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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matt b - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Given that numerous laptops 13.3 inchs and smaller are shipping with AMD nile dual core processors (K325 and K625), can we get a review of these? You must have some in your labs b/c you say that they still fall short of the Intel CULV processors on battery life. Can we see some actual reviews from Anandtech? I've seen mixed reviews on the internet. Toshiba has a 13.3 with the k625 that they claim gets over 6 hours of battery life. The k625 does not have bad performance, and in actual games (versus benchmarks like PC Vantage that Anandtech has shown that Intel's latest drivers have broken) the ATI 4225 cards are faster than Intel's. The price is right too. I'd like to see a i3 or CULV comparison using the same battery (one just not rated the same) versus the K625.My take from seeing the number of design wins was that Nile must be pretty impressive.
MadMan007 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Hi. I'd like to see you guys do more notebook reviews even if they aren't full reviews. We don't really need to see the same CPU benchmarks for the same CPU/RAM combo for example but the 'extras' in your reviews are extremely useful and what set your reviews apart. Build quality and keyboard/trackpad commentary and *especially* display quality measurements are very nice to read and the latter is not common on other sites. Even if you need to cut down from your full review suite (little point with the same hardware anyway) doing mini-reviews with the things you guys do special would be great.Hopefully AT will review some more of the models presented here? I'd be especially interested to see some of the models that don't get much attentino for whatever reason - for example, do the pricey Sony models have any advantage in build quality or screen quality?
Akv - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
I would be very interested in a Sony VAIO EA for my work, but alas I won't buy it because of the glaring inscription VAIO on the cover.When I go to a meeting I don't want to be the intrusive advertisement panel for an off-topic company. And if I buy something that price I expect more discretion. I would feel ridiculous using it in front of other people.
naalex - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Exactly the kind of round-up that i needed. I'm personally thinking that the Asus U43JC is the laptop that I'm going to get. USB 3.0 and WiDi are great extra features to have, although perfection would be reached if they came with more powerful GPUsConsidering that Fall and back to school deals are just around the corner, might it be recommended to hold tight for a month or so, to see what improved models are just around the corner?
DaKaptin - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
My first post!! (I think). great site, great reviews - thanks to all at Anadtech!aaanywaaaay... I bought an Asus Ul80Vt after reading Anandtech's initial review on it (last year sometime). It was my first laptop purchase ever & I have been very pleased with it to the extent that I got one for my sister too! A good mix of performance & battery life leaves me "never really running out of power" in both senses of the word typical for the tasks I use it for (ie movies & internet largely with gaming & business sometimes)
anyway, without souding too much like a commercial, I'd really like to impress upon the type of setup those laptops present & wonder - "why hasn't anyone else been able to at least imitate them?" the range of tasks you can perform on them (and battery life) make them to me what a laptop is all about! (otherwise seriously, buy a desktop or netbook for the other end of the spectrums)
descendency - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link
I love my X201 Thinkpad.If you are in the ultraportable market and have some money to spend, it's by far the nicest laptop available. I got mine for 900 (before tax) through the EPP program and some luck. Well, I added an old Vertex 120gb SSD that I have had since they launched.
rgathright - Monday, July 26, 2010 - link
I wish I had read this before buying my ASUS 1201N. A 55nm Radeon HD 4225 would have made a big difference over the power hungry NVIDIA Ion that I am struggling with.You can see more about the failed ASUS 1201N here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/ASUS_EPC1201N_Intel...
forumreader45 - Monday, July 26, 2010 - link
This review doesn't cover the Dell offerings well - I just went through this same trade before this came out and also wanted to buy something with a US name on it - still easy to do in the computer world Annandtech - must you kill off our last remaining industry?Anyways I got a Studio 14 with an i5 - though you can get i3 or i7. It's a great machine and should have been part of this comparo. (And I'm an Apple fanboy - but the person who wanted this wanted a PC.)
halcyon - Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - link
SZ12 looks to pack a real punch: lots of features, very fast, very light, full-HD display.How about a review and comparison?
matt b - Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - link
In this article, you wrote, "The new Nile platform, based on the Phenom II architecture, is faster, about on par with the original CULV platform, but even with improved power consumption, battery life still falls short of Intel’s high standard."Have you actually tested a computer with the AMD Nile platform?
I just read a review of the Dell M301z with the AMD K626 processor (Nile). It's got a terrible battery (44Wh, 3740mAh). The battery life wasn't great, but as Notebookcheck.net points out in their review, the battery life on the AMD system is at least equal to the Dell Adamo with an Intel SU9400. The Dell Adamo has a similar battery (44Wh, 3600mAh). It achieves slightly longer surfing times (213 minutes) compared to 187, but less idle time than the AMD chipset (5:40 to 5:19). This despite the fact that the Adamo has a energy saving SSD drive.
Also, the K625 CPU is at least as fast as the Intel SU9400 on certain CPU benchmarks, like Cinebench R10 (dual core) and faster on single core benchmarks like Cinebech R10. It's graphics performance with the intergrated 4200 series is much faster than the GMA4500 on the Intel platform. So even with a much faster video card and on par CPU performance, the battery life is very close.
I hate to be particular on this point, but I would like to know if Anandtech really tested an AMD Nile computer or are you just posting what you've heard?
Link to the Nile review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Inspiron-...