Laptop Buyer's Guide: 14-inch and Smaller
by Vivek Gowri on July 19, 2010 12:01 AM ESTRoad Warrior: Toshiba Portege R700
Toshiba recently celebrated it’s 25th anniversary of manufacturing mobile computers, and in honor of the occasion, took the opportunity to bestow upon us the new Portege R700. The latest in a long and reputable line of superthin and superlight ultraportable notebooks, the R700 (and nearly identical R705 retail model) do not disappoint. At under an inch thick and just 3.2lbs, Toshiba claims that the R700 is the lightest 13.3” notebook with an integrated optical drive. Which is all the more amazing considering the R700 forgoes the Core i3/i5/i7 ULV processors for the real deal - the standard Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs - and the $799 starting price for the R705. Add in the aluminum chassis with an internal honeycomb structure, the 66 Wh battery rated for 8.5 hours of life, Intel’s Wireless Display tech (R705-only), a fair handful of ports including HDMI and eSATA, optional SSDs, etc, and you’re looking at one very well equipped ultraportable.
I’m particularly impressed by the R705, which has a Core i3 350M, 4GB of DDR3, a 500GB hard drive, Intel HD graphics, and all of the fun stuff I mentioned before, like the aluminum chassis, WiDi, an integrated DVD burner, and 66 Wh battery, for just $799. Which, for a 3.2lb ultraportable, is pretty impressive. They managed to take a fairly standard mainstream notebook and stuff it into a case with the same footprint and carrying weight as the MacBook Air (though obviously a bit thicker). The two really impressive things about that? They still managed to put the optical drive in it, and they didn’t have to sacrifice build quality or the aluminum chassis to keep it under a grand.
I do have a couple of concerns though, starting with the heat output - given Toshiba’s history, and the amount of power they’ve packed into such a thin and light enclosure, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it got hot enough to double as a mini-stovetop. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exageration, but it won’t be the coolest running notebook on the block for sure. Also, given the price, the LCD panel is bound to be a disappointment (I’d be shocked if it wasn’t.) But against the competition, the R700 cuts a figure that’s somehow smaller and faster while still being reasonably priced, which makes it ideal for on the go users.
Alternative: Lenovo ThinkPad X201
You’ll hear more about this one later, but for the moment, here are the relevant details: 12” screen, full power Core i3/i5/i7 processors, 2.9lb starting weight (4 cell battery), 3.5 lbs with a 9 cell battery rated at an astounding 12 hours of runtime, and the legendary ThinkPad build quality. It lost out to the Toshiba for being about $500 dollars more expensive similarly equipped , not having a DVD drive, and having to choose between a heavier notebook with the 9 cell battery or having less battery life with the 6 cell battery.
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Johnmcl7 - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
Macbooks at similar prices get entire articles regularly as do top of the range graphics card and computer parts which would also be out of most people's price category so a page or even article on the Z on a site like this doesn't seem too much.John
GTaudiophile - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
I just bought one...sort of like a cheaper Z...Intel Core i3 330 UM (1.2GHz)
ATI HD 4550 w/ 512MB VRAM
4GB DDR3 RAM
320GB HDD
Webcam/WiFi/Bluetooth
5+ hours battery with WiFi
Less than 4 lbs.
About $800
darunium - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
The M11x is an impressive notebook, despite the undervolting of the CPU, but why is there no mention of the Asus N82Jq? With a standard clock of the i7-720QM and GT335M, plus a solid screen in a 5lb package, I think that as a gaming portable notebook it really stands strong, even if it isn't specifically marketed in that segment.VivekGowri - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
Read more carefully, it's there. Try the page with the Envy 14.Shadowmaster625 - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
What new Puma platform? What the heck are you guys smoking. Puma is 2 years old WWWWTTTTTFFFFF? This whole thing reads like a big stinking pile of intel advertising.VivekGowri - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
My bad, that was supposed to read Nile, dunno why I said Puma (fixed now). But the rest of that is accurate: the new AMD-based ultraportables still don't have the battery life to touch the Intel portables, simple as that, but performance is starting to catch up, benchmarking similarly to the equivalent Core 2 CULV parts, and the HD 4225 is obviously a ways faster than GMA.Where AMD is really winning right now, both in desktop and mobile, is in environments where power requirements don't matter so much and they can provide tri- and quad-core processors for dirt cheap. Honestly, if you don't care about battery life in a 15" machine, you'd rather have an AMD quad than an Intel dual core, right?
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
I had the unfortunate displeasure of using a N450 netbook this weekend. The things are just not usable for anyone with a pulse. Of course AMD cant beat that battery life, because those things dont even do anything except sit there frozen half the time. Everything I've read about the K125 suggests usable performance with respectable battery life.Chloiber - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
Is it even available in Europe?jtsarnak - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
As an owner of Sony's Z-series laptop, I want to chime in and discourage anyone seriously considering an ultraportable from looking at Vaio machines.There is a known problem with Sony's newer laptops and battery drain. The battery loses life at an appreciable rate when completely shutdown. The only way to prevent loss is to physically remove the battery. Some have speculated the battery care function, some the hinged design common to the lines experiencing the problem, but Sony has done nothing and in fact call it a "feature".
The Z would be perfect (although expensive) if not for the drain. Now I have to remove the battery whenever I'm not using it or keep it plugged in. The 7+ hours of battery life in a machine this powerful mean nothing if I have to keep it constantly plugged in.
No review site has mentioned this issue which just goes to show you should head to notebookreview's forums before making any decisions on a laptop.
Mr. Gowri, you'd be doing the buying public a great service by looking a little deeper into this problem with Sony's laptops and making the problem more public. Maybe Sony will finally be forced to make a change...
GTaudiophile - Monday, July 19, 2010 - link
I have no such drain issue with my Y-series.