Toshiba Portégé R930-18L review

We liked its Chiclet-style keyboard much better. The keys felt a little small at first, but once we’d got used to their size, their high level of tactile feedback meant we were able to type at full speed in no time at all. The keys are sensibly spaced and positioned, too, making best use of the available space on the keyboard tray, but we were a little disappointed they picked up so many fingerprints, as this made its otherwise professional design look quite messy.

Its smooth touchpad was a joy to use. It’s positioned slightly off-centre, but we never brushed it with the edge of our palms. Multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolling and pinch-zooming were extremely responsive, and swiping from the edge to execute Windows 8 shortcuts worked every time. We occasionally brought up the Charms bar accidentally thanks to a generous sensor zone on the right hand side of the touchpad, but on the whole we had very few problems navigating through our files. Its two dedicated buttons that sit either side of its fingerprint sensor were also very accurate and easy to use, but if you’re rather use a mouse, there’s a small button to disable the touchpad completely.

The Toshiba Portégé R930-18L is a decent business laptop, but it’s just too expensive. At this price, the Best-Buy winning Samsung Series 7 Ultra is much better value and looks just as smart in a corporate environment.