If you love your notebooks “impossibly thin and light”, then Toshiba’s re-working of its 755 gram laptop the Portégé R500 (imaginatively monikered the Portégé R600) should intrigue you – as it has the folk at trustedreviews.com.
Initially somewhat disappointed with its predecessor, they were “were delighted to discover a much improved machine when we got our hands-on on the Portégé R600 at Toshiba’s Mobility Conference in Zurich” – reassuring us that “problems we had seen with its predecessor were largely remedied.”
Whatsmore, according to Andy Vandervell, “nowhere are the improvements more apparent than in the keyboard” – and “the build quality issues of the R500 have been remedied quite comprehensively”. Also, with new batteries on their way (see here for details) – things are only looking up for the world’s trimmest laptop.
So pop over to read the full low-down at trustedrevies.com, and with it the interesting shots of the laptop from all angles – not to mention stripped of its tasty shell!
Never ones to have too much of a good thing, we’ve taken yesterdays popular topic of Toshiba-related conversation, the Portégé R600 – and are expanding on it. This time by focussing on a really rather cracking review of the lightweight notebook by pcpro.co.uk – who ensure us that with this stylish notebook “the devil is in the detail”.
Focussing on those all-important little extras like the better protected, and more flexible, screen “certainly we gave it a good old flex and it stayed in shape”, and embedded 3G mobile broadband which “with an extended battery - and an astonishing weight of 779g, makes this a highly attractive laptop for mobile professionals”.
There are some more basic elements of the device that have been turning pcpro heads too, not least the keyboard, which “is a pleasure to use too. All the keys are large and easy to hit, with a responsive feel” – nice, and what of using this feather-light (almost) laptop outside? “There’s a transflective LED display, and by pressing a single button you can make it feasible to use outside on a sunny day.”
To read the whole account of this laptop, pop over to the source on pcpro – or just feast your eyes on this pretty image below.
The world and his dog are attempting (or pretending at least) to go green at the moment, and for companies across the world, there is an entire dictionary of popular eco-related buzzwords that must be adhered too.
However, according to those over at gadgettell.com, “Toshiba are taking a different approach”, and are aiming to recycle 12 million pounds of electronics in the US by 2010. Agreeing to recycle any kind of e-waste, “Toshiba will accept any sort of electronics from cell phones to computer to video game systems, all without having to buy a single thing” – unlike Dell, who only deal with Dell branded items.
Even better in these dark days of economic decline, “Toshiba will even pay you for recycling as a trade-in (which, admittedly Best Buy has offered before). For example, my two year old MacBook Pro would get me $325, and a $25 Starbucks gift card. Not bad” says the correspondent “if I wanted to get rid of my computer.”
For more information, click here – and search out those old devices – they could be worth a few quid.
“I love it” is the resounding conclusion of the Toshiba Equium delivered on YouTube by 1234BlueBoy, albeit just a small clip of his 19 minute long, 2 part comparison of the Equium and his pal’s MacBook Air.
Focussing heavily on what he sees as a very reasonable pricepoint of the device, and all the features packed in to his Equium, it’s fair to say that he rates this notebook very highly. Take a look at the video below, and then follow this link for part 2 of his comparative review.
OK – so we all know that Toshiba’s Toshiba Portege R500 weighs less than 2 pounds (1.72 to be precise), and the fact that it’s lighter than the much lauded Apple MacBook. But how does it fare in all other respects?
Well – for those whose eye’s are a touch weary after a long day at the computer, allow the soft visuals and gentle words of our pals at logictv.com take you through the benefits, and otherwise, of this notebook.
This computer “offers the latest bells and whistles in an ultra-portable laptop with lightweight frame”, although there is an Achilles Heel – in terms of performance… To find out more just click ‘play’ below.
Steve from Machines That Go Bing has posted an in-depth review of the Toshiba Qosmio G40, testing to see how it “stacks up as a games machine as will as a media box.” He first gives an overview of the G40 specs, writing that he suspects “the 250GB hard disk will fill up very quickly”, after which he gives his first impression of the notebook.
Though Steve finds the lack of numeric keypad an annoyance and dislikes that the blue lights remain on when watching a DVD (he likes watching films in the dark for a bit of atmosphere), he finds the G40 is great for game playing; at lower resolutions, the frame rate “rarely fell below 60 fps even with full shadow complexity, filtering and textures.” He also thinks the sound is “fantastic” and the 17” display is great for playing movies and games.
Steve sums up by saying that he thinks it’s a little heavy to be very portable, but it’s great to move around the house and garden and the ideal use of the notebook “would probably be for a child’s bedroom or a parent’s study”, after which he offers a full listing of the Qosmio G40’s specifications. Read the full review at Machines That Go Bing.
It seems that a certain proportion of the laptop-buying public won’t rest until they have the lightest notebook on the market, and it is with some delight, no doubt, that our pals over at infopockets.com have discovered the 1.72 pound Toshiba Portege R500-S5007V.
First things first – and we know it’s the question everyone will be asking, and the
answer is an unequivocal yes! “Apple’s MacBook air clocks in at 3 pounds and Lenovo’s Thinkpad X300 is still 1.21 pounds heavier than the Portege at 2.93 pounds”. So there you have it – and we’re saying nothing.
Of course, such demure laptoppery (I’m inventing words here) comes at a price,
and “if consumers opt for the “world’s thinnest widescreen,” at.77 inches, the notebook comes with an integrated DVD-SuperMulti drive. However, if you want the ‘world’s lightest widescreen’ you will have to live without the optical disk drive.”
Toshiba have always prided themselves on producing laptops that can be utilised in plenty of different ways, and tomorrow could see one of the toughest tests yet. You see, deep in the bowels of the CosmoCaixa in Spain, a pitched chess battle will be taking place – man versus machine, but with a twist!
For not only will ICC’s infamous Deep Junior 11 (running on a home-desktop Dell Vostro 200) be displaying its legendary electronic wit, lets not forget that this is a version of the programme that deposed World Champion Gary Kasparov in 1997, but it will be pitted against a combined challenge from Grand Master Miguel Illescas and Junior 10, running on a Toshiba laptop A-100, with 2GHz T7200 processor, 1GB RAM.
Miguel Illescas is a seven-time Spanish champion and second to former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, and his relationship with computers is a crucial one, having been consulted in the original programming of Deep Blue. Can he and the Toshiba A-100 triumph? The chess world waits… Trusted reviews would probably back them, based on their 9/10 review here…
He promised tricky questions, and he delivered. It’s back to our old pal Steve at machinesgobing.com, and his interview speaking to the Emily Shirley, Head of Product Marketing at Toshiba Europe GmbH, during Toshiba’s ‘Take a Closer Look’ event in Paris on the 7th May. To find out where Toshiba pitch themselves in the market compared to Apple, where they see the future of laptop design and the response to the suggestion that the Portégé M800 is a stereotyped American design, follow this link here for a really good read!
And for an extensive review of the Qosmio G40, look no further than this next chap… A few weeks ago we approached Barbie, a sometime roadie and previous occupant of almost any career you can imagine (if you don’t believe me, check his about page) – to review the Toshiba Qosmio G40 – the result being a spectacular essay which covers everything from his dislike of Microsoft Vista, to the quality of the screen. One of his conclusions “All in all I wouldn’t recommend this as portable laptop. As a Media Centre or a high-end games machine, then it fairs much better.” – but there’s so much more than this to review, I suggest you head over and read it.
More links, and more news today fresh from the Take a Closer Look event – this time from our good pal Steve at ‘Machines that go Bing’ who has posted a huge account on the launch of the Portégé M800 laptop.
Not only has he got a whole heap of information on the technical specifications, inspiration and information behind the notebook, but has even included some of the comments from Tim Jaekel of Toshiba based around the devices similarity to Apple products that Steve cheekily explored… Well, they did ask for tough questions.
Do keep an eye on his blog, which will be generating plenty of content over the next few days – and meanwhile, take a look at this short video of Steve’s experiences of the event.
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If you love your notebooks “impossibly thin and light”, then Toshiba’s re-working of its 755 gram laptop the Portégé R500 (imaginatively monikered the Portégé R600) should intrigue you – as it has the folk at trustedreviews.com.
