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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
79 Comments
View All Comments
JarredWalton - Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - link
We're working on getting a Nile system. FWIW, SSDs, don't generally save on power, unless they're something like the SandForce controllers, but even then a lot of the time your HDD/SSD will power down because of inactivity. The SU9400 is also a higher clocked CULV, so it may not be the best representative of the platform. In fact, in our own test of the Adamo, we found battery life to be generally quite a bit worse than the other CULV laptops we've tested, even when looking at battery life relative to battery capacity:http://www.anandtech.com/show/3799/dell-adamo-13-c...
As for overall performance, the IGP in Nile is definitely better than GMA 4500MHD, but that's not saying much. It's still very slow, and typically inadequate for gaming at native resolution. HD 4200 is faster, but also quite slow -- about on par with the new Intel HD Graphics in the Arrandale processors.
Anyway, Nile is looking more interesting than the old CULV and should be a lot better than Congo. The real selling point is likely to be price, and as long as the price is right and you don't mind the battery life loss, go for it. Just don't expect to be wowed by performance -- which we'd say of CULV as well.
matt b - Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - link
Thanks very much for your response. I look forward to the review and I hope you can get the K625 chip for review as it seems to be the highest performer of the Nile parts (thought I would also welcome a review of the lowest TDP Nile part as well). What is encouraging for Nile is that its best performer, the K625, seems to be on par or better performance wise with the SU9400, the higher performing CULV part, but with better graphics, and very comparable battery life. The lower clocked and single core Nile parts have less power usage (as with the lower clocked and single core CULV parts.) It can play HD video with ease, and some reviews show that the 4225 IGP can play older video games at decent (playable) frame rates. For me, that's something that the 4500 can't do, and a nice feature for a netbookish size.I agree, in the end it comes down to price. I suspect that a K625 system is going to be cheaper than a SU9400 system. If it has equal or slightly better CPU performance, equal to slightly worse battery life, and much better GPU performance, at a lower price, that's a compelling solution.
Jmills - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
When can we expect a review on the ENVY 14?TareX - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Best netbook to buy:ASUS Eee PC 1215N..... EASILY.
1.8 dual core processor
ION 2
NVIDIA OPTIMUS
Chiclet keyboard
Matte under keyboard
less than $500
Privacy webcam toggle
Coming August 2010
photos: http://gadgetmix.com/netbook/eeepc-1215n-pics/
NICOXIS - Friday, July 30, 2010 - link
What about Samsung r480 ? one of the cheapest i3/i5 + Nvidia GT 330M 14" notebooks on the market.really can't see why this one didn't make it to this article...
therich - Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - link
How about the Asus U43JC? For about the same price as the recommended U33JC, you also get an optical drive and a core i5 processor (although it's clocked similarly to the i3, it does have Turbo).j.sanders - Friday, September 10, 2010 - link
I've narrowed my choices down to these two machines and I'm the opinion of the commentariat and hopefully VivekThe thinkpad is a bit bigger a bit heavier and has resolution of: 1440 x 900 (11.95" x 7.4") vs 1600 x 900 (11.6 wide x 6.5) for the vaio.
The Vaio Z is first choice but I have some reservations:
Screen has great resolution but the dims, 11.6 wide x 6.5 high worry me just a tad.. thats a lot pixel data in not a a lot of space. To those who have used this machine, how do you like the screen? Do you have to zoom in much in your day to day use? I"m assuming that the sony screen is better in terms of color accuracy, white point and black point performance. Confirm or deny?
The other concern I have with the Vaio is the palm rest / keyboard relationship. Palm rest / track pad look pretty small. Any feedback I'd appreciate.
The thinkpad is a different animal. I like the pointy thing in the keys, I"m totally confident of durability and useability. Of course I'd like to have 1600 pixels wide vs 1440 but I won't die without with extra resolution so if the thinkpad is more usable I'd accept the lower resolution.
-J
kakfjak - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - link
www.stylishdudes.com
All kinds of shoes + tide bag
Free transport
computerupgradeking - Monday, February 10, 2014 - link
MSI GE40 2OC-245US i7-4702MQ 2GB NVIDIA 760M 14"UNLEASH THE POWER INSIDE
The latest 4th generation Intel Core-i7 processor in the MSI GE40 not only saves you battery life for a longer gaming experience, but also maintains the best visuals you can get for your games. Enjoy entertainment the way it was meant to be, smoother, faster, and more efficient than the previous generation.
Performance isn't the only requirement for gamers. Designed with the professionally hardcore in mind, the brush aluminum interior and exterior of the thin and solid design would leave anyone in awe. Paired together with the red LED's, this portable gaming beast is professional yet aggressive.
It's Main Features:
Display: 14 Full HD ANTI-REFLECTIVE MATTE-FINISH DISPLAY
Processor: INTEL® CORE™ I7-4702MQ QUAD CORE PROCESSOR
2.20GHZ with a max speed of 3.20GHZ
Graphics: NVIDIA® GEFORCE GTX 760M 2GB GDDR5
Clock speed: 2.20-3.20 GHz
RAM: 12GB upgrade-able to 16GB
HDD: 128GB MSATA + 1TB 7200RPM HARD DISK DRIVE
http://computerupgradeking.com/products/index.php?...