Design
The Portege R835 looks nearly identical to its predecessor, and we're not complaining. The chassis is still made of magnesium alloy, complete with a handsome dark blue lid. Although they're plastic, the chrome hinges are a nice accent, as are the smoky gray touchpad buttons. When we picked it up, the Portege R385 didn't feel as sturdy as the aluminum MacBook Air or the Samsung Series 9 (which is made of even stronger duralumin), but this is still a fairly durable design for the money.As with the R700, the R835's durability extends beyond its magnesium finish. Toshiba used a honeycomb rib structure for the base and palm rest for extra resilience. You also get hard drive protection and a spill-resistant keyboard.
Weighing 3.2 pounds, the Portege R835 is one of the lightest laptops you'll find with both a 13-inch display and a built-in DVD drive. While not as thin as ultraportables that eschew optical drives, the 0.7-1.1-inch profile makes this machine easy to slip into a bag.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Because the keyboard sits between the space for the battery and the large touchpad, the keys on the Portege R835 aren't quite as large as what you'll find on competing ultraportables. They're shorter than those on Toshiba's own 13-inch T235, making the keyboard feel cramped.The keys also gave too little feedback when typing, which made it more difficult to tell when we'd successfully hit a target. Nevertheless, we acclimated to the layout in about 30 minutes and typed at our usual speed as we wrote this review. We'd really like to see Toshiba add a backlit keyboard, like on the Samsung Series 9.Measuring 3.3 x 2 inches, the R835's touchpad isn't as ginormous as those on the Samsung Series 9 (3.9 x 2.7) or the 13-inch MacBook Air (4.3 x 3 inches), but it's still plenty large for smooth navigation. With the older Portege R700, the cursor sometimes jumped around when our palm accidentally brushed up against the touchpad, but we didn't experience that issue this machine
Heat
Maybe it's because of the new processor, but the R835 doesn't get as warm as its predecessor. After playing Hulu at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad registered 86 degrees, the area between the G and H keys reached 88 degrees, and the bottom of the underside measured 96 degrees. The R700 was about as cool on top but reached 103 degrees on the bottom. The only spot where the R835 got slightly uncomfortable on our lap was the bottom-left side near the vent, which registered 102 after our Hulu test.
