Toshiba Portege R500 Review

You mean the "TZ"?

 

Good point, the 1" extra makes sense if the resolution is comparable, like with R500 and TZ. The resolution of Vaio G is much lower at 1024x768. I have seen the G at various shops and have been tempted now that its price has dropped, but low resolution and weaker processor (Core Solo) put me off. I agree G's keyboard feels better than the TZ/X "buttons", but I have seen G's keys broken(!) at a couple of places, so it does not feel as solid. I have read that TZ is as solid/sturdy as the old TX and even a Toshiba R500 cannot match this!

If I had the extra cash (and better eyesight), I think would go for the TZ, but the R500 screen feature still intrigues me: the thought of being at a sunny cafe/resort and using the light to "power" my screen! But then, as someone said, if you are under so much sun, switch off the laptop and just enjoy your coffee/sea

 

Yep, of course...

 

Just don't expect any miracles. In full sunlight you can turn off the backlight and everything is clearly visible, but nowhere comparable to what you get inside. If your taste is more towards sitting in the shade, you have to turn on the backlight and I would say that there the TZ is already better.

The problem I had with the Vaio G keyboard was that several of the keys were quite unresponsive and had to be pushed with energy, not conducive to light ten finger writing...

 

My budget had no limit with my notebook choice, so it was between the TZ, G, and R500. I would have chosen the G (having the best build quality of the 3), but the 4:3 aspect ratio is not what I wanted. I instead went for the TZ. The R500 just seems too fragile, and I wanted the best screen possible.

 

Just goes to show how different people are; I liked the build quality of the Vaio G least. TZ is definitely the most solid of the three, but considering the weight I find the Portege very good also.

 

djbobo-
Thanks for all your comments... they are VERY helpful to those of us who can't see these laptops in person.

I have a Toshiba R200 and had an R100 before that. I have to say, build quality wise, I was pretty impressed with both, but neither had a very good screen. They were much dimmer than competitor models and I do get some light leakage across the very bottom of the screen.

However, I have never experienced anything like the pictures taken in the review of the R500! Both the top and bottom had severe light leakage and it was uneven across the screen making it even more visibly distracting. I'm thinking of getting the R500 for my wife but I don't know if I could bring myself to do it if the screen are really that bad.

I would really appreciate it if you could give your detailed opinion about the screen image quality, light leakage, viewing angles, etc... My wife is an English professor so she really only needs it for email, internet, word. There is a chance she would use it for some light music/movie tasks but that would be rare. Her old Dell X300's screen (5 year old 12" XGA with some light leakage in the bottom corners) isn't great and it is not the glossy variety so the R500's screen doesn't have to perform best in class. However, I would hate for her to have to downgrade in that respect. Based on your screen, do you think she would be disappointed? Or would you classify it as "different" but not distracting?

Also, you don't have to measure or anything, but I would also appreciate it if you could take a guess as to how much battery-life she could expect using it for her email, internet and word tasks. Toshiba reported like 7 hours on my R200 but I only get about 2.5 when I have the screen set to a usable brightness (usually 6/8) and am using wireless. It sounds like the R500 has improved in that regard, but is still no where near its specs of 11+ hours! Would you think she could expect a solid 4 hours? 4.5 hours? Possibly 5 hours?

Thanks again for your help!

 

This is really not that easy to answer. It depends mostly on your priorities, I think. If this would be a computer for serious work, do you really need the lightest machine around? Some of the 13 inch machines are still reasonably light and much easier on the eyes. As I have said before, to my mind the Vaio TZ is too small for serious work, and the Portege does improve considerably on that, also typing is much easier. As you can see from the pictures I have posted, the screen is not as bad as the pictures in the test seem to indicate. The screen IS very angle dependent which is more pronounced in dark areas. In a way it has a slight etched glass look which must have something to do with its being transflective.
I haven't really done any serious measuring on the battery life, but from my general experience I would say that considering the small battery it is very good indeed.

 

Well, my wife and I have pretty much both bought into the subnote (+ docking station with full size keyboard/monitor for the house) setup. We both keep our laptops with us at all times so size/weight are very crucial. As mentioned she has a Dell X300 now. It is about 5 lbs. with the big battery and AC adapter and has a 12" XGA screen. We looked at the Sony SZ and Dell M1330 with the 13.3" screens but she would still be at around 5 lbs. total... albeit with a bigger screen and a built-in optical drive (which isn't really a necessity for her). We did some comparisons and she liked the 12" 1280x800 screen models, but thought the TZ with the 11" screen was too small to be usable everyday.

So at this point, we are looking at both the 12" and 13" widescreen models, but I think she would prefer a 12" so she can drop a few pounds. Being a literature professor, she already carries around tons of books so every pound counts!

Thanks for your comments. Any more insight you can offer would be appreciated.

 

Well, I deal in rare books, so we are not that far off. I just did another comparison and have come to the conclusion that, first, the screen of the Toshiba is by far not as bad as it has been made out (if there have been changes in the supplier of the screen I obviously would not know), and secondly, even though the Sony screen is definitely better, it is tiring on the eyes in the long run because of the size, and I will definitely go with the Toshiba! That's the best I can do to give you my impressions.

 

Thank you again!

I think we are going to wait a few weeks to see if any begins to carry the Toshiba locally, but I don't have high hopes living in Wisconsin. At a minimum, we are hoping for an online dealer like Amazon to begin carrying it as I'm pretty sure they don't charge a restocking fee if she doesn't like the screen. In the mean time I'm hoping for a few more professional reviews as well as more user reviews to see how much of a fluke this screen problem is.

I'll be the first to admit Toshiba's tech support is slow and generally crappy so I'm hoping quality issues are few and far between. This review from Jerry really had me worried out of the gates...

 

Thanks for the insight, djbobo, very useful.

I think you have started changing my views on R500, as I was reluctant with its screen quality. On a different matter, TZ has all those shiny quick-start/media buttons on the front that are missing from R500. Do you feel this is a great omission? I guess TZ is targeting a less business-oriented audience, and has been designed with TX functionality in mind. Having had only an old (pre-media) laptop, I have never worked out how useful these keys are!

 

I agree it is best to wait a few weeks. Toshiba will have sorted out the optical drive problem and the new SSD (Solid State Drive) models will be in wide circulation. If weight is an issue, this may be the way fwd:
Portege R500-10U with U7600 (1.2GHz ULV), 64GB SSD, 12'' WXGA at 0.779Kg(!) Note the lack of optical drive, though.

 

Well, this has worked out the wrong way around for me, since I have the TZ without optical drive and so do not have much use for the buttons except for media player and I have the R500 with the optical drive and no buttons. But since I am mostly using virtual disks for traveling, I don't really miss them.

I have the Portege in the only configuration sold here, which is 1.2 processor, 2gb Ram and 160gb HD. I just can't see myself living with the small SSD. At that point I am beginning to think HTC Shift or something like that.

 

With the larger SSD at 64GB, I think it's workable as long as it's not your only computer. (I've been living with a Latitude X1 with 60GB as my personal lappy -- supplementing my home desktop and my corporate NC2400) However, at a ~$700 premium on the R500 the SSD doesn't quite pencil out! (at least for a personal purchase)

The TZ at 32GB is definitely just too small for me...

 

djbobo, thank you so very much for taking the time to contribute. All your input is greatly appreciated for someone seriously considering the R500, and possibly not having the chance to see and feel one before buying, so thanks!

 

I agree. Thank you very much. I think that I will wait for the R500. Hopefully Toshiba UK will not make us wait too long.

 

Are they not available in the UK yet? i just cancelled my xps m1330 order as i was sick of waiting 3 mths and dells lying indian based CS reps. I think i want one of these R500's too, providing i can get one ASAP. Have they had problems with the 7mm dvd drive then? what are toshiba UK doing about it?

 

Nice very detailed review with clear pics:

http://eng.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=3694

 

They certainly are, but in short supply. www.laskys.com have 5 in on Tuesday.

As of today 3 are already taken

 

Thanks for link: very detailed pics.

The model reviewed is the one without optical DVD. It is not clear in the article if an external optical drive comes with the laptop (i.e. included in the price/package). Does anyone know?

 

have you ordered one of these ? if so did you get it from laskys? and are these the fisrt wave of r500's that have the screen/dvd drive problems? as every where seems to be having trouble getting stock now. Comet had 7 instock online about 2 wks ago but they have all gone now and have also been removed from website entirely...i spoke to comet and they told me they don't know if they are getting anymore stock. Any thoughts?

 

Hi djbobo,

I recently bought the R500 with the same configuration and I would really like to check one thing with you: fan noise.

My fan is running constantly, independent of cpu usage. The default power settings at delivery make the fan run at high speed, which may be lowered by adjusting Cooling Method in Toshiba Power Saver Properties, but the fan is still running constantly albeit at a lower speed.
I just received the machine so installation is still default XP with nothing installed by me.

What is your experience with fan noise?

Best regards
Mike

 

The ToshibaDirect website is showing some tweaks to the Portege R500 line:

* R500-S5006X
Main changes appear to be a U7700 (1.33ghz, from a U7600/1.2) processor, 160GB HD (from 120gb), and 2GB RAM out of the box (vs 1gb)

Everything else looks the same as before, and NO 3G modem that some may have expected to be added. I did a quick Google search; it doesn't look like any retailers are listing this model yet.

* R500-S5004
This model number remains mostly unchanged (including the original U7600 processor) -- BUT I noticed a small tweak to the description of the display:

"with High Brightness" is new.

Does anyone know anything about this revised display component? Hopefully it might help resolve some of the complaints about the R500's screen?

Anyone?

 

I have the 5004 model with SSD, and my fan also spins all the time. I even tried using it outside - where the cpu temp. reached 32deg celsius - and the fan was on. So I guess there is no way to turn it off. Although I hate it. If anybody has a solution to this annoyance, let us know! Toshiba should be doing better!

 

Hi all

I first got the Portege R500-10J in the UK and at first I was impressed. The laptop is so light its unheard of. However after a week of using it the flaws came through. The LED bleed on the backlight, the lack of a web cam and the poor Vista OS installed on it. Plus tons of bloatware, and at that time, no XP downgrade disks.

I took it back to the shop and they agreed with the screen bleed issues and agreed to swap it. I chose to upgrade to the TZ21MN/B model paying a little extra cash for a slightly slower notebook.

At firt the TZ was slow, but after a P1 Vista install, an upgrade to 2GB ram and a 8GB Express card for use with readyboost the machine runns sweet. And I also have the option to overclocking this to 1.2Ghz and its totally stable.

For me I would love the Portege is they sorted out the build quality (feels like it could snap any second) and the very poor screen bleed. For now though I am happy with my TZ.

C.

 

Within 3 months of purchasing TOSHIBA Portege M600 Notebook from HCL (under 3 year extended global warranty for which extra money is paid), inner layer of LCD screen broken while doing usual work, without any mishandling.

HCL concluded the matter saying " FOC replacement is subject to approval of TOSHIBA". Toshiba concluded the matter saying “mishandling as cause of damage" without any technical investigation of notebook"

Surprisingly, such a technology giant is not interested to find out cause of defect.

 

Hi guys
this is my first post in this nice forum that I know from a long time.
I have just purchased a second hand R500 that is in great conditions. The only unhappy defect is that the screen presents some spots of light:









The seller confirmed to me that these defects are present from the first time and I belive him because I had a worse situation with my previous Dell X300 (strangely a 12" laptop as well...).
The notebook has 13 months but fortunately I discovered that it's still under warranty (2 years' extension). So I opened a claim with Toshiba Italy and now it seems that they're ordering a new screen (I'm checking the situation through Toshiba web site).
What do you think about this situation?
I also hope to receive an improved screen in general because I wasn't too satisfied about the colours and the viewing angles!

 

I have also got a Toshiba R500 (link below to my review). The display is much better than yours but has one slightly bright area near the top left corner. It is not a problem that I notice unless I look very hard.

Perhaps the transflective design makes it more difficult to make perfect displays.

John

 

I'll soon post a comparison with a Portege R200 I have, for the moment see the the difference between r200 and r500 screens: