Toshiba Tecra R10 Review Discussion

by Jerry Jackson

The Toshiba Tecra R10 is an attractive 14.1" business notebook featuring the latest Intel processors and Nvidia Quadro NVS 150M wrapped inside an impressively thin shell. The Tecra R10 inherits its good looks from Toshiba's Portege line of business notebooks, but are good looks and an impressive spec sheet enough to meet the demands of road warriors? Take a look and see what we have to say about this sleek laptop.

Read the full content of this Article: Toshiba Tecra R10 Review

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• Toshiba Portege R500 Review

 

Seems the cons outweigh the pros.

 

So that Nvidia Quadro NVS 150M is just a GeForce 9200M GS? that's hardly better than GMA X4500, and take much more power. But its a Quadro isn't it, anything from NV with nametag of Quadro is premium product.

 

I've had a couple of Tecras (work issued) in the past and they were bulletproof. My last one was an Tecra M2 in '04-'05. I actually preferred them to the ThinkPads of that era. The Tecra models seemed cooler, more high-tech...especially if they were silver!

A friend of mine got a new Tecra M10 when they first came out about six months ago. It's 14.1" with a WXGA+ (1440x900) display...granted, it's not LED backlit, but I'm surprised that they didn't make the R10's display 1440x900. That would certainly help to justify the $250 premium over a similarly configured M10. Better yet, leave the R10 at 1280x800 and make it a 13.3" notebook, not a 14.1....

The R10 is approximately one pound lighter than the M10 (4.45lbs vs. 5.38lbs) and it's 0.3 inches thinner, so it might appeal to some road warriors. I just hope that along with borrowing the look that it didn't also inherit the Portege's fragile-feeling construction!

 

It pulled a 3DMark06 of 1,822, that's close to double what the Intel 4500MHD can do. There have been Quadro cards based off of the entry level GeForce cores for at least a few generations now. The 140M that went into most ThinkPad T61 and a lot of R61 models what based on the 8400M GS.

Another significant factor is that the Quadro 150M is GDDR3 and the 9200M GS is often DDR2. HP uses a DDR2 version, if I'm not mistaken. The only DDR3 9200M GS that I'm aware of is used in the Samsung X460.

 

Thanks for the review. The lack of WXGA+ display is a limitation. Also, while the display is bright enough for use outside, the battery will limit the opportunity for suffering sun burn.

I would also note, from my experience of using the Toshiba R500 outside, that the glare off the silver keyboard tends to make reading the display harder to read than with a black keyboard.

That card slot blocking the optical drive is a feature shared with the smaller Toshiba R500 / R600. However, your remarks indicate that it doesn't share the smaller sibling's noisy fan.

The current pricing of the Samsung X460 makes it an attractive alternative to the R10.

John

 

Looks like my old Satellite M100. same size and res screen too... but, in silver.

 

The location of quick keys is indeed strange. There is a plenty of space above the keyboard and we're talking about just three quick keys, so I don't get it.

 

Toshiba has done that for years...they have some weird need to put them to them to one side of the keyboard! It bugs me because it's asymmetrical!!!

Take a look at the E105 at this LINK

 

i like the tecra it may not be best in class but it is really sleek and elgeant in a consumer notebook kinda way

 

I like it. I think it looks clean yet somehow modern as opposed to the dull Lenovos. Unfortunately it doesn't really bring anything new to the table to justify it's high price.

 

A few things to like on this laptop: slim, light and the 14" gives some welcome extra screen area.
I am a fan of these - rare - 14" slim notebooks.

But there is a lot I don't get:
Why the quick keys making the keyboard smaller? Hellloooooooooo! How stupid.
And why only 1280x800 pixel. You can get a 13" if 1280x800 is enough for you.
Not sure about the touchpad either.
M.

 

What sized battery was used for the battery drain test?

 

I just bought the Toshiba Tecra R10-11T and I am very pleased with it. I have a lot of extra's such as a kensington lock and security features. What I like too is that the notebook can handle a some damage due to the shock proof security. I got mine tax free on a visit abroad at hardware.nl hardware.be