever needed.

Opening the laptop, you are presented with an absolutely fabulous chiclet-style keyboard. The layout is perfect and Toshiba did not do anything funky or annoying as some other manufacturers do, such as relocating common keys. It really is a joy to type on, as the keys are rigid and exact -- not at all spongy.

The trackpad is one of the best I have used on a business laptop. It is a clickable variant, meaning that there are not separate buttons below it. There are however buttons above it, which are designed to be used with the pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard. While I have never been able to adjust to accurately using a pointing stick, some people do prefer it for some reason. I actually found the stick to get in the way of my typing -- sometimes my finger would hit it. Don't worry though, the nub pops right off.

Speakers are surprisingly great, offering very clear and loud sound. The speakers are on the top -- slightly positioned towards the user -- as they should be. Listening to audio is a great experience.

Where some people may be dismayed, however, is the resolution. The non-touch display is merely 1366 x 768 -- low by today's consumer standards. With that said, it is perfectly acceptable in the business world, where it is still very common. When sharing presentations and documents with fellow co-workers, it helps if everyone is on the same resolution, as the creator does not have to worry about how it will scale.

Conclusion

The Toshiba Portégé R30-A200SMB 13.3 inch notebook is a wonderful workstation for both small and medium businesses. The Core i5 and 4GB of RAM offer great performance in Windows 7, and should run Windows 10 equally well if and when you upgrade. All programs and applications, including Microsoft Office, open extremely fast and never experience lag or slowdown. Both you and your employees should be extremely satisfied with this well-built laptop.

Best of all, you do not have to break the bank to obtain this portable workstation as configured. If you shop around, retailers are selling it for between $725-$850. This is a great price, making it a wonderful value. I would suggest buying it from Newegg here.

The Toshiba Portégé R30-A200SMB is very much recommended.