The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds
70%
Toshiba Portege R700

Toshiba Portégé R700 13in notebook

One-time MacBook Air alternative gets chubby in middle age

  • print
  • alert

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Review Toshiba first introduced its then ultra-lightweight Portégé R500 in 2008 just before Apple unwrapped the MacBook Air.

Toshiba Portege R700

Toshiba's Portégé R700: getting more chubby as the series ages

The R500 didn't generate the same media frenzy that the skinny Mac laptop did, but in many ways it was the better machine. It had a smaller, 12.1in screen - the Air's was 13.3in - but came with Ethernet, an optical drive, a PC Card slot, a memory card slot, VGA, Firewire and three USB ports.

The Air could only manage a single USB port and a proprietary mini DVI connector at that time.

But it was tougher. Clad in aluminium, the Air could withstand drops that would have shattered the more delicate R500.

Toshiba may not have got the headlines that the Air did, but that didn't stop it evolving its slimline alternative, following it with last year's R600 - out went Firewire and the PC Card slot, in came ExpressCard 54 - and now the R700, which adds HDMI and eSata to the mix.

Toshiba Portege R700

From the ultra-mobile to the mainstream

Superficially, it's the same machine just upgraded with a black shell rather than a silver one, more memory, a faster CPU and a bigger hard drive. In fact, the R700 is an altogether chubbier machine, as if, on reaching middle age, the once youthful R500 has put on a few pounds.

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

Next page: Putting on a few pounds

Am I the only one...

... getting a bit sick of Intel's crappy on-board graphics chips? If a laptop is going to have a multi-core CPU running at multiple gigahertz surely it should have a better graphics chip than one that would have been underpowered 8 years ago.

Maybe it's because I'm a hopeless gamer who can only judge hardware specs on the basis of how well they'll run Crysis?

2
0

16:9 screen?

don't buy it! demand 16:10

1
0
(Written by Reg staff)

Re: Battery Life

Ahem...

http://www.reghardware.com/2010/11/15/review_notebook_toshiba_portege_r7a00/page4.html

0
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
First look: iOS 7 for iPad
No, Apple hasn't released it yet, but that doesn't stop intrepid devs
Apple said to be 'exploring' 5.7-inch iPhone
Who's the copycat this time, Mr. Cook?
Review: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock
Missing Mac ports reunited, for a price
 breaking news
Australian 'Apple tax' repealed for MacBook Air
But the new MacPro is priced at a premium