subject: Toshiba Portege R705-P41 Tru Brite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop-Toshiba Portege R705-P41 Tru Brite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop Review [print this page] Toshiba Portege R705-P41 Tru Brite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop-Toshiba Portege R705-P41 Tru Brite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop Review
The R705 is unique in packing a full-performance CPU, DVD writer, and a 13" screen while weighing the same as a 10-inch netbook. You will appreciate the lightness, but may have to get used to the thin and hollow feel of panels and casings. The internal structure should prove reliable, though. Rather than the MacBook's all-round sturdy feel, this machine is engineered to be solid where it counts. It weighs 30% less than the 13-inch unibody Macbook Pro: 3.2 lbs vs 4.5 The only catch is that full performance means "integrated graphics", if you can live with that. I develop websites and run virtual machines, so it's not that big a difference with enough RAM and reliable drivers.
Toshiba designed this model to be a "business-class" machine, with a 3 year warranty and life-cycle. So I wouldn't worry about the 1 year warranty, if that means business quality at consumer prices.
The 13-inch 16:9 display is something of a cross between the newer glossy displays and older matt displays. It's a bit more reflective than the VAIO Z panel, and the angles are not as good. Colors are just as great, though. It's not as spacious as the Macbook's 13-inch 16:10 display, but nowhere as near reflective.
Lastly, the cooling fan is a little noisy, but only if some buggy software or script-heavy browser session is occupying your CPU. The nice thing about a Core i5 CPU is that it does all the work quickly and returns to idling, unlike ultra low-voltage CPUs which drag on. If anything you can kill runaway processes on the i5 more quickly.
I did a LOT of reading of reviews, and looking at laptops, before choosing this Toshiba. I am HAPPY with my choice. For me, it was the best blend of features, weight, and price. Nothing else was comparable, when considering all three.
I use the computer constantly: Word processing, voice recognition, maintaining Websites, databases, etc. I travel weekly to another city for two days of work, and need to duplicate almost everything I do on my desktop. Weight is also crucial to me. I've used netbooks (too small, weak for my needs) 15" laptops (too big and too heavy) and have had 2 Sony Vaio's with 13" screens. This Toshiba is by far the best laptop I've ever had. Screen size is perfect for my needs, weight is incredible, price was lowest in class, very happy with the processor. Keyboard is easy to type on (I type a lot, touchtype). I really have no qualms about this machine. This is NOT a machine for serious video editing work. But excellent for all else I do. I like the touchpad. After I made Recovery DVD's (two sets) I partitioned the 500 GB drive immediately (used Parted Magic, worked great) to separate my data from OS and programs. I might upgrade to 8GB Ram, as almost from the start the OS (W7 H-Prem) uses 35% of memory resources before I start loading programs, and I run multiple programs. Plan to use VMware with Linux.
This laptop is great. You will be amazed at how light (just a little over 3 lbs.) and the overall appearance is a business-type look which is great. The pictures on the amazon.com product description is misleading. The eSATA USB port is AVAILABLE on this version. This product also INCLUDES Wi-Di as well. The laptop works flawlessly, it is very very fast considering that it is an intel core i5 processor and how small it is. You will be very pleased.
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