Toshiba Portege R500 Ultraportable First Thoughts Review (Video)

Why nobody answered yet if the Harddisk could be swapped by SSD or not?

 

maybe because no one has a production unit as of yet, or those that do, don't visit forums.

 

I got it finally, still a sample. the trackpad is terrible. they WILL work on that, I am sure. the buttons are a real no-go for the whole computer.

 

fan noise is allright. In my preproduction unit the fan runs continiously but its quite acceptable and I am a very sensitive person....

 

LeonX: can't you tell us if the HardDisk is swappable by SSD?

Thanks

 

Hi Brian,

Great review. I just received my R500 3 days ago. I got it from an online store in the US and it is the XP version. I wanted to share my experiences with everyone because it is a production model. I will list the Pros and Cons of my system and then explain.

Pros: Quiet, Bright Screen, fast enough for basic office tasks, good keyboard.
Cons: Must keep LED on outside to use, poor battery life, keyboard flex allows for cursor skipping, poor mouse buttons, matte screen, poor build quality (memory door doesn't fit flush with the bottom of the laptop) just feels very cheap!

This pc is super quiet even with the fan running. I have used the Dell D420 before and the R500 seems to run a little faster (probably because of the 5400 RPM drive). It is more than fast enough for Office apps, movies and web surfing. The keyboard is nice for how thin this is. It feels like the Dell XPS M1210 keyboard. It is not as good as a thinkpad, but better than most laptops. The one downside is because of the keyboard flex it must vibrate the touchpad enough to make the cursor skip when typing fast. You need to turn the sensitivity way down on the trackpad and then it is very difficult to use the trackpad. I am a college student and I wouldn't be able to use this setup to type papers. I think it would be fine if someone was going to use a seperate keyboard and mouse and only type emails. Now for the cons: The screen is really bright but the matte finish really degrades the quality. A glossy screen would have given this the WOW factor. When comparing to my Lenovo X60 it is like night and day when both on full brightness. The LED switching that Toshiba is touting doesn't work. I tried it outside next to my X60 and you have to leave the LED on to see the screen outside. If you turn it off it is worse than the X60 which is pretty bad outside. This really disappointed me because I purchased the R500 to use outside. With the LED on it is great outside but then you lose the battery saving that Toshiba markets. This takes me to the poor battery life. The most I can get is about 4:15 minutes with everything turned down. Toshiba is touting 12+ hours and I hoped to get at least 6 with the screen on bright. This laptop must be used with the screen almost up to the highest brightness setting in not very difficult to see the screen clearly. With WiFi on and screen to bright I can only get about 3 hours and that is not acceptable from a laptop like this. I have called Toshiba and they have no answer on a fix right now. This is the big deal killer for me. I can get almost 8 hours with my X60 and the keyboard doesn't skip. You mentioned something about a BIOS fix for battery life. That might happen but I won't wait that long. The mouse buttons are pretty cheap and don't offer solid feedback. I don't think they improved them much from your preproduction unit. I have to be critical of the keyboard, touchpad and mouse buttons because I mostly use laptops without external peripherals. The mouse buttons are very poor and the trackpad is very jumpy. If you have tried the touchpad on the Dell XPS M1210 it is 500% better. Toshiba should bundle a nice Bluetooth mouse with this laptop because the touchpad and mouse buttons are very poor. The fit and finish is very poor. I used to own a Portege 205 and it seemed much more durable and the parts and pieces fit together much more seemlessly. I know this is a very thin laptop and it uses magnesium alloys but it still feels very delicate and cheap. If the price point was $1300 it would make sense. There are many other ultra portables that would meet the needs of R500 prospects and they offer better battery life and are more durable.
To conclude, I will not be keeping this laptop. It is not solid enough for the price tag and I wouldn't be able to use this as my sole laptop. It will be fine for business execs or anyone that can afford this as an extra special purpose laptop, but unless they fix the battery life this laptop doesn't even meet the needs of business travelers. The cursor skip is so annoying that I would not recommend this laptop to anyone until they work out the kinks. PLEASE DON'T BUY THIS LAPTOP IF YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT YOUR SOLE COMPUTER! I hope this information helps everyone when they are trying to decide whether to pick up the R500. I love Toshiba products but this is a toy and not a laptop.

 

It does have an LED display but it is a matte display which really limits the brilliance of the LED's.

 

I am planning to buy it real soon, but i am talking about the SSD 64GB version!

So I think it will have better battery life, also u didnt mention which battery u got?

They claim
3-cell gives 6 hrs
6-cell gives 12 hrs

So, i think if u get 4:15 hrs out of the 3-cell then its Good.

Personally I dont like using Laptops mouse, so i'm buying the New Notebook mouse by logitech "VX Nano".

I want to ask about its color, is it like Dark silver or somehow whitey?

Would be gr8 if u can post some pics!

Thanks in advance

 

You don't need to wait because there is BIOS update available already

Version 1.20 07-23-2007

* Power Management control was enhanced in Battery Optimized Mode.


http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_dtlViewDL.jsp?soid=1814153&moid=1702323&rpn=PPR50U&BV_SessionID=@@@@1313787109.1185618394@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddliiedifkcgfkceghdgngdgnn.0&ct=DL&all_docs=false

 

The SSD option replaces the optical drive. You can't have both in this unit. Not enough room. You will need to use an external USB optical with the SSD.

 

I have the 6-Cell and the most I could get was about 4:15 with it. Hopefully they fix this with a new BIOS. If not it is a deal breaker.

 

Who said so?

"R500-S5004
This system comes complete with an Intel® Core™2Duo processor, Windows Vista® Business, 2048MB system memory, 64GB SSD, and a DVD buner for unlimited storage."

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33781

Please report back your experience with the battery after u install the new BIOS.

Good luck!

 

Yes,

You are correct. The 5003 with XP Pro and the SSD doesn't come with the optical drive. The 5004 with Vista does come with both, but this laptop isn't worth 3 grand.

 

Why do you say so?

 

Just because it says it comes with an SSD and an optical, doesn't necessarily mean the optical is built in. Tech, are you able to verify whether or not you can have the SSD drive and internal optical drive?

 

Hi Outrigger,

I have verified through Toshiba that you can have both an SSD and built in optical drive but only on the S5004 which is the Vista version and it will retail for $2999. The XP SSD version is the S5003 and will not have a built in optical drive option. Why I don't know, it may be something with the OS. You will need to use a USB external optical drive with that one. I would certainly prefer the SSD option with the optical drive, but 3 grand is alot of money for what you get. I have been really pleased with the speed of my S5001 unit with the 120GB 5400 rpm drive. It would probably run a little faster with the SSD but until we have some benchmarks showing a huge difference I don't know that I would spend the extra $1k on it. I will let everyone know if the BIOS update improves the battery life.

 

Remember also that the S5004 not just have SSD which could improve speed & performance but it also got an extra 1GB RAM

 

techgeek32,

A question for you. There has been a lot of talk about the keyboard flexing and the mouse pad buttons being really poor, ie. you have to click right in the center for the click to be registered.

What is your impression?

 

Hi Jack,

The keyboard does have some flex but I am pleasantly surprised with how good it feels. I normally use Thinkpads and find this keyboard to be more than acceptable. The only problem I have noticed is that due to the flex the cursor skips. The touchpad will have to be adjusted to a firmer setting to fix this and possible a driver update as well. The mouse buttons are pretty responsive but they do make a loud click. They aren't the best but aren't the worst I have used on a laptop.

 

It actually comes with 1GB standard more, but the max is only 512MB more as the S5001 can handle up to 1.5GB and the S5002 2GB. My guess is that with the resources that Vista uses my XP version with 1.5GB will run faster than the Vista Business model.

 

Hi,

My production unit already came with this BIOS ver. 1.20. I am only getting 4 hours of battery life. I don't know if they will offer a fix down the road or not. I will keep checking for more BIOS updates. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Oh thats really bad, Why don't u contact the support? i mean claiming 12 hrs could reach 6hrs but not 4 !!

 

maybe when they say it can go up to 12 hours is with the backlight down to the lowest, wifi off, and just the laptop sitting there without you touching, kinda like the standby time for a cell phone.

I would usually say if a company claims 10, real world is 5 or half, but only getting 4 out of claimed 12 is just false advertisement.

 

I set the screen to a lower setting that I could barely see the screen and turned Wifi and BT off and on maximum battery setting. I was able to get 4:50 but the computer was unusable because I couldn't see the screen well enough to use it. The other problem is that on the maximum battery setting this processor is too slow to run at an acceptable speed. So you have to use max power to have sufficient processing power and the screen has to be on at least half brightness and the most you will get is 3 to 4 hours. My biggest problem with this unit is that the cursor skips too much for me. I have adjusted touchpad settings and nothing works. I imagine this problem surfaces from the thinness of the unit and the inability to put some cushioning to keep this from happening. I will not be keeping mine. I guess by next year some manufacturer will perfect a laptop of this size.

 

Ouch!! You're giving me the creeps!! I've ordered mine before reading this forum...

Which OS were you using?
How about now? Do you still have the laptop in hand/returned it?
Is there any good review from some users/owners?

I need a laptop for september and was pretty excited with this one, I can't afford to buy a Sony (nor can I afford the delay buying from asia(nor do I wish to buy from sony...)). Which notebook would you recommend that is in the same range?

I need answers ASAP cause I'm supposed to be delivered into 24hours

Thanks for your mind!

 

If this thing had an X3100 it would be a great choice for truly mobile gaming. A 4 hour battery is still fairly decent. I think at 2.4lbs another battery isn't going to weight you down too much lol! Great review btw! I can't wait to see an 'official' review!

 

He said he was using the XP version.

if he's only getting around 4 hrs with the GMA 945, I can't imagine what you would be able to achieve with an X3100 as that sucks more juice along with the more powerful 965 chipset.

 

I don't know what to recommend. I am just now playing with a Dell D430 and it is certainly better than the D420 but I still don't think it is worth $2000. I have an XPS M1210 and when you put the D430 next to it with the mediabase attached it dwarfs the XPS M1210. I will probably just keep my M1210. I just can't find anything that can match the power and size without giving up too many things. I was angry when I last posted about the R500. If they can fix the things I mentioned I believe it could be a great laptop. The D430 ran about as fast as the R500. It is slower just because of the 4200 rpm drive. The D430 can be upgraded to 2GB of RAM which certainly helps. The screen is brighter than the D420. My biggest positive for the R500 is the LED screen. It is still much brighter than the Dell D430 and will work outside. The Dell struggles outside. If you are truly looking for the thinnest and lightest notebook you can get the R500 is still probably the best choice for you. Hope this helped!

 

I have settled on the HP 2510P. I believe it is more durable than the Thinkpad X60 and it has a better LED backlit screen than the Toshiba R500. It runs the new Santa Rosa platform which Toshiba does not and the battery life is amazing. I get almost 7 hours with the 6cell and almost 11 hours with the 9 cell. I have used Thinkpads for years and I actually like the keyboard on this much better. The trackpoint eraser is as accurate as a Thinkpad but the trackpoint buttons aren't quite as good. The touchpad however is the best I have ever used on a laptop. Even better than the Dell XPS M1210. With the built in optical drive and the 2GB memory capacity I think this is the most solid purchase for an ultraportable available right now. My system has Vista Business which runs ok, but I would recommend getting it with XP if you can the speed improvement would be well worth it. The only downside to this laptop is the 4200rpm hard drive, but I plan on upgrading it to an SSD when the prices come down a little.

 

Both HP 2510P and R500 seem to be coming with the same processor (Core 2 Duo U7600) so I am not sure about the Santa Rosa comment! Can you provide a link to your 2510P, please?

 

HP Quick Specs on 2510P:
Click!

Wish all manufacturers had such detailed specs!

 

Thanks, great specs! but I am still not sure why the HP is a Santa Rosa and the R500 is not, given that they have the same processor. Sorry if the question is too basic (I am a newbie, after all

 

Someone was saying it's impossible to type on the R500 due to the flexing keyboard...

I went into advanced touchpad settings and checked 'disable tapping while using keys' and then set the tapping to a medium long delay after the last keystroke....It's working fine, I just typed this reply with no cursor skipping...hope that helps someone...

 

I have also received my R500 and am quite disappointed (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2507880#post2507880). I will not keep it.

techgeek32, I would like to hear about your experience with the HP 2510P:
- fan noise (any, or completely silent?)
- touch pad button "feeling"
- build quality

Thanks
Mike

 

I also had problems with this, but disabling scroll zones on the touch pad solved it for me. This what I did:

• Mouse Properties
• Advanced tab
• Click "Advanced feature settings..." button
• Uncheck following check-boxes under "Touch Pad settings":
  • Use Browser support function
  • Use Scroll function

Did you do this also?

 

techgeek32:
After hearing that you also have experience with the Dell 430 (420?), could you check if you agree on the grades below and give us your own grades on the Dell 430 and HP 2510p?

Code:

                          Dell420    R500
chassis quality feeling   great      poor
fan noise                 silent     medium-high
LCD                       ok         ok, bad angles
touch pad buttons         great      "cheap"

Best regards
Mike

 

Dell 430 HP 2510p
Chassis/Quality *** *****
Noise *** *****
LCD *** *****
Touch pad Buttons *** ****

Five Star Rating with 5 being the best.

 

Great!
I notice that you give the Dell 430 only three stars on fan noise. My wife's 420 is completely silent so I wonder if there has been some change in the 430 design?
Also, if you could give us the same kind of ratings as above for your R500, it would really help to get everything in context.
Thanks
Mike

 

HELP!!

This has absolutely nothing to do with what you posted but I am hoping for some direction. I have a Toshiba Satellite and the silly cursor just started jumping around and random 0 Z or / will show up.....have I hit a goofy key and programmed something or 0 is something fried....see the silly 0??.....this is driving me nuts and I have\z / aske0 dveryonee in the real world bu\z/t no luck......can you see my problem?....I left some mistakes in so you could understand my problem.....started 2 days ago....laptop is 9 months old. I searched jumpy cursor and got you.....can you help or put me onto someone who can.....I would really appreciate it as this is affecting every single thi0ng i type.....thanks again for any help you can give.....Ingrid