Toshiba Portégé R600

People like netbooks for two key reasons: price and portability. Even the not-so-cheap models deliver a decent daily use performance in a form that's the peak of pick-up-and-go computing. Toshiba Portege R600 Toshiba's Portégé R600: lighter than a netbook Well, they're not at the peak any longer. Toshiba unveiled the …

[Keiran]

NOT a fanboy but....

It seems that for this price you'd be a fool to buy it. Heard of a MacBook Air, admittedly 500g heavier (than R600 with no drives) but has the drive, bigger screen same storage. Only thing it does not have is the 3G mobile connectivity.

[Code Monkey]

Optical Drive

I've had an Acer Aspire One for some months now and never once felt the lack of an optical drive.

True I've still got a beige box knocking around for the little bit of CD ripping and burning I do but that can (and will eventually) be replaced quite cheaply by a USB CD writer.

[RichyS]

70 per cent ???

70%? Are El Reg tests dumbing down to the same extent as GCSEs and A Levels?

You basically spent the review slating its looks, battery life, screen and construction. And it's bloody expensive. Yet it still gets 70%. Feels more like a 30 and a fail to me.

Still, the R600 makes the MacBook Air look like good value... And the Vaio TT.

Paris, 'cos she's dumbed down. Obviously.

[Anonymous Coward]

Durability

Hopefully the chassis on this machine is better than its predecessor. A colleague's R500 has developed a nasty crack after only a couple of months thanks to its eggshell thin plastic casing. Rather than go back to Toshiba, he's getting a MB.

Light's nice, but not so nice if you can't carry the machine around without swathing it in bubblewrap.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nearly 2 grand?!!

Do people pay that for a notebook these days?

I'd rather buy 4 netbooks and keep the other £800 thanks.

[John Latham]

Flexible screen

If the screen flexes, it may get pressed against the keyboard in transit, which may leave permanent marks.

I've seen this on a Vaio, which resulted (eventually) in a case to the small claims court for a refund.

The Thinkpad X301is cheaper, faster, better looking, with longer battery life and has a (non-hot)swappable drive bay.

[robert]

R500 fan boy

I love my R500, and bought it despied it receiving similarly mixed reviews. So light, nothing else with a DVD drive comes close and no probs so far on reliability, even if that skinny screen does seem alarmingly fragile.

I'm shocked by Reg's battery test results. I regularly get 5 hours out of my R500, so I hope this R600 sample is unrepresentative.

As for the thread comment that the Mac Air is 'only 500g heavier,' that's 500g heavier than an 850g laptop, and with the Apple you'll need to take a seperate DVD drive, and a 3g modem, so it ends up being about 2.5x the weight...

My one wish for an R700, would be for an ultra compact power supply (like the one with the Dell Mini 9). The one with the R500 weighs almost as much as the machine itself, which is just silly!

[Big Bear]

Nice but lacking

If you can afford that then go all out for a fully equipped one with the full works, which doesn't include the Air unfortunately. Plus consider that mass is only one measurement of size - a 13" machine has a significantly larger footprint (about the biggest a plane seat can handle) than one of these ultraportables, though at the reduced dimensions the quality of screen becomes paramount, which is where the Vaio does have the edge... they seem to manage to put amazing screens in their premium tiny machines.

Have to agree with Robert that the accessories that some machines require kinda defeat the purpose - I have small and light kit that only require a power pack to travel with and NO other peripherals. I know some people say you don't need an optical drive, or RJ45 or whatever, but I personally like to rock up to a new client knowing that I can handle whatever they give me rather than sheepishly tell them that my fancy machine can't do it that way and can they accomodate my needs!

I've toyed with Porteges before and generally i find they feel flimsy, much as the TT and TX Vaios do as well. I have an SZ Vaio which is just fels great - the lid is so sturdy for its thinness (magnesium or carbon fibre?) that my work HP has some nasty lines on the screen from my (bad) habit of picking it up by the lid whilst open.

Of course, nothing beats an old Thinkpad for cockroach-esque survivability!

[jason]

Why? Just Why?

Would anyone spend more than say £1000 on any one item of PC gear especially a commodity item like a laptop?

More money than sense maybe?

[Ben Bradley]

Optical drive

I'm not bothered about an optical drive. The price of this is inline with Sony's ultra-portables. And traditionally you do pay a premium for miniaturisation/low weight.

However, with some of the new netbooks coming out I struggle to see a market for any laptop priced over £800-1000.

I've got a 3Kg Asus from 4 yrs ago, still works perfectly but its 1.8GHz centrino does feel a bit slow compared to recent dual core laptops. But when I think what my laptop usage is... editing source code/text files, browsing web, watching some video/films (x264/xvid, not DVD)

That's why I'm planning to get an HP Mini 2140 when it finally arrives, technically a downgrade in processor spec, but a definite upgrade in portability (1.1Kg) and battery life (5+ hrs)