Happy Thursday Ozbargain
We are clearing out stock and have some discounts for you
Save 10% storewide when using code OZBTEN at checkout (No minimum spend)
We have also discounted the Toshiba Dynabook PORTEGE X30L-J 13.3" i7-1185G7 16GB RAM 512GB SSD LTE
these will be ~$429 shipped after discount code
These units are graded as excellent condition (with min 80% battery health), have Full HD touchscreen and 4G LTE. RAM and SSD are upgradeable. Type-C charger included.
very good deal
What is the difference to this one sold via Reebelo (via UN Tech)? https://reebelo.com.au/collections/toshiba-dynabook-portege-…
The price?
Try clicking on 512gb
OH, thanks for that! I assumed this one was the 256gb too - cheers
The one you linked has 1165G7, 256GB and doesn't seem to have LTE
Thanks
This has twice the storage and a cellular modem. The reebelo one says good condition, their third grade. So maybe this is slightly better condition.
Fairly average / ok price on ebay for something like this. The 11th gen are starting to get rolled out of offices and students finishing courses.
If you dont need the i7 I'd go for a bigger screen and i5 16gb for $350-$400
Any link for i5 offer?
Tech Jesus didn't call 11th gen a 'waste of sand' for nothing.
It wasn't that bad for laptops. It has the new igpus, but skipped the early implementation of big little cores of the 12th gen, so it's arguably the best Intel laptop CPU for those 5 years. It was only slightly slower compared to the 4000s amd laptop Ryzens.
Laptops gap between Intel and AMD are generally not that bad until 6800u, which was a huge leap in efficiency, but very low availablity. So really, until 7845u (when Intel did their rebranding), Intel were still fine laptop wise.
The appeal of this particular model is the 4G modem. Not a common feature on consumer laptops, but it remains appealing in business use cases like where Dynabook focusses.
Do business people not simply hotspot their business phones these days?
No doubt many do. But some businesses who work off-site regularly will provide a work data Sim for their employees laptop. Otherwise they are using personal data off their phone.
Though could still hotspot a work phone, there's that too.
I have this laptop which I purchased for less for better specs from another seller.
Where it shines is size and weight plus it has a user upgradeable RAM slot and two thunderbolt connections.
You on the money, long time Toshiba protege supporter that got morphed into Dynabooks. Weight and Japanese reliability make these a standout.
Budget laptop and used laptop market need to move stock fast now because of MacBook Neo.
Well it’s a total different thing. One is Windows the other is MacOS. If you are windows user you wouldn’t want to touch MacOS that does the same job if you aren’t into photos or video editing.
True, but he is not wrong. With integrated 8GB RAM it will be twice as fast than this laptop with warranty, better battery and long term OS support. The windows industry is indeed in shambles after seeing the neo's price. And I am not a MacOS fan.
And since Apple manufactures its own chips and laptops they can get away with lowered priced laptop like neo. Very hard for windows machine to reach this price as chips are manufactured by Intel and Qualcomm and they keep thier own profit margins. Especially with RAM reaching sky high prices. AMD wont even stand a chance with thier poor standby power that drains battery quickly.
Not sure if you're serious.
Faster means absolutely zero for the study/office user when these laptops are already overkill for those tasks. Especially when things are increasingly becoming cloud based.
How are you going to open multi tabs on 8gb RAM? What can you even store on 256gb (200gb useable) that can' lt be upgraded? Are you going to have to rely on adaptors when someone passes you a USB thumb drive.
Also this weights 900g, not a brick 1.3kg that the Neo weighs.
@plmko: I am pretty serious. I once did a benchmark on intel macbook pro 16gb and m1 8GB (not even the pro). Compilation of a large java project took around 3 minutes wiht 1 chrome tab playing youtube on Intel mac connected to power. The same project took just 2 mins with 10 chrome tabs each playing thier own youtube videos simultanously running on battery on the M1. That is when I realised how fast these were. The neo's single threaded perfomance is same as M4 mac. 8 GB integrated memory is extremrly fast as it sits on the CPU and communicates very fast with the CPU, they swap fast and you wont even feel like its 8GB. Only problem is that if you use too much memory hungry stuff like compiling, video encoding etc, then this neo is not for you as the swap will eat into the SSD life very fast. If you need more storage then neo is not for you. It has its very own market segment which is huge. Its price is literally tablet category and has aluminium chasis which will make it feel premium with no fan noise.
@plmko: Check on this reviews, running over 20 tabs in both chrome and safari, then opening final cut pro
and Macbook Neo still runs smoothly
https://youtu.be/x9DulD2dYqc?si=PrswyivW8nHGSMV4&t=511
8GB Ram in MacOS and in Windows are totally 2 different concepts
@littlesoldier: lol it wasnt smooth at all.
Mac isnt some magical unicorn dust that makes web browsers use less ram.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/1dr0wty/windows_and…
FYI: I love Neo
@initiateit: these numbers are pretty useless in isolation, they don't reflect how the OS manages memory when it is at capacity. I can guarantee things look much worse in windows lol
@GUYANDSON: It doesnt matter how the OS uses the memory. The browser uses what it uses.
I am sick of people who dont know what they are talking about regurgitating rubbish.
@initiateit: It absolutely does, yes the browser uses what it uses but it's half the picture. Pretending the two OS don't manage and utilise memory differently is being entirely ignorant.
Try loading up and using windows at maximum ram capacity, then do the same for a modern mac. I do this on a daily basis for work and can guarantee it is vastly different. I don't dare touch the windows machines while they're processing, macbooks and mini's and I can still use if needed.
@plmko: You’re entitled to your opinion though the more popular opinion would be that unless you specifically need Windows, then the MacBook neo is superior in every way.
Faster does not mean absolutely zero for study and office users, this is exaggerated.
Both are likely fine for these use cases, maybe not overkill, it really depends as you’ve chosen to generalise study and office users.
You mentioned things are increasingly becoming cloud based, yet at the same time attack storage that can’t be upgraded (as if cloud storage isn’t the most obvious example of cloud based uses).
Many would argue you will be able to handle more tabs in safari 8gb ram on the neo than a 16gb ram would here on windows - this is because ram is not a simple and linear equation, apple and macOS have done a surprisingly good job at making native apps incredibly ram efficient. Ask majority of apple 8gb ram users, they will have little if no complaints.
You will rely on a small dongle if someone hands you a usb drive - though how often does this really happen and is it that strong of an argument when the solution is a $5 dongle in your bag? Sure a dongle for multiple ports can be a minor inconvenience - but to choose this laptop over a neo for that reason alone? Bit of a reach.
Neo weighs 1.23kg. Not a brick. It’s slightly smaller so one could argue that weight is distributed on a smaller scale. It’s not as heavy as you make it out to be but again you are entitled to your opinion.
Where this laptop really stands out
- Hard price limit budget
- Hard preference for Windows > macOS
- Hard preference for weight
- Hard preference for LTE sim slot (though this costs more than you’d think to have a connection for - if you are buying this and spending on a plan hand in your ozb license)
- Don’t mind that it’s a refurb?
Hope you’re serious.
@plmko: 8GB of RAM is more than enough for most users, especially on Apple Silicon. USB sticks come with usb-c connections these days and dongles are next to nothing to have around.
Honestly the only time I'd grab this over something like the Neo is if I was specifically after a <1kg windows machine. And I have this Toshiba but with 8GB of RAM instead. Macbooks now are a much, much better laptop experience overall. Better battery life, run cooler, nicer screen and just better overall feel. Panther lake is looking good and lunar lake/strix halo got close but we'll see what the various manufacturers end up doing with the neo entering the market.
@plmko: You seemed to forget this laptop was released in windows 10 age, now it will be lucky to stretch to 5 usable hours when it’s running windows 11 on that degraded battery. One needs to carry a 65w charger and cable which together can easily be over 300g with this laptop most of time Meanwhile Neo is rated for 13 hours full day battery. Which one is heavier now?
@plmko: Sounds like you are not a Mac user, or haven't used one.
The only downside of a mac has always been the price (and MacOS but everyone overlooks that).
The MacBook neo paratises that. Yes it's a word.
With that equal, you can't beat it.
Even for side by side benchmark comparison
A18 Pro beats Intel i7-1185G7 miles away in Geekbench 6 benchmark
https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_a18_pro-vs-i…
@littlesoldier: Agree, I was surpised its as fast as M4 in single threaded. It will be quite snappy to use for sure.
It’s not just the chips, it the unified memory that the chips use so unlike windows laptops they can get get decent performance from 8GB of RAM for light tasks.
MacBook Neo isn’t really targeting photo/video editing users anyway — that’s what the MacBook Air/Pro are for.
The main reason to stick with Windows is if you rely on Windows-only apps or games.
Besides, macOS can now run both macOS and iOS apps, and a lot of everyday computing is web/cloud-based anyway, so Windows isn’t as necessary for many people as it used to be.
Personally, I’ve been building Windows PCs for about 25 years, using versions from 95, 98, ME, XP, 7, 10, and 11 (skipped 8 because it was crap). My last build was in 2019.
Since moving to macOS (bought a Mac Mini M2 Pro in 2023), I actually use it much more than my Windows PC. I only switch back occasionally for gaming or to run it as a media server.
I still have a Windows work laptop for .NET development with Visual Studio, although .NET has been able to compile natively on macOS/Linux since .NET 6.
There is nothing tied to Windows on the low end laptop. You would not buy a $500 used laptop to do CAD, simulation, CUDA development, gaming and so on. You buy a $500 used laptop to browse web, watch YouTube, Netflix, edit documents, write emails. All of them can be done nicely on Neo.
Arguably, you'll have better time with CAD on MacBook neo than you would on anything sub 1k even with a desktop build. The GPU in this is incredible, just hampered by the ram.
If they have a 16gb ram device for $100 more, it'll be a no brainer for most professional except for video editors and simulations.
I don't think so anymore. Windows is such a piece of shit that no one I know care to stay. Windows 11 is straight up garbage that constantly shits itself. I had 2 devices with catastrophic driver corruption that required a full re-image because you can't roll back driver, but it can't complete installation of new driver no matter what I do to the registry.
If you're not gaming, any platform is fine. And at this price, I'll rather they get Mac. Aside from my gaming PC, all my devices are Linux now, just cause I can't be (profanity) troubleshooting windows shit now.
United Nations tech? Strange name
Im waiting for the exploding touch laptop sold by bored of peace tech.
How is this system for running Linux? I was thinking OpenSuse Tumbleweed or any KDE based rolling release
Pretty well supported in Linux except for 2 problems, biggest of which is the driver for the microSD reader seems to have an interrupt bug or something. It works fine but there's a single thread running 100% all the time. Since I basically never need to use these cards it's easy enough to disable it in BIOS and do a restart to re-enable it if I really need.
And the blue nipple doesn't work :(
Thanks for the info @grb. Not too fussed about the blue nipple as long as the big trackpad works. In terms of the microSD reader, if I use an external one, that should not be an issue right? I have a separate card reader so if I really needed to use it, I have an option.
Actually I never tried an external reader. I own a couple, but I genuinely don't mind doing a reboot to enable the inbuilt one on the rare occasion it's required. And even if it's still 'bugged' it only results in slightly lower performance and battery life while the reader is enabled.
I assume the bug is with the specific inbuilt hardware driver and a USB reader uses the generic USB protocol, which should work fine.
However I'm not a low level Linux expert, ymmv.
Are these 2021 laptops?
This is a pretty good model, I've been using one I got from ebay ~12 months now (for a better price).
It's a genuine attempt at a 'business class' laptop with compact form factor and no creaking plastic. The screen is nice (if small), full TB4 support is nice, plus it charges on anything down to 5V provided you have a supply which can provide PD negotiation (it can barely charge with light use down to ~15W). The LTE is a plus, but I've only used it once and usually leave it switched off in the (fairly limited) BIOS to save power. Best part of the BIOS is the 70 or 80% charge limiter so I can leave the machine plugged in 24/7 without worries.
The CPU is certainly showing it's age, only being 4 core with HT, but it's capable of most regular tasks. But the iGPU has aged like fine wine, although you wont be doing much AAA gaming the drivers are much better than previously, especially the xe driver in Linux. Only one available SODIMM slot (one soldered (as is the wifi card)) is limiting, and the nvme drive is only PCIe 3.0 since for some reason it's connected via the PCH rather than the 4.0 lanes from the CPU.
It's a genuine attempt at a 'business class' laptop with compact form factor and no creaking plastic.
It's a laptop made for Executive level in the Japanese world. Emails, spreadsheet, office stuff.
A few words about this laptop from a long time owner. This is my 3rd Portege and I have moved on to a later version which is also very similar.
It's very light.
This laptop has a magnesium body making it ultra lightweight. It does flex a bit due to it's lightweight construction just don't sit on it. It's got similar body as previous gen.
It's so very light.
The other sub kg lightweight laptops probably LG Grams or the Fujitsu Lifebook U series. I prefer the Portege and Lifebook because they have Ethernet ports which suit my line of work. I hate dongles.
It's feather weight
SSD and RAM easy upgrade by removing the ultrathin magnesium bottom cover. You probably won't want to do it due to the high cost now. Fans easy clean, take care, use paint brush to dislodge dirt and stop the fan from spinning if you like to blast air. The fan is very fragile.
It's weightless
Although it's light it's equipped with plenty of external ports. Love it. Dual boot, runs Linuxmint no issues.
Finally, it's not a gaming laptop or heavy task machine. It's made for office duties, emails, web browsing, playing cat videos and most important for people on the move.
@skillet How'd it be for an IT professional with Android studio, Visual Studio, MSSQL Studio, Claude, VS Code with lots of extensions, multiple chrome tabs etc. setup and kind of trying small projects for upgrading onto his skills.
Very similar to my use case, except I have never tried Android studio before no comments. For Claude I assume it's similar to ChatGPT that runs on someone's AI GPU off-site? It will handle all these tasks no problem.
Mine handled a VM running Visual Studio, MS SSMS, and a few other tasks with minimal struggles. You can also spread the processing power over to the iGPU for AI tasks with OpenVINO, though you'll be similarly limited in token generation by DDR4 bandwidth.
Forgot to mention, I fitted a samsung NVME from a dell and would hit +68C degrees from time to time. I did added a copper 2mm heatsink which worked nicely. Eventually upgraded to the Sk Hynix P31. It would hit 60C when doing windows update but not as often as the samsung.
So if you have temps issue with NVME you can try a 2mm heatsink.
I know you're joking, but it's actually fine. None of those are actually that bad, maybe mssql if you're actually using it as a backend of an actual web service, but really, this is all you need to do most jobs in IT.
To remind people, the original raspberry pi was originally intended to be a gateway for starting programming.
sub 1kg?
~900grams
It flexes a bit if you try to twist the screen. The bottom chassis is quite stiff.
You made some very good points about how good it is, but I think you forgot to mention the most important bit, just how ultra lightweight it is.
do you think it will be suitable for graphic design and animation (Blender)? my 9 years old wanting to start learning, but i dont want to spend too much on what maybe a temporary new interest.
You sold me on it!
What kind of backup time from the battery can we expect from this?
Obviously varies with the health of the battery and the tasks you are doing. With the 'old' battery mine came with I could count on a 'couple' of hours at least. With a new generic battery from Ali I now count on a 'few' hours (which I am not sure was worth the effort), but I think 5-6 hours give or take at max.
Did you experience any charge leakage when stored away unused for weeks?
Actually yes, now you mention it.
The leakage was pretty bad and I wasn't sure if it was shutting down properly or what the problem was. However it also seemed inconsistent and sometimes it seemed to hold it's charge fine.
I guess that's why I liked the charge limiter so much, since now I just leave it plugged in most of the time and it's always ready to go.
@grb: I think it's normal, I used rotate between a Surface, Portege and a Fujitsu they all drain their battery after a month or two sitting unused.
The Fujitsu Lifebook U series has a button on the bottom that disconnects the battery. A charger is required to turn it on again.
@skillet: Thats good, but I thought I was seeing drain after only a few days and it would be dead within a couple of weeks.
It was when I only just got the machine though; I changed hardware, tweaked BIOS, and played around with Windows settings (which I don't normally do as a Linux user), so it was likely user error.
Didn't know Toshiba is still in the laptop market to be honest.
Good deal though.
Toshiba sold it to Sharp. It's a Dynabook.
Oh I'll like these then. Dynabook is my favourite business laptops.
This was good until it got changed to a lesser laptop for the same price. Less battery life, lower edition of windows and lower physical condition of laptop.
Keeping the deal with all the votes while the contents changed to the lesser one with same price tag? Bit dodgy imo
Wow, deal changed with next level down condition for same price.
I bought the x40-J on the last deal but it was faulty on arrival and I had returned it pending a replacement or fix. Can I get this deal instead?
You forgot the best part: under 1kg.
makes a great 2-in-1.
FYI, Same 10% discount on their eBay store
Used tosh is not posh
How did everyone find their Excellent grade A ?
Any or many cosmetic blemishes, scuffing, battery health 70-90% or was it more like grade B / C with lots of condition issues ?
got one from a previous deal, has the i5 instead of the i7. It's definitely well used, but no deep gouges or anything. keyboard, trackpad, and track nub works well. Most disappointing is the scratch on the screen from the indentation of the keyboard. It's light enough to be not noticeable if you're not looking for it, but once you know it's there, you can't miss it as it's in the center of the screen.
I qualify it as barely passable for grade A.
I received my one and agree with you.
Battery health is at 76%
Mine has issues. Keeps freezing when waking up.
Hope they fix it for you
They are not being helpful. They are saying I need to update drivers? This issue is occuring out of the box; I have no idea which driver is causing this, and from I can see all the drivers are up to date.
@ironpaw: I've noticed the same,
after sale support is not as good as it should be.
Might be better to visit them in person for assistance
My battery health came at 90%
What capacity levels and cycles count did your battery report show ?
Lucky you got a good one
Bit worrying (except battery) :
"Warranty:
1 year warranty on hardware (effective for purchases made on or after 1 September 2025)
This warranty includes all hardware components except battery. Does not include accidental damage, physical damage or loss. See our policy for more details about what is covered and excluded. "
Wish myn was close to 90% battery health 😊
So far no response from their rep
![[Used] Toshiba Portege X30-J 13.3" FHD Touch Laptop i7-1185G7 16GB RAM 512GB NVMe SSD LTE $428.40 Delivered @ UN Tech](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/33/951433.jpg?h=56b0c10a)
This seems like a good deal