A near perfect road companion with a head turning design, the Toshiba Portégé R500 is an amazing ultraportable with only a couple of minor shortcomings.
The $2,149 R500-S5002 model measures a trim 0.8×11.1×8.5 inches and weighs just 2.4 pounds. Despite this small case, you still get a bright 1,280×800-resolution, 12.1-inch LED-backlit display, as well as a comfortable, fullsize, spill-resistant keyboard, a decent-size touch pad, and a fingerprint reader. The notebook also packs a solid set of ports, slots, and connections, plus a very slim drawer style DVD±RW burner, a rare feature in an ultraslim model.
The notebook has built-in Wi-Fi but no option for integrated wireless, broadband circuitry. Also, it lacks a built-in Webcam and has only one speaker. Finally, though the case is made of magnesium alloy, the body feels a little too flexible, especially right below the optical-drive bay.
As for performance, the model’s ultra-low-voltage 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor is more than adequate for office tasks and basic entertainment. But its multitasking is a touch lackluster, no doubt due to the skimpy 1GB of memory on the motherboard. (A single open slot lets you raise the total RAM to 2GB.) Battery life was great, however. On the DVD rundown test with Vista’s power management set to high performance, the R500 lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes, and on balanced performance, it’s nearly four hours. If you want to save even more power, a handy switch lets you turn off the LCD’s backlight, allowing the trans reflective screen to use natural light to brighten the display.