Toshiba Portege R835-P56x 13.3-Inch LED Laptop

Toshiba Portege R835-P56x 13.3-Inch LED Laptop (Magnesium Blue)

by Toshiba

Toshiba Portege R835-P56x 13.3-Inch LED Laptop

There are a number of excellent reviews of the Toshiba Portege R835-P56x, which Amazon is selling as of the date of this review, and I recommend them. However, I think you should also consider a newer model, the R835-P70, that's available at Best Buy. I have usually found Amazon's offerings and pricing superior to most alternatives, but this was an exception for me. The R835-P70 model is the same as the R835-P56x, except the P70 includes WiMAX connectivity, while the P56x is Wi-Fi only. 

Further, as of this writing, the P70 is actually cheaper. Indeed, when I bought my P70, not only was it somewhat cheaper, but I also got a free gift card included. (That wasn't offered today when I checked.) 

Apart from the competitive merits of the P56x and the P70, the first question you ought to ask yourself is what features are most important to you--weight, construction quality, battery life, display, connectivity, memory, processing power, graphics capability, software and, of course, value. Here are a few of my observations: 

Weight: I passed my unit around to members of my office. Every one of them was surprised at how light it felt. Chances are, you'll feel the same way. You can buy lighter laptops, netbooks and tablets, but in terms of the whole package of features offered, I seriously doubt that you can get all that in a much lighter model. If your idea of mobility is moving your laptop from one room to another, maybe you should look at a desktop replacement model. However, if you are going to carry your laptop around with you a lot--and you need a good amount of computing power, an optical drive, etc.--then this unit's light weight will be most welcomed. 

Battery life: My analysis is more or less the same as above. You can get longer battery life, but in terms of the whole package of features, I doubt that you can get much better battery life. 

Build quality: The metal-based construction certainly feels (and looks) solid. There's nothing fancy in design terms, so if that is meaningful to you, perhaps you should consider models with more eye appeal. 

Processing power: The Intel Core i5-2410M ("Sandy Bridge") is going to be more than adequate for most users, though not necessarily for intense gamers or those who engage in video editing or certain advanced engineering applications. Speaking of gamers, there is a lack of a separate graphics chip; however, most users probably won't notice problems. 

Value: Maybe I should have put this category first, because it's very important to anyone on a budget, or maybe I should have put it last, because you can consider it to be a function of all the other attributes combined. Regardless, for what this laptop represents, this is as good of a value as I can find at this time. Indeed, I regard value as perhaps this model's most compelling attribute. 

Optical drive: It's got one, which is more than you can say regarding most laptops this light. 

Software: It's got a Windows Home Premium 64-bit operating system, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Version, and a host of bundled software, most of which you won't use. 

Display: 13.3-inch, widescreen (16:9) proportions, bright and clear. 

Connections: The two USB 2.0, one VGA, multi-format card reader and gigabit ethernet connections are pretty much standard. The one USB 3.0 and one HDMI (high-def) ports are appreciated. 

Connectivity: The Wi-Fi is standard stuff, but if you need broadband connectivity apart from Wi-Fi, then the P70 model with its WiMAX is preferable. 

In conclusion, there is no such thing as a laptop with the longest battery time, most powerful processing and graphics capabilities, strongest construction and lowest price. You need to figure out what features are most important to you and narrow your selection accordingly. If what you want is a lightweight model with excellent processing power and an internal optical drive--all at a very competitive price--the Portege R835-P56x (or the P70 model) is well worth your careful consideration.