Toshiba Portege Z20t review

Just about every laptop maker under the sun is working tirelessly on creating business-grade notebooks that are as powerful, versatile and, frankly, interesting as possible. Japanese firm Toshiba is right there beside its rivals in this race, something I can say confidently after seeing the new $1,399 (about £912, AU$1,729) Toshiba Portege Z20t firsthand.
Essentially the middle child in Toshiba's two-in-one laptop lineup for work, the "20" in the name alludes to its screen size. The Z20t comes touting a 12.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS touchscreen (with reflective coating) that can be controlled with an included Wacom digitizer stylus (which tucks into the device behind the screen).



If you hadn't deduced it by now, the "t" in the Z20t's name denotes its touch and transforming capabilities. This Portege houses nearly all of the essential bits behind its detachable screen, which doubles as a Windows 8.1 tablet when you need it.

The incredible power of two

Because Toshiba continued on with its tablet-first, detachable approach to hybrid computing devices, the company was able to vastly improve on battery life through not one, but two juice packs. These live inside the tablet and keyboard, respectively.
WIth just the tablet, the Z20t is said to last for up to exactly 9.1 hours, according to Toshiba, while running off of the keyboard as well ups that to a whopping 17.5 hours of battery life. That's more than two full work days, so we'll put this bold claim to the test in a full review.

But more what's even more interesting about the device is that, because Toshiba designs and develops its business platforms in-house from the BIOS up, the firm was able to take even more advantage of Intel's shiny new Intel Core M chip inside. I'm talking about scalable TDP, or thermal design power, in a laptop.
Basically, when the Z20t is attached to its keyboard, the CPU recognizes the extra power provided by the second battery and, as a result, allows itself to run at a higher frequency than it would without. This naturally cranks up the heat, but since the chip is located behind the screen, you shouldn't have to worry about scorching your lap.
Unfortunately, Toshiba wasn't offering any demos to show off this nifty feature, so it will have to wait until our full review.

The thinnest, lightest Windows tablet yet

During my time with the device, a Toshiba executive was quick to point out that, at 0.35 inches thin and 1.6 pounds, the Portege Z20t is currently the slimmest and lightest full Windows 8.1 tablet around. This is likely thanks to the Core M chip inside, which also allowed the company to go with a 30% smaller motherboard under the hood.
Speaking of which, the CPU is accompanied by up to 8GB of RAM and an M.2 solid-state drive as large as 512GB (starting at 256GB). Plus, despite those measurements, Toshiba managed to squeeze quite a few ports into the tablet: a microUSB, micro HDMI and microSD card reader into the slate.

With the keyboard attached, however, the available input selection expands to two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size HDMI, RGB port and Gigabit Ethernet. Rounding out the connectivity options are 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

Early verdict

As you've seen by now, the Portege Z20t is nigh identical to its predecessors, save for the revised magnetic hinge that slightly elevates the keyboard, like the Surface Pro 3. Clad in the same gunmetal magnesium alloy as before, this business hybrid is poised to be one of the slickest options for enterprise buyers.

That is, if they're willing to pony up - this 2-in-1 laptop does not come cheap. Though, I'm sure the phrase "2-in-1" is key to Toshiba's primo price tag.
The keyboard brings some awesome features to the table, namely two-day battery life, a bevvy of full-size ports and, most importantly, added punch. However, I still can't get over the awkwardness of 2-in-1 laptops designed this way. It's times like these that I'm seriously down with the keyboard cover concept.
But again, the Portege Z20t is focused where it should, at least as far as 2-in-1 laptops for business go: performance, versatility and longevity. With a tablet that feels more like 9.7 inches than 12.5, and battery for days, Toshiba could easily scare up sales when the Portege Z20t hits online stores and commercial retail later this month.