Portege R700 - the thin and light 13.3"

Holy crap...what a long thread...took me two days to read it from page 1 to 96...

Ordered my R700 -1310 (model # PT310U-01Q01Q) from NextWarehouse for $939 (free shipping in US). Had it shipped to a freight forwarder in Seattle (Clipper Direct Cargo), they bring it to me in Victoria, BC for $25 for up to 40lbs. I go pick it up, go through customs, maybe pay some duty and HST...

And I'll get an i3 w/ 500GB @ 5400rpm, BT (I got used to having my BT mice) and no french canadian keyboard!

I'll probably upgrade to an SSD someday...

Estimate delivery to Seattle (August 10th).

I'll let you guys know how things are when it actually gets to me...

 

Where do you get warranty work done?

That is a good price as the i3 here is 999.00 with only a 160gb hdd.

 

RunSilent gave a good rundown. I got the r700-s1310 b/c, as we've discussed here before, Bing used to offer 15% cashback at TigerDirect (expired 7/31) so one could get the r700 for only $850 after cashback, which was very close to the r705. I used the rebate to purchase a 3-year accidental damage warranty from Toshiba (my young kids broke my HP dv100 twice in 3 years; got great value out of that ADP warranty).

From my perspective, while WiDi would be nice one has to be within 12 feet of the TV to use it, so I can just use a longish HDMI cable to similar effect if I want. Bluetooth is important to me, but of course r705 users can just get a bluetooth USB dongle.

One more thing:
I'm a little bit leery of BestBuy and their tendency to offer specialized lines of merchandise for less money than the regular line (e.g. r705 vs. r700). I get the feeling that they might be cutting corners. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I've heard it expressed by other people. If you replace your computer often then maybe it's no big deal. I try to hold onto mine for at least 3 years, though, so the 3-year warranty (and the implicit manufacturer confidence that it seemed to indicate) made a difference to me.

 

Not sure...my fiance's mom lives in seattle, so if something goes wrong I guess I'll get it shipped back to Toshiba USA, but with the 3 years of international warranty, I might try canada first and see.

My current laptop (LG t1 Express Dual) has been working fine for 4.5 years and according to this:
ASUS best, HP worst for notebook reliability | Electronista

Toshiba is supposed to be the 2nd most reliable laptop brand

 

I just posted this over at toshiba support but thought I'd paste it here for people too.

Finally Figured it out.

Here is the real deal for anyone who wants to know.

Basically, the ones that say TruBrite are Glossy and the ones that say TFT are Matte.

So that means that..

The S1311 (Base model) is Glossy.
The S1321/S1331 (higher end) are Matte

The Best Buy 705 is Glossy.

All Canadian versions are Matte. Even the base model.

But the Canadian versions get slightly dumbed downed specs for the price and have the horrible bilingual keyboard. (I've yet to see a picture of it though)

So the way Toshiba has made it is that getting a Matte screen either means reduced battery with the i5 and a higher price. Or Canadians get lower specs for the same price and the awful keyboard layout.

There is no way to get a core i3 with Matte screen and US keyboard layout. (unless you get UK or other model maybe?)

 

I see three partitions on my R700-ST1300 (with 128Gb SSD).

System - 1.465Gb
C Drive - 107.4Gb
HDD Recovery (hidden) - 10.41GB​

I've done a backup of all three to an external drive.
Can I remove the recovery partition and add the space to the C Drive. What's the best method to do that.
Thanks for any advice.

 

You can remove the recovery, not the system (under win7).

Best way is to reinstall windows and when on the disk screen delete the C and recovery partitions and make one new one.

Secondary option is to use partition software and merge the two partitions but this doesn't always go so well and can cause file corruption now or later. It also usually takes a long time.

 

Does anybody that bought theirs from Toshiba.ca (CANADA) have a picture of the keyboard?

 

You have nothing to worry about BestBuy and its special configured retail models. BestBuy has actually requested some excellent combination of specs from the OEM laptop makers.

1. Toshiba R705, which you're familiar with.

2. Sony Vaio CW: BestBuy received universal praise for having selected a configuration with an excellent combination of features.

If only it eliminated its 15% restocking fee, it be perfect.

 

How noticeable is the feel of constant vibration that some users reported? Probably due to the Airflow fan right under left palmrest or the hard disk. Does the SSD model produce vibration, too?

 

I guess the vibration occurs on some machines, but not others. While I had the HDD in my R700-1320, I didn't notice any vibration. I replaced my HDD with a third-party SSD and have not experienced vibration even when the fan is running at highest airflow.

 

Thanks meboy.
So...to reinstall windows would I run the recovery software (that was hidden) from an external drive

 

The recovery disk may just give you back what you have now (with recovery partition). Maybe someone else who's done that can confirm.

You should have a license key for windows so you could grab an iso from the web, burn it to a dvd, install, and then use your license key to make it legit.

 

Well, now that the number of owners in this thread increased, let me revisit the screen question: how good is the screen? Is it sufficiently bright with good contrast? How's the vertical viewing angle?

Do you have any dissatisfaction about the screen brightness and contrast ratio?

 

Thanks...I do have the license key...sounds like great advice.

 

On the Cnet.co.uk website here:

Toshiba Portege R700 review: Hands-on with a high-performance thin-and-light laptop | Crave | CNET UK

it looks like the keyboard is the canadian international keyboard configuration. Notice the "\" key to the right of the left shift key...

 

Thanks for the link.
That's probably the same as Canadians would get.

I'm not sure I could live with the left shift and enter keys being like that.

I'm waiting on jabbok for a picture of his that he bought off toshiba.ca to confirm.

I would have liked to get the cheapest core i3 from toshiba and then throw a OCZ Vertex 2 in it and an extra 2GB RAM and have a very nice machine for around $1300.

I will have to get the i5 for more money, less battery and a bigger hdd that I'm going to replace anyways if I want a matte screen and US keyboard.

I think the performance difference between the i3 and i7 is mainly only going to show up in benchmarks. You'll likely notice the battery difference more than the speed. So not much point in paying for the higher models in my opinion.

 

Hmm, I have an American 1320 (not 1321), and it is most definitely a matte screen. I'm not sure what you mean about reduced battery with the i5; the battery life on the i5 and i3 should be about the same.

 

Yes, the 1320/1321 and up is the only way the get the matte screen.
The Canada versions all have matte screens direct through toshiba.

That's the complaint. I can't get an i3 with a matte screen and US keyboard in the US or Canada. UK has them but it would be tough to get one here and as usual their prices aren't great.

I'd rather not pay an extra $300 over the i3 for slightly reduced battery and no real performance gain just to get a matte screen. I shouldn't have to.

 

Here are some photos of the keyboard





Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

i have a question for you guys. Doesnt it worry you buying something at best buy as it could have been used by someone else and possibliy a defected item, they return it and then sell essentially a used product to you?

As opposed to online shopping, where you know that you are getting a brand new, less likely to be defected product.

 

La-resistance28,
Where are your first impresions of the R705? Share with us.

 

BestBuy is not permitted by law to repackage a used/returned item and past it of as brand new.

I'm not saying it may not happen. Just saying that it's against the law.

Also, who is to say that an online retailer isn't capable of doing the same?

 

It's not that the online retiler cant do the same, i just would think its more likely that it wont happen since i do not think they allow returns unless the item is defected for any reason..

 

Good point. BestBuy does have a 15% restocking fee, but I admit losing $120 isn't as strong a deterrent as not being permitted to return a laptop without any defects.

However, I would NEVER buy a laptop from a place that didn't allow returns (e.g. Newegg.com). I'd rather pay a little more to have the option of returning something that I didn't like.

Case in point: I had actually purchased a Sony Vaio CW from BestBuy.com a few months ago. Then I learned of a bug which basically caused the CW to drain its batteries rapidly even when it was in suspend/hibernation mode. I discussed this with a senior customer service executive and showed him where I got my information from. From there, I negotiated a full waiver of the 15% restocking fee, which amounted to a $150 savings for me.

Had I purchased the Sony from Newegg, I would've been left with no recourse at all.

It pays to have options available to you, even if it costs a little more from the start.

 

Well, the only concern I now have before making a purchase (after accepting the mixed reaction on keyboard and top-left corner heat) is the screen. Will appreciate feedback from new owners...

 

I own the R705 and while it's not a matte screen, it isn't super glossy either. Toshiba uses a standard 1366x768 screen in the R700 series which is fairly standard in this class of notebook. I am not blown away by the screen and I am not disappointed by it either. The Sony Z series includes a higher resolution screen but of course, you'll pay for the privilege.

The brightness is fine. I should note that I use ECO mode all of the time which lowers your screen brightness settings (i.e. 3 out of 10) to increase battery endurance. I haven't noticed any issues with viewing angles so I will say they are acceptable. As far as contrast ratio goes, that is just a statistic to me. Does it look okay, yes.

 

Why do you use ECO mode all the time?

 

Power savings for the battery and reduced heat (and fan) are the primary reasons. Obviously, screen brightness impacts battery life. By running ECO all of the time, I get used to the screen brightness at the lower settings as well. If I need a brighter screen, there is a button at the top of the laptop to turn ECO on or off. As far as heat goes, it isn't that the R705 is a hot laptop. But my previous laptop was so hot and noisy, I'll do anything to keep the temps down.

If you're wondering, ECO doesn't seem to impact performance very much. Everything is still responsive.

 

The screen is probably one of the better "glossy" ones that I have used. It is glossy, but not too much in that you don't feel like you are looking into the mirror every time you use it (like some HP and Dell screens). It has pretty good viewing angles and resolution is good for this screen size. I had no dead pixels either.

 

nicely done. Do you feel that I could have a case in a noisy fan and how it reduces my productivity and is a basis for returning the laptop and waivering the restock fee? Because essentialy, i feel i received a product i was not happy with , not that its a bug or anything, but its just the nature of the operation of the laptop, but a nature im not completely satisifed with.

 

Has anyone here tried playing 1080p videos on their toshiba? My video seems to lag when i try to play 1080p avatar.

i have also tried to output 1080p via the HMDI port to my HD TV and it still lags when i try to play 1080P avatar.

 

Recently purchased the R705 and really dig everything about it except my display seems to have a slight green/yellow tint out of the box. Anyone encounter this in theirs? May have to calibrate it.

 

I've just read through this whole thread over 2 days and I'm between the R705, Asus ul30vt or ul35jc and the Acer Timelinex 3820T. Last night I was 100% ready for the Toshiba but admittedly, now going back to the Acer/Asus options.

I LOVE the specs for size and weight but the battery life, heat and charging times are what's killing it for me. I don't feel I should need to spend another $100 for the 9 cell and then bring the weight on par with the other 2. I'll get to play with one in BB tomorrow so maybe I'll change my mind again.

Does anyone have the total REAL (as in, not Toshiba provided) weight of the AC adapter and the notebook? For frequent travelers, this combined weight is almost more important than the actual comp weight.

 

I would probably go for the u35jc now

 

I doubt that would fly, but I guess there's no harm in trying.
I suspect that if they do it will just be that the manager wants to be accommodating more than anything (so it wouldn't hurt to be nice going in ).

If they don't I guess you have to decide whether the fan noise is worth $120. If it is then return it and be happy.

Note: the larger, heavier laptops are better for quietness because they can use bigger heatsinks and have more volume to dissipate the heat. There are also slower, lighter laptops that can do it by virtue of clocking slower (e.g. 1.2GHZ).

But if you want both lightness and speed, somethings gotta' give. I own the Vaio Z and the Toshiba R700. Both are 3 pound, full speed (2.x GHZ) i core processors with 13" screens. Both need to move some air through their fans to get the job done.

Personally, I would say that a little air noise compared to all the benefits is a pretty good trade-off (imho).

The u35jc sounds like it could be a pretty good unit as well.

 

Sometimes I have to say these forums produce more paranoia than they are helpful. Each of those laptops are strong performers but if someone on these forums say they have an issue, then of course all of these models must have this issue. I don't have problems with battery life (real world runtimes of 4.5-5.0 hours), heat (I don't stream HD all of the time and neither will you), and charging times (seems normal to me). But it seems like someone can be talked out of a laptop purchase with talk of the latest and greatest.

My advice is this: Choose the features that are the most critical to you and buy the notebook that is the closest to those choices. Then LIVE WITH IT. Don't torture yourself by reading what someone else is experiencing or isn't experiencing. You made the best choice you could. Maximize its strengths and minimize its weak points.

I bought the R705 almost on size and weight alone because I travel daily. Add in a strong processor, an optical drive, and a great price and I was sold. The downside? Integrated video.

The ASUS models seem to be made for individuals looking for limited gaming and strong battery endurance. The downside? Heavier than the Toshiba and no optical drive.

The Acer models appeal to those who want performance for a great price. The downside? Build quality not up to par with the competition.

Buying a laptop is hard but don't let all of the internet voices blow you around like the wind.

 

I have to agree with you, these forums are good because they provide a lot of useful information but you are right they also tend to go overboard.

I bought this notebook because of the weight, battery like and a good processor, a bonus of the optical drive in a light weight notebook.

Every notebook is going to have some issue you just need to buy it based on your needs.

QUOTE=RunSilent23;6570514]Sometimes I have to say these forums produce more paranoia than they are helpful. Each of those laptops are strong performers but if someone on these forums say they have an issue, then of course all of these models must have this issue. I don't have problems with battery life (real world runtimes of 4.5-5.0 hours), heat (I don't stream HD all of the time and neither will you), and charging times (seems normal to me). But it seems like someone can be talked out of a laptop purchase with talk of the latest and greatest.

My advice is this: Choose the features that are the most critical to you and buy the notebook that is the closest to those choices. Then LIVE WITH IT. Don't torture yourself by reading what someone else is experiencing or isn't experiencing. You made the best choice you could. Maximize its strengths and minimize its weak points.

I bought the R705 almost on size and weight alone because I travel daily. Add in a strong processor, an optical drive, and a great price and I was sold. The downside? Integrated video.

The ASUS models seem to be made for individuals looking for limited gaming and strong battery endurance. The downside? Heavier than the Toshiba and no optical drive.

The Acer models appeal to those who want performance for a great price. The downside? Build quality not up to par with the competition.

Buying a laptop is hard but don't let all of the internet voices blow you around like the wind.[/QUOTE]

 

Totally agree. R705 is all around great notebook for the portability and the price. The forums are very helpful, but for every one person who thinks a certain notebook is the best, there is another who will find faults. Best advice is get what you need and fits within your price range.

 

I wouldn't say the board produces paranoia. I prefer to look at it as producing active, dynamic discussion fueled by those who may actual own the product and share their real-world experiences with it.

I also don't consider the 700's only having an integrated GPU has a downside either, as it's already been proven that the dedicated GPU of the U35jc is anemic at best (with respect to the modern graphically-intensive games out there).

I for one would rather have too much information than too little. It leads to less conjecture and speculation on my part.

It sounds like a video calibration issue. My ASUS 27" LCD monitor came with a slight bluish tint out of the box. Calibration solved it and it looks spectacular now.

No, I haven't. Don't have the 700 laptop. Sorry.

Thanks for the information.

I think Oscar2 wrote a pretty good answer. Talk to a manager. Explain to him how the fan impacts your productivity. It couldn't hurt. Worse case, you'll be out $120.

Is the fan that loud that you'd be embarrassed taking it to a library? I would think that with it constantly running and at a relatively low volume that it would sound like white noise to any who heard it (think constant droning sound of cars on an interstate highway/motorway).

Be warned that there are very few laptops out there that are completely silent. None of the laptops that I've ever owned for more than 7 days (Dell Inspiron 710m, HP Envy 15 2nd Gen, MSI GX640) were completely quiet.

 

For those who are interested, I decided to take my analysis of the U35jc's and 705's keyboard a bit further.

I took pics of their keyboards and adjusted the images so that it reflected their true dimensions. The U35jc measures 12.9" across the entire laptop's x-axis; 12.5" for the 705.

Then I measured the dimensions of their keyboards. For the x-axis, I measured from the Caps Lock key on the left to the Enter key on the right. For the y-axis, I measured from the Esc key on the top to the Ctrl key on the bottom. Those keys represent the true keyboard for touch typists. Yes, I could've done the measurement by simple extrapolation of their dimension's ratios, but I wanted to see how it would look from an actual size perspective on my 27" monitor.

The x-axis measurement for both laptops is around 11.35". Even though the U35jc is 0.5" longer than the 705 as a whole laptop, the U35jc has more "wasted" space to the left and right of the keyboard.

The y-axis measurement yielded the greatest difference: 4.25" for the U35jc and 3.75" for the 705.

This difference of 0.5" may not sound like much, but it's enough to result in the 705's keys looking more like rectangles than squares, as well as give some the feeling that the 705's keyboard is cramped.

In conclusion, I believe that if you have relatively long fingers, you will feel that the 700's keyboard is more cramped than that of the U35jc. Those with relatively shorter fingers will not notice much difference as all.

What concerns me more is the relatively shorter keystroke travel depth that the 705 has, which leads to a "spongy" feeling. When I type, I like the keys to have sufficient travel depth so that I know my fingers have hit the keys with sufficient force (and I am not a key groundpounder by any stretch of the imagination). With that being said, I have not seen the 705 firsthand and am only going by what I have read on these boards and from online reviews.

Also, the 705 has a relatively large trackpad. It's easy for fingers to brush up against it while typing and throw the cursor around the screen. Yes, there is a button below the space bar that can deactivate the trackpad. But realistically, who ever uses it while typing on an ultraportable laptop without a mouse present?

As for me, I spent almost 5 years with a Dell Inspiron 710m. As a 12" laptop, its x-axis measured only 11.7" across the entire laptop. It's keyboard measured only 10" across on the x-axis and 3.6" across on the y-axis.

Talk about having a cramped keyboard! No wonder I could never adjust to it and was also making typos.

So going from the Dell to either the 705 or U35jc would be an improvement. However, I did own the HP Envy 15 2nd Gen model for a while. I must admit that its "fullsized" keyboard spoiled me for a larger footprint keyboard.

Personally, had I decided the 705, I would have made the keyboard footprint longer by 0.5". Its trackpad is relatively large for a laptop and could easily surrender that 0.5" without causing any problems.

Decisions, decisions.....

 

AMEN! I finally picked up my R705 from Best Buy last night, and I am very pleased with it. Sure, I tortured myself for a week pitting the Toshiba vs the Asus UL30VT, but in the end, whichever laptop you decide on, it's ultimately YOURS, and you will learn to live with its flaws and be proud of its strengths. Remember, there is no perfect laptop, find one that matches as closely as possible to your needs and you will make the best decision for yourself.

As for my new R705, I've only spent a few hours with the R705, but I must say I'm very happy with my selection. After spending so much time on NBR forums and at BB, I had a pretty good idea what the pros and cons were, but with all that in mind, I'm still blown away by how thin and light this computer is every time I pick it up. Besides Sony's pricey Z and X models, I've never been more impressed by how much power is packed into such a thin and light frame. It feels like I'm carrying nothing at all!

Just to address some of the potential concerns of the R705:

(1) Heat/fan: Heat and fan noise have not been a huge issue for me. The laptop does warm up and the fan kicks in a bit whenever I run YouTube, but for any other browsing tasks or word processing (the 2 things I'll be doing 90% of the time), I'm not bothered at all. Eco Mode helps alot in this regard too.

The palm rests and entire bottom of the laptop stay remarkably cool. The only real heat at all throughout the entire body is at the top left exhaust. That's pretty neat cuz my previous laptops would warm up slightly throughout the entire bottom. This one stays cool except for the exhaust port. I'd definitely recommend stacking 2 books or propping up the computer with a mat or something if you plan on using it on your lap for extended periods of time, but that's always been the case for me with most laptops.

(2) Keyboard: If anybody's been reading my posts in the past week, I was also very worried about the R705's keyboard. From trying it out at BB, I had complained that the keys were a little smaller than normal and that sometimes the typing experience felt a little mushy and clacky. Coming from a full 14" laptop keyboard, I still feel that way, but to a much lesser degree. It's one of those cases where once it's in your hands and it's "yours", you learn to deal with it. My typing speed hasn't matched my previous laptop's yet, but in just a few short hours I already feel 5x more comfortable typing on the R705 than I did when I was at BB and I imagine within a week I'll be alright.

(3) Battery life: I've only had it a couple hours, but I've gone almost 3.5 hours with WiFi on, watching maybe 30 minutes of YouTube, and browsing/typing the rest of the time, looks like I'll hit a little over 4 hours of battery life. Probably could've gone even longer, but YouTube definitely drained a bit of energy, and I didn't switch to Eco Mode until maybe an hour into usage.

I'll play around with battery life some more in the next couple days, but I'm content with this. I'll probably pick up an extended battery next week to match the Asus' epic run time, and it's nice that the extra battery doesn't make it weigh any more than the Asus. So for the same weight and slightly thinner body, I'll be getting comparable battery life with the advantage of a Core-i3 processor, DVD, and other full-featured laptop goodies.

Right now, I'm just so impressed with the laptop's incredible weight and solid build quality. Some thin and lights can feel flimsy, this is not one of them. The magnesium chassis and materials feel great, really solid, no flex or squeaks or anything. It's flat-out sleek and powerful.

I'm also extremely happy with my purchase because I just swooped in just in the nick of time! Did anybody else notice that BB now lists it for $829 online?? And it's back-ordered, too! To make things worse, J&R just dropped the price of the Asus UL30VT by $10 to $719, and then threw in free shipping (previously $16 for me). I feel like I got away with a steal, avoiding a sudden $56 gap! But knowing what I know now, even with the price bump, I'd still probably pick up the R705 but that's just me...



I do have a question that I haven't seen answered yet, though. Does anybody know of a good Toshiba bloatware guide? I've seen similar guides for Dell and Asus models, and I'd like to know what bloatware I can/should remove (besides BB's software, that was uninstalled within 2 min of turning on my comp, haha). I've heard that PC Decrapifier is a good tool, but it'd be great to hear how useful or useless some of the Toshiba utilities and software tools are.

 

Why are you thanking me?

 

Is the fan that loud that you'd be embarrassed taking it to a library? I would think that with it constantly running and at a relatively low volume that it would sound like white noise to any who heard it (think constant droning sound of cars on an interstate highway/motorway).

Be warned that there are very few laptops out there that are completely silent. None of the laptops that I've ever owned for more than 7 days (Dell Inspiron 710m, HP Envy 15 2nd Gen, MSI GX640) were completely quiet.[/QUOTE]


- It's not that i would be embarassed, in fact i dont tend to go to the library, the only person that would be bothered is me. When you have to focus on course intensive reading material while listening to a fan in the background all the time, i can see how it would be an issue for me to concentrate. Im not sure how many you guys are students or not, but if i was just using it for surfing, chatting, w/e, i wouldnt care in the least about a bit of fan noise.

 

Congratulations and thanks for this review! I've been waiting for it.

Some questions / comments:

1. How do you feel about the keys' depth stroke? Is it as deep as a traditional keyboard or is it half the depth? Do you feel like the keys are receiving your finger's actions adequately?

2. Why would you need to stack 2 books on your lap if its the TOP left part of the laptop that gets hot? How does the TOP part come into contact with your leg?

3. I've always been a little wary of heat/fan solutions that require running a laptop in a reduced power mode like ECO. Why would I buy a powerful chip like the a full i3 only to "cripple it" from the start? I might as well buy a CULV chip instead.

4. Yes, picking up a 9 cell battery would bring your 705 in line with the U35jc from a battery life perspective, as well as give you a thinner, lighter laptop with an internal DVD drive, questionable heat-mitigation system, and atypical keyboard (but no dedicated sound card). However, it will cost you an additional $125 to do so. In my opinion, that's not much of an advantage over the U35jc at all, as you're basically paying a premium to enjoy those attributes. In other words, imagine what ASUS could do with the u35jc if they charged an extra $125 for additional improvements.

5. I'm not to worried about BestBuy's $30 increase in price. They typically adjust prices according to supply and demand (they did it with their Sony Vaio CW model). The price will come back down eventually.

6. What is the mexapixel rating of the webcam?

7. I always go for a full wipe and reinstall. That's just me. I grew up watching HAL go haywire in 2001 and enjoyed how he wiped HAL's memory clean. You can never beat a full reinstall to get rid of bloatware and such.

Thanks.

 

I wasn't.

If you noticed, I write my replies before the quoted text, not after. I'm old-school like that.

 

Lol my bad. Has anyone here tried to PLAY 1080p video quality out of their HDMI port on the r705? does anyone here even care about video playback or is that why u purchased the r705?

 

I stream HD content to my HDTV using Intel's wireless display and HDMI often. I haven't had any issues with lag. My HDTV is a 720p so I typically don't download or stream 1080p content. However, I did download the 1080p Avatar trailer this afternoon and it played stutter-free.

You seem to have the impression that the R705 can't play 1080p content. That's well within the capabilities of Intel's HD graphics and the R705. If your R705 can't, I would review the applications and services that are running with Task Manager to see if there is something hijacking your processor cycles.

 

My saga has finally come to an end.

I pulled the trigger and bought a laptop. And the winner is.....

the Toshiba R705.

Here was my thought process. While it pertains to me and me alone, I share it willingly in case there are others who face the same needs as I.

1. The 705's weight (3.2 lbs) and thin, small form factor played a huge factor in my decision. When I travel on business, go through airports, take notes in business meetings, etc., I want something that's small, light, and looks stylish. The 705 satisifies those needs.

When my laptop is away from an outlet and depletes its battery, I'm left with a temporary useless dead weight that I still have to carry around. The 705 is almost a full pound lighter than the U35jc (3.2 lbs vs. 3.9 to 4.2 lbs). That savings in dead weight makes a difference at the end of a long work (or school) day. Yes, the U35jc's battery lasts 1 hour longer than the 705, but it'll still get depleted before day's end, just like the 705.

2. In my line of work, I see myself using the internal DVD drive on occasion (business archives, reference materials, even software installation). Not so much that not having one would kill me (I already have a USB external slim DVD drive), but enough that I would appreciate the convenience of having it. Given that the 705 is lighter than the U35jc, its inclusion of the internal DVD drive hasn't penalized it from a weight perspective. As for the drive's drain on battery life, it's a cost that I'm willing to bear for the added convenience of having it readily at my disposal when needed.

3. I have no need for an anemic dedicated graphics card (GPU) like the U35jc's Nvidia 310M. As such, I also have no need for Optimus switchable graphics. This is thanks in no small part to my already owning a gaming desktop replacement laptop (MSI GX640). To be fair, even if I didn't have the GX640, I still wouldn't get the U35jc to satisfy my gaming needs. That's how weak its GPU is. Also, if you've ever tried gaming on a laptop while running on batteries, you know how long that lasts. Then you're stuck with a temporarily dead weight appliance to carry around all day.

That being said, I know there are still some disadvantages. Here is how I rationalized them.

1. I already know that the 705's keyboard is going to leave my fingers feeling a little cramped. I'm not going to like the spongy feel to the keys. Fortunately, it's not my primary PC. I have a desktop PC that I built myself to handle work at home. If I find myself in a situation where typing accuracy is at a premium and I don't have the luxury of correcting many typos, I can always use my MSI GX640 and it's full sized keyboard in a pinch. Not a great solution, but an available one nonetheless.

2. This laptop will run really hot at times. Let's be honest here. Not a lukewarm or mildy hot, but really "burn your hand" hot. It's to be expected with a small form factor laptop with 1 tiny little exhaust fan attempting to cool components as powerful as the ones in the 705.

I hate hot laptops. I returned an HP Envy 15 2nd Gen because it was blistering hot when I played games like BFBC2. To its credit it cooled down in 30 seconds literally, thanks to its THREE exhaust fans and large spacious interior design. I'm under no such illusions with the 705 doing the same.

Fortunately, thanks to the 705 not having a dedicated GPU, I won't be playing graphically-intense games on it. That should help somewhat. Also, I won't be using the ECO mode as a solution either, because if I wanted a "crippled" CPU, I would have bought a laptop with a CULV CPU in it.

3. Yes, I would have loved to see the 705 have a longer battery life than its 4 to 4.5 hrs under normal usage scenarios. But I can live with it. If I can't there are options available to me to remedy this (and I love having options). I can succumb to using the aforementioned ECO mode or I could do as La-resistance28 and buy a 9-cell extended battery. With the U35jc, I believe that its 8-cell battery is the only option available to it (though I might be mistaken). And as I mentioned above, when the 705 depletes its battery, I'd rather carry around its light 3 lbs than the U35jc's 4 lbs all day long.

4. Cost. I'm paying more for the 705. I could have bought the U35jc (from Ken at GenTechPC.com only) for $819 flat (no sales tax and shipping is free). In fact, Ken offers a 3% discount in price if you pay in cash.

Now, the 705 costs $829, thanks to BestBuy.com raising the price by $30 today. BestBuy also charges $15 for shipping. And I have to pay $60 in sales tax. So I'm paying a total of $904 for the 705, which represents an $85 premium over the U35jc.

Does the 705 truly represent an $85 premium over the U35jc? Perhaps, perhaps not. So why am I doing it? Because today is the last day of a sales tax holiday in my state for "back to school purposes". As such, the $60 sales tax is waived, which brings the total cost of the 705 down to $844. That makes the 705 only a $25 premium over the U35jc. That's a premium I can live with.

Now, if I had been more decisive in my deliberations between the 705 and the U35jc, I could avoided the BestBuy $30 price hike and purchased the 705 at a $5 DISCOUNT to the U35jc ($815 vs. $819). However, I believe that the extra time I took to analyze my choices and make the right decision was worth the additional cost of $30. Especially after taking into account the 15% restocking fee that both BestBuy and GenTechPC charge for returns, which amounts to $120 each. I felt that such a decision could not be made lightly.

In closing, my thanks again to all who helped me make an educated decision these past few days. The generosity and helpfulness of this board truly amazes me. I only hope that others have found my posts as useful as I have found theirs.

 

Wow bankergolder, you sound like a really educated man. Good for you. I think you will be happy with your decision. I was super tight between those 2 very laptops and went with the r705. Your analysis is accurate but let me just clue you in that today i tried 1080p video with the HDMI output, and the video feed was on the choppy side. You might not be gamer, but if you are a movie watcher and plan to watch 1080p quality videos, that extra GPU might come quite in handy. Enjoy the R705!