Portégé Z20t-C - great value, and a bundle of surp

By: Matthew Smith on 16 December 2023

FIVE STARS, i have to write this, as the review form is broken. Background: I've been involved with laptops since the original single-hinge Tosh. Not used Windows on a regular basis for nearly 23 years, have worked on a variety of machines running Linux, until I started using Macs about 10 years ago. Because Reasons, failing Macbook, lots of time in hospital - switched to refurb laptops as daily drive (as opposed to dev machines) in October, both from these good people. So I'm a Python/Perl/PostgreSQL developer looking for 16Gb RAM, 512GB SSD for daily drive, but this works for backup stuff. I wanted to try out a tablet/convertible, without paying silly money, and could this replace my iPad, which I have been finding hard to use with crippled hands. (And I can't use it to ssh into places, use as a dev system, etc.) So what did I get? B Grade machine. with 10% whatever American festival discount (BAD name, in Australia, bushfires) I paid less than $150 for this delivered. What's B Grade about it? white artefacts on the screen, only visible at boot, marks on screen that could possibly be cleaned off, but not worth the risk, not visible. Battery capacity not great when compared with specification, but still good. What do I love, that I didn't know I was getting? * LTE (4G) radio! SIM compartment can be a PITA to open, but wireless! * "Battery not changeable" is BY USER. I quickly found a YouTube video, not that I need to do this, at the moment. * There are TWO batteries, one in the keyboard part, which gets used first, one in the tablet. The bad: * Power switch (on side of tablet) is black on black, tiny, hard to find. * The entire unit feels heavy, compared with my daily drive (Fujitsu Lifebook) but that keyboard is carrying another battery, so shouldn't complain. * Some, as yet, unknown, trackpad action - disables the trackpad, but not the nipple/trackstick. Fn+F9 to turn back on. CAN THE TABLET PART REPLACE MY IPAD? Yes. And with a real computer. And is a full backup to my main, just without the RAM, and storage, but absolutely fine as an emergency replacement. REGRETS? Wish I'd had this over the 81 days I have had in hospital this year. Knocks the spots off the ancient MBP I was uisng. *I don't know if all models offered have the same configuration, like the LTE radio, so please check with ACT about what's on offer. But still, what a BARGAIN!

(5)