Review: Toshiba Portege R700 high-end ultraportable notebook

Overall Rating

By danwarne, November 16 2010

Toshiba Portege R700 high-end ultraportable notebook

Notes

The Good

Amazingly light weight
DVD writer
Great warranty

The Bad

Nothing to mention

X-Factor

One of the thinnest full-featured notebooks

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Introduction

Toshiba's top-of-the-line 1.1KG ultraportable notebook is unbelievably light considering what it includes.

Content

The Toshiba R700 is phenomenally light.

The keyboard has "island" style keys.

Despite its extremely light weight, the Toshiba R700 manages to include a DVD writer.

The left-side ports on the Toshiba R700.

The right-side ports on the Toshiba R700.

Toshiba's slimmest notebook can cost as little as $1595 for an Intel Core i3 model,an Intel Core i3 model, or as much as $3877.50, for an Intel Core i7 model with a 256GB SSD drive. There are models everywhere in between, with many different combinations of processor, storage and built-in 3G.

What they all have in common, though, is extremely light weight -- around 1.1KG -- and fairly slim profile -- 1.7cm at the thinnest point, 2.6cm at the thickest. They all include a DVD writer, which is handy if you tend to attend events with handout CDs. The 13.3" matte screen has a good resolution of 1366x768px -- the same as many 15" notebooks, so you won't find the screen cramped. The case is finished in brushed-black.

The Portege R700 also runs full-speed Intel CPUs -- not the ultra-low voltage varieties often used in very slim notebooks due to their lower heat output.

In terms of convenience features, there's an SD camera memory card slot (Toshiba confusingly calls it a "bridge media slot"), an HDMI port for connecting to home or hotel TVs, a VGA port for connecting to meeting room projectors and a webcam for Skype video chats.

Toshiba says the included battery will give you eight hours' runtime and an optional larger battery will give you 12 -- but take these figures with a grain of salt; manufacturer battery life claims are often twice as high as real-life.

Toshiba's warranty is worth mentioning -- it comes with three years' international warranty, including courier pickup/return if you have a problem that needs technician attention within Australia. Toshiba also offers a good range of extra-cost warranties such as Australia/New Zealand on-site repair for up to four years.

Online: Toshiba
Price: ranges from $1595 to $3877.50 depending on model.