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    Help me choose between 2 or 3 laptops (r500 or r600)

    Discussion in 'Toshiba' started by lextsy, Dec 16, 2009.

  1. lextsy

    lextsy Newbie

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    Hi All,

    I used to own ( and still do, but cannot find a hard drive) an R100. I took a vacation to USA and bought a HP DV3 from frys. C2D 2.1, 500GB, 64Bit and 4gb ram. Its a nice laptop

    However,

    I am moving to USA for 1 year and have no idea where or what im doing. I have a working visa but will possibly be travelling with a backpack as i might be backpacking a bit before I settle down and look for work.

    Anyway, In Australia stuff is expensive but I have found a place with multiple cheap r500 and r600s and i want one i just dont know which one so I need advice.

    Current laptop
    HP DV3 - 2.2kgs
    Offer 1
    Toshiba R500-003 No optical drive, 64gb SSD, 1GB Ram, Vista (Free upgrade to 7), 779grams $900
    Offer 2
    R600-003 Optical drive, 200gb hdd non ssd, 3gb ram, vista (free upgrade to 7), 1.16kgs $1400
    Offer 3
    R600 - 004 No optical drive, 128gb SSD, 3GB RAM $2200

    Now offer 3 seems way too expensive i think, so its between the r500 and r600 for 500 dollars difference.

    Now i am selling my DV3 for 800 I had recently bought so the r500 would near be a direct swap, but the r600 seems such better quality, processor and ram but its 400grams heavier.

    The whole point of swapping laptops was for something light to travel with so im torn between the r500 and r600. R500 Light and no extra $ and the R600 Heaps better but heavier and $500 extra.


    Does any one have any opinions? Itd be nice to hear a " I have played with both and the r500 isnt that bad" or a " r600 all the way"

    Thanks
     
    lextsy, Dec 16, 2009
    #1
  2. DavidT

    DavidT Notebook Enthusiast

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    Lexsty,

    If it's any help, I'm still delighted with the R500 (Vista) that I bought new in May 2008. In May 2009 I put a 160GB Intel SSD into it (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=367467). With the SSD inside, it's probably the most satisfying laptop I've ever had.

    The screen size and keyboard are adequate to do real work on, yet the light weight is a real boon when traveling. Mine has the built-in 3G option so I can connect anywhere. And the fact that you can turn off the backlight and still view the screen in bright daylight is a very useful feature. Another useful thing when travelling is you can tell one of the USB ports to act as a charging source even when the machine is off. This saves weight on chargers for other gadgets.

    My 'main' machine when not travelling is a 2.16GHz Tecra M5 running XP (also retrofitted with the same 160GB Intel SSD) but the R500 feels just as as fast and usable. It handles the Aero display perfectly well.

    I've not used the R600 but here are a few comments.
    1. The R600 but not the R500 has a built-in web cam which would be convenient for Skyping.
    2. It seems that the R500 is easier to disassemble for swapping hard drives than the R600.
    3. My R500 came with a 2.5 inch mechanical drive so I replaced it with a 2.5" SSD. The built-in SSD version might use a smaller drive. Just something to watch...
    4. Mine has a DVD drive built-in but in practice I've seldom used it. Still if you're away from base for long periods it might be handy and built-in might be lighter than a USB optical drive.

    I don't envy you having to make the choice, but I bet you won't regret getting an R500 or an R600. How about getting option 2 and putting in an SSD?
     
    DavidT, Dec 21, 2009
    #2
  3. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac 404

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    What are the GPU's and CPU's in each of them?
     
    Amnesiac, Dec 21, 2009
    #3
  4. DavidT

    DavidT Notebook Enthusiast

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    Here's information from Toshiba's 'Diagnostic Tools' for a proper comparison. Both hard drives are Intel X-25.

    Model Name TECRA M5
    Part Number PTM51E-02X01WEN
    OS Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3
    BIOS Version Version 3.70
    CPU Intel(R) CPU T2600 @ 2.16GHz
    Memory 2048MB RAM
    Hard Disk Capacity 160,039,272,960 [Byte] 149.048 [GB]
    Hard Disk Free Space Capacity 47,280,885,760 [Byte] 44.034 [GB]
    Video NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M ver=8.6.0.5
    Screen Resolution 1400 x 1050 Pixel

    Model Name PORTEGE R500
    Part Number PPR50E-05600JEN
    OS Version Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Business SP2
    BIOS Version Version 1.60
    CPU Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU U7700 @ 1.33GHz
    Physical Memory 2048MB RAM
    Hard Disk Capacity 179,431,526,400 [Byte] 167.109 [GB]
    Hard Disk Free Space Capacity 45,290,270,720 [Byte] 42.180 [GB]
    Video Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset family
    Screen Resolution 1280 x 800 Pixels
     
    DavidT, Dec 22, 2009
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  5. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac 404

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    I'd be inclined to go for the first, it would be better for CAD and things of that nature.
     
    Amnesiac, Dec 28, 2009
    #5