Toshiba Portege Z20t review

I'm torn about the Portege. Although it's nice to handle, it runs pretty well and its battery is incredible, its performance is frustrating. It's not much worse than the competition, but there's definitely a noticeable difference.

We liked

The Portege isn't the sexiest device in the world, but it looks pretty good on a desk. It detaches very easily and handles comfortably as a large format tablet. Its FHD screen is more vibrant than comparable screens. The hybrid's day-to-day performance is solid, so long as you're not pushing it with laborious tasks like video editing or graphics rendering.

If battery life is your main priority, you're going to want to run to your local retailer to purchase this device. It runs for almost two full work days when attached to its power keyboard, and it can get you through a normal day in tablet mode with no issue (provided you take a lunch break).

We disliked

Unfortunately, it disappointed in comparison to hybrids with similar Core M chipsets. I doubt you'll notice the difference in common daily tasks, but if you try to push this device to do anything more than word processing or web surfing, you might encounter a performance lag compared to its competition.

Additionally, I found the keyboard to be almost unusable due to its minute keys. If you've got big and clumsy hands like I do, you'll regret having to do any data entry on a daily basis.

Final verdict

If what you're after is a compact and lightweight large format business tablet that can remained powered all day, the Toshiba Portege z20t might be right for you. However, if you perform labor intensive tasks at work, then you'd probably be better suited buying one of the competing hybrids. That's not to say this isn't a solid device (it is), but you're already making a sacrifice buying something with a Core M chip, you shouldn't have to sacrifice further by buying a hybrid whose Core M chip isn't on par with similarly-specced devices.