Portege R700 - the thin and light 13.3"

Thanks for the kind words, Mikeysela. I appreciate it.

I'll be sure to test out the 705 when I get it and let you all know how it works out (including the 1080p video issue).

As someone mentioned earlier, the new Intel GMA HD is more than capable of playing 1080p videos. With a 3DMark06 score of 1800, the Intel integrated GPU is actually capable of playing some games. So, a 1080p video really should not be much trouble for the 705 to handle at all.

You may want to consider returning your laptop for a replacement or getting it checked out while it's still under warranty. It's what I would do.

 

1. I'm not sure how to describe the keys' depth stroke, but it does feel a bit spongy and I do need to press a bit harder to get keys to register. The spring-back of the keys is not as quick as I'm used to, if that makes any sense. But I've gotten alot better at it in a short time.

2. That's true, it's more of a habit than anything at this point. I'm used to putting a bit of cushion on my legs between me and the laptop. Where before the entire bottom of my old laptop would make my lap warm (but not hot), now it's primarily the top left that's hot, so what I can do is shift the computer a bit off-center towards the left of my legs. That way the hot part is off my legs, but I still like a bit of cushion for comfort!

 

Addendum: if I didn't already have a gaming laptop (MSI GX640), I would have gotten the HP Envy 14.

It's the best of both worlds (work, gaming). It's relatively light (5 lbs), sleek (1.1"), and powerful (i3, i5, i7 CPU). It's graphics card is the ATI HD 5650 GPU is NOT anemic at all, with a 3DMark06 score of roughly 8,000.

It doesn't have integrated graphics (and no Optimus as a result, AND since it's an ATI card). Still, it gets roughly 4 hours of normal usage, which is quite impressive given its components and form factor.

But, that's just me. I'm a working professional who loves to game.

 

Thanks so much for explaining your reasoning. I think many of us come to NBR before purchasing to get an overload of advice and answers about a laptop purchase. But after buying one, it's just as great to hear from others, if only to justify to ourselves that we got a great deal! Pretty much in agreement with you on all bullets. It's impossible to find the perfect laptop, but I'm willing to put up with some of this machine's minor heat/keyboard blemishes to enjoy the overall awesomeness it packs into its small and light frame. Here's to many exciting (and productive) years with the R705!

 

Thank you.

But we shouldn't kid ourselves about the "many exciting years" with the 705, or any other laptop/PC for that matter.

We all know that we'll be back looking for the next, ultimate laptop in a couple of years, the way technological advances and breakthroughs are going!

As for me, I'll stop looking for the perfect laptop when I find one that I can store in hyperspace whenever I don't need it (where it will recharge itself for free from the energies of the space/time continuum itself).

Good times!

 

La_resitance28 and bankergolfer - Welcome to the club! Congrats on the purchases and I hope you enjoy the R705 - seems like it was a touch, but educated decision process - now it is time to enjoy.

 

Thank you for the kind words!

While my saga to buy the laptop is over, my work is far from done. I promise to write my thoughts on the 700 that will rival my writeup on why I picked it. It will be brutally honest and point out what I got right, as well as what I got wrong.

 

I just started to think about this. Do me a favor and turn off ECO, then right click on the desktop and select Graphic Properties and then Power and then Power Plans. For the Plugged In Graphics Power Plan Settings, select Maximize Performance. Reboot and see if that makes a difference. Let me know.

 

Inspired by some discussions about "battery wear" much earlier in this thread (around page 66 I believe), I installed BatteryBar in both my 5 yr old Dell Inspiron 710m and my new MSI GX640.

The Dell showed 0% battery wear, yet its battery life has gone from 4.5 hrs down to 2 hrs (again, over a 5 yr period) with normal usage.

The MSI showed 10.1% battery wear (again, battery is brand new). Battery life is 2.5 hrs with normal usage.

If it weren't for the information presented earlier about how the battery wear is an intentional design technique used to prolong battery life, I'd have been on the phone with MSI threatening a class action lawsuit for selling defective batteries.

The Dell has a discharge rate of 13,000 mW (Pentium M, integrated graphics GPU).

The MSI has a discharge rate of 27,000 mW (i5-450M, ATI HD 5850 GPU)

 

you mean couple of months,right

 

Glad to be in the club! When do we get our membership cards?

I'm really excited to play around with the R705 this week. Thank you so much to everyone who's been so helpful throughout my decision process, I really appreciate it. I'm going to dig into this machine this week and see what sort of stuff it's capable of and where it may fall a bit short and report my thoughts as they develop.

Quick question, does anybody know of a good guide to Toshiba's bloatware/utilities? Bulletin Board and some of the other utilities seem potentially handy, but I also don't want to keep around any unnecessary background crap if they're going to slow my overall performance down...

 

Go for a full reinstall. You'll be glad that you did. Just be sure to get all the drivers that you need before you wipe the slate clean.

I always go for a full reinstall. It results in no hidden crap being left behind.

 

I'm a little hesitant because I've never done a full reinstall before on a new computer. The last time I tried to upgrade from Vista to Win7 on my old computer, I did a clean reinstall to go from Home Premium to Professional. I had a horrible time getting the right drivers afterward and ended up crippling a couple features. What's the best and safest way to go about a fresh reinstall? Since the computer didn't come with a Windows 7 disk, how easy is it to do this?

I found the drivers page on Toshiba's website, so I'm guessing after I reinstall Windows (?), I just download and reinstall all these drivers, and just not install the Toshiba utilities?

 

WOW! this is one loooong thread. i tried to go through most of it and i still have some lingering questions that no one has addressed thus far:

- how does the sound quality compare to say an iphone or an ipod when used with a good set of headphones? in other words how would you rate the sound card quality on these machines?

- How is the 4GB RAM configured on the R700 models? does it come in one 4GB module or 2 x 2GB modules?

- One of the touted advantages of the i5 and i7 CPUs over the i3 is its virtualization capability? how does that translate into real world performance gains when running VMware Workstation for example? i'm trying to see if the extra $200 or more is justifiable for getting the more expensive models.

- and lastly there seems to be a lot of complaints about the keyboard and lack of back lighting.
have you guys considered using a USB notebook light that can be had very inexpensively?


I'd appreciate any help or feedback on these issues.

 

As to the keyboard lighting issue, I ordered a set of reflective stickers that had gotten good reviews in a few places. What a disappointment. I'm going to try to send them back, unopened, for a refund. They might provide 15-20% more illumination than my regular keyboard in the dark, which is to say almost none. I don't know whether the reviewers were friends of the manufacturers, but I don't know how anyone could think that it would be a solution to typing in the dark-- not unless you have the screen on full brightness and angle it downward a bit, and if you do that then you can see OK even without glowing keys. Feh.

I'll try one of those usb lights, but for me the point was partly portability-- wanted to have something easily on hand wherever I might be typing-- and also consideration: wanted not to disturb my wife if I'm typing in bed beside her when she's sleeping. Maybe the USB light would be sufficiently unobtrusive.

 

I had read somewhere that those glow-in-the-dark stickers were anything but. There were supposedly high contrast number on a highly reflective sticker surface. Results were mixed at best.

I have a LED USB light. It has a flexible neck/body that allows you to position it any way you wish. When aimed at the center of the keyboard, the light illuminates about 65% of the keyboard directly. The remaining 35% of the keyboard is bathed with an ambient light, that still makes the keys easy to see.

Brilliant design, as it's bright enough to illuminate the keyboard, but not so much as to disturb the person sleeping next to you.

The only disadvantage is that its another item that you have to remember to bring with you if you want to use it.

 

Full reinstall without the Windows 7 CDs is easy.

1. Find your Windows 7 activation key code sticker. It should be underneath your laptop or in the battery compartment. Record it for future use.

2. Do a search on these forums for the WIndows 7 files download. Don't worry, it's not illegal to do as you will need your Windows 7 key code to activate the installation before 30 days expires. There will be written instructions in the forum thread along with the download links. Follow the instructions and install Windows 7.

3. Activate Windows 7 with your activation key code, either online or by phone. The 2 times I've done it, the online activation didn't work and I had to do it by phone. It's an automated process via telephone and takes about 7 minutes.

That's it.

 

I have been using one with my laptop and it generally works well. except for the difficult symbol / non-frequented keys that are right under you hand. since the light is so focused your hands will block the light from illuminating certain keys. i got the Mini 1LED USB Lamp Light from amazon for like 5 bucks. its not the lightest thing out there but it works.

 

hey bankergolfer, did a full re-install of windows show any improvement in performance or battery life?

was there a significant difference?

 

For those of you having issues with they keyboard. How many of you are coming from a regular full height keyboard and how many are comparing it to a laptop keyboard which is half height or less?

I use a apple alluminum keyboard with the same stye keys and could never go back to typing on a full height keyboard. I can fly along on it.

 

For my MSI GX640, absolutely.

Load at startup times were cut by 20% since there was much less crap running behind the scenes.

Battery life improved by about 10%, again since there was less crap running.

Also, there was less chance of the stuff that I wanted to load would conflict with the preloaded crap.

I should speak in nicer terms and not call the preloaded stuff crap. All that stuff does subsidize the price of the laptop to a degree.

 

Excellent question.

I believe my experience with the 705 will be better and worse than what I'm used to.

Worse since I use a desktop PC at home and MSI GX640 on long trips. Both have a regular, typical keyboard.

Better since I've been using a 12" Dell Insprion 710m for 5 years. That keyboard makes the 705 feel like a regular, typical keyboard!

Since you're used to the half-height keyboard, you should be in the minority who love the 700/705 keyboard from the start!

As you've probably learned by now, no laptop is perfect. You have to prioritize what's important to you and compromise on the rest.

For me and the others who got the 700/705, the smallest form factor, lightest weight, relatively long battery life, at a REASONABLE price (that eliminates you fans of the Sony Vaio Z out there) is what we prioritized. The internal optical dvd drive was a bonus.

We compromised on the keyboard and the heat issues.

It'll be a pleasure to whip out a 3.3 lb laptop that measures 1" thin out of my briefcase at meetings, in the park, at the restaurant, etc. and have people "oooh" and "aaah" at me as I productively toil away. When the battery runs out and it becomes a deadweight, it'll be a light deadweight at that.

If you see yourself out and about on the go as a "roadwarrior" of sorts, this is the one to get at the moment. If you're not self-conscious about spending lots of money on a laptop that will be obsolete in a few years or so, then get the Sony Vaio Z (base config = $1800 USD, but realistically you'll spend $2200 to outfit it right).

 

Can anyone testify as to how running temperatures are affected by ambient temperature? I'm going to be taking this laptop to South Asia, where temperatures can hang around 100 F. I know I'm not going to sit in the sun and watch videos on this in the middle of the day, but I worry that being in a generally hotter climate will exacerbate this computer's heat issues. Any thoughts on this? Is this just not worth thinking about?

 

I think in those tempatures any laptop will run hotter, you may want to have a laptop cooler to take with you.

 

Hmm. Methinks I will want a cooler laptop instead. If I have to haul around a cooler, it kind of defeats the primary selling point for this machine. Add one more point for the 3820tg. Any other views?

 

His comment was a general one about all laptops, not specifically the R700 series. Seriously, everyone is overstating the heat issue. Like ALL laptops, if you are constantly watching HD video, the R700 series will heat up. But if it is a mix of browsing, video, audio, emails, etc., you should not have any problems.

If you are actually an R700/R705 owner, what is your actual experience with heat? Granted the Airflow fan runs all of the time by design but A) it shouldn't be loud and B) the majority of the laptop isn't hot to the touch. That's my experience. What about the rest of you?

 

Acknowledged his comment was about laptops in general. It was suited to my question, which was also general. But this laptop in particular is getting a lot of attention for its heat issues, so given jabbok's advice, I should probably be taking this factor pretty seriously.

But do tell. Are people really exaggerating the heat problems with this machine? Obviously doing processor-intensive tasks will make any machine hotter than usual, but people are testing every computer under all sorts of conditions, and this is the one that has a reputation for being excessively hot. Believe me, I want to hear otherwise, but I haven't yet.

 

Yes I was talking about all laptops in general.

I bought the R700 a couple of days ago, I don't find that it heats up anymore than other notebooks, but I haven't watched any movies on it. When I created recovery cd's and the fan was somewhat louder than just surfing the net but it was not loud.

It is a good laptop for a light weight, long battery life and decent cpu.

 

My R700 does not get hot, the palmrest and the keyboard stay cool so I am not sure what people are doing to make their notebook really hot that they can't use it. For what I use the notebook for there isn't any problem with heat.

 

I've only had the R705 for 2 days, but heat is not a major issue for me. As I mentioned before, my previous laptops would normally get warm throughout the entire bottom/base. With the R705, the entire bottom stays pretty cool with the exception of the left corner where the exhaust port is. That area is very warm, and can get hot when streaming YouTube, but I would rather have one isolated area of heat instead of heat evenly spread throughout the body.

With the R700/705, you'd be hard-pressed to find a lighter 13" at this price point with these specs and such an incredible weight (3.2 lbs vs 3.9 on the Acer). Jabbok was saying that almost any laptop you take into +100 degrees F temperature will suffer a bit performance-wise, so a cooling pad might be necessary regardless. So from my perspective, if you need to lug around a cooling pad, why not do so with the lightest laptop you can? Plus, the lighter R705 laptop will make you sweat slightly less after a whole day of carrying it around!

 

no heat problems here - it does get a bit warm if the CPU gets tasked near or at full load on the top left side - but it is not that bad, and I think that the cooling technology works well. The rest of the notebook is very cool.

 

Alright, well this is encouraging. I just want to be able to cut over to processor-heavy tasks when I feel like it without setting myself on fire. After studying the comments about Eco Mode, it seems like this laptop has everything I like about Asus power management (heat control and battery life extension), except understood in reverse (less "power" = more "eco").

I'll head down to BestBuy tomorrow and have a poke at the keyboard. I've been happy with 7" - 10" netbooks, so I imagine I'm adaptable enough. If I'm okay with the keyboard, it'll be an r700 1320 for me.

And I'll just say it right here: the light weight + battery life is a big plus, but after 8 months of searching and waiting, these are just basic prerequisites for me now. With the r700 (specifically the 1320), the biggest draws for me are the matte screen and the USB 3.0 on the port replicator (for purchase down the road). I just couldn't stand to be stuck without these things.

 

I just wish BestBuy lowers its price back to $799 or lower soon. I wonder since when BestBuy played Supply and Demand game as some member suggested a few replies back. It's freaking Retail, not a e-commerce nor stock market, though they are in for max profit. Damn BB and why can't i find any other retailer or website that sell R705... sounds as if it is only distributed to BB, though you could pick it up at Toshiba's website at a slightly higher price.

 

The r705 isn't even on the menu for me, even though a major factor in my purchase is price. I never thought I would spend more than $1000 on a laptop, but if I look at it from the perspective of having already bought it, I can just see myself thinking at any given moment that I would pay an extra fifty bucks for bluetooth without losing a USB port, an extra hundred bucks for an i5 processor, an extra hundred bucks for a matte screen, or an extra hundred bucks to have the option of a port replicator for USB 3.0 that might even cost another $200. With all of the laptops that I considered that would have had any combination of these things, none of them had all of these features, and none of them even allowed the possibility of upgrading to the rest of them down the road. I think, taken together, they are worth the extra pithy $300.

 

I was the one who wrote that post about supply and demand. However, BestBuy only increased the price by $30 USD. That's an increase of 3.75%. Look at it another way: if you're already going to spend $799 on the 705, what's another $30?

Like anything in life, you need to prioritize what's important to you. As you've already figured out, no laptop will do everything great. It's all about tradeoffs. Power vs portability vs battery life vs cost vs etc.

Or you could go nuts like me and buy 2 laptops: 1 for gaming and the other for business travel. At least I didn't have to drive myself crazy trying to find "the true laptop. one laptop to rule them all....."

 

I did a little research into the Toshiba R700/705's predecessors, namely the R500 and R600, just to get a sense about what factors led influenced this laptop. I was a little surprised at what I learned.

First, the R500 was a piece of sh%t. Sorry, but it's true. Who makes a laptop that's so thin and light, that you could almost rip it apart with your bare hands? Toshiba, that's who. Ok, I'm exaggerating here, but almost every part of it suffered from flex - the screen, keyboard, chassis. Adding insult to injury, the battery life was an abysmal 60 minutes or less. It was absolutely pathetic and embarrassing. If the R500 were a chef in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, he'd have called it a "stupid donkey".

The R600 was much better. It eliminated all traces of flex and shoddy workmanship at the cost of being a thicker, heavier laptop (but still thin and light compared to other laptops) than its predecessor. Battery life improved as well too. But having used a power saving CULV CPU, the R600 wasn't exactly a computing workhorse.

Now knowing what I know about the R700/705's predecessors, I can fully appreciate why experts have been universally praising, for the most part, the most recent incarnation of the R line of laptops.

The R700/705 have full powered Intel CPUs, the latest in Intel integrated graphics, an internal DVD drive, and yet still remains thin, light, relatively stylish without sacrificing build quality. This laptop is literally a monumental achievement considering where it's predecessors stood in the years before.
And while some may point out that the R700/705 now has a slight issue with heat that it never experience before, they need to remember that this laptop line never had the powerful CPUs that they now have today.

It's true what they say: sometimes you have to look at where you've been to fully appreciate where you are today.

The Toshiba R700/705 has indeed come along way.

 

I have to agree with you on the R700, I don't have any experience on the other models but the R700 is a good notebook.

I watched a movie on my system this morning, the sound is good, the notebook stayed cool didn't get hot not even at the top left corner, the fan wasn't loud at all, the movie played smooth.

So for what it is worth I would recommend this notebook to anyone who is looking for a light weight, powerful cpu, with good battery life, notebook.

 

I have to say, though, I'm coming around to thinking this 1320 just might be the perfect fit for me. So the only thing for me is "vs price", and even 1200 is worth it knowing that this computer might be everything I'm looking for. And if the keyboard works out for me, I can truly say it was without tradeoffs.

...

Okay, ONE tradeoff: the crap webcam. But really, that's just a quibble this forum put into my head, along with backlit keyboards.

 

A backlit keyboard would have been an added bonus

 

I'm not clear what you mean by "1320" and "1200". The R700/705 are about $829+tax+s/h.

The one thing that I've learned in life is "carpe diem". If you come across something that you know is right for you, then go get it (within reason, of course).

Webcams and backlit keyboards should not even factor into a laptop purchase decision. If they happen to come along with the perfect laptop, then great. Otherwise, they're just "quibbles" as you put it.

 

The R700-S1320 is going for $1199 on NewEgg, plus shipping/tax

 

So yesterday I made it to Best Buy to check the R705 out in person. They didn't have one in stock, only the display with no battery. Price was $849.

After having played with that and the nearby Asus UL80j..I must admit, I want the Asus. The screen size is much more enjoyable and the computer is just overall much more sleek and...sexy. No other way to put it! The only 13" laptops in the store were the R705, a Sony something and Macbook Pro. 14" is more all purpose and I only want 1 laptop for everything with a nice monitor to plug into when at home. With 13", I'm beginning to become afraid I'll want to return it after a few weeks because it's just a tad too small.

Nonetheless, I made note to check out for myself some of the things talked about in this thread.

Keyboard.
I have no idea what people are complaining about, seriously. I've been on laptops for about 10 years now. Sony GRV-550 to a current Dell Studio XPS 1640. For work and using my brother's full size gaming comp, I've spent limited time on normal keyboards. They are what takes time for me to get used to. I like laptop keyboards, much more effortless.

The chicklet keyboard on the R705 does feel crammed (bc it's not a full sized keyboard) but the keys themselves feel fine to me. Not uncomfortable, not dished out, not hard (AT ALL) to press any of the keys. I was expecting noticeably more resistance to press the keys than what I've experienced on anything in the past. Effort needed to do so felt just like my Dell. I'm guessing those who have something to say about the keystroke are coming from a full sized keyboard? The size change can be a bit awkward at first. That's the only thing I can think of ..other than personal preference.

Heat.
Yes, the bottom of the chassis's top left gets hot. It's not unbearable but it was pretty toasty just idling running off AC power and much hotter than my old Sony and the Asus. My Dell XPS 1640 is know for having serious heat issues. The Toshiba wasn't as bad but the Dell has the heat in all the wrong places, the very front of the Dell gets hot and the cooling fan area is always the coldest part. The R705 is the opposite. The heat comes from the fan area, that's it.

Still, a hot notebook for me is no good beause it's very uncomfortable to be touching such a hot computer in 90 degree summer heat. Many of the places I travel to have no air conditioning and I often sit outside (in the sun) at restaurants using the computer. Maybe overly picky but in my Dell, after too much summer outside time, the wifi card and hdd start acting up to where I need to shut down to let it all cool off.

I did nothing with the graphics card because integrated is fine with me. I don't play games, just Photoshop and mkv movies. Build quality did feel very good, admittedly a bit better than the Asus but it's not a night and day difference. The weight is as everyone says, incredible. Feels like a netbook, very impressive are all the features they pack into such a small chassis. In my mind, there's no reason to ever sacrifice for a 10" netbook. An Eee PC or similar is more than likely not going to be someone's primary computer and with all the power yet portability the R705 has, it makes sense to spend the extra coin for a MUCH more capable and enjoyable machine.

So in all, it's a great computer but not 100% my cup of tea. After spending some time with the 14" Asus, I'm going that route.

 

Anyone know if and when there'll be a review of this on notebookreview.com? I'm seriously considering getting this machine but there just aren't any proper in-depth reviews of this yet.

 

Again, talk to someone who actually owns a R700/R705 and ask them if they are experiencing this kind of heat, even at idle. If so, I'll back down but until then, this notebook is getting a bum rap as a hot laptop.

 

Yeah, screen size is definitely a matter of personal taste. There's a reason 14" and 15" are the most popular and most mainstream of all laptops (making it so frustrating to find a good 13" sleeve! ). If you're set on a 14" laptop, there's not much the R705 can do for you, haha.

Personally I've gone from a 13" to a 14", and now back to a 13". Since I have a desktop at home, 13" seems to be the sweet spot for me as I mainly use it for note-taking and classwork. Heavy duty editing or productivity I leave to my desktop.

 

You might check out the following:


Toshiba Portege R705-P25 Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews


Toshiba Portege R705 review -- Engadget

 

I'm hoping hoping hoping that the Eco Mode will do it for me. When I'm lying on the beach in the open sunlight this winter, the laptop only needs to serve two purposes: 1) word processing; and 2) flat surface to place my beer on. If Eco Mode is cool enough to take the heat (85 F) and snappy enough to open and edit 20mb Word files (and place the occasional Skype video call), I get to maintain my job and my decadent lifestyle, indefinitely. Beyond that, when I feel the urge to lay down 20 tracks of audio in Ableton Live, I'll happily do it in the shade. So am I making the right choice here?

 

Agreed ...

 

That "Sony something" was likely the Z12!

There are only two choices for people (e.g. connoisseurs ) who appreciate a truly fine, lightweight 13": The Sony Z12 and the Toshiba R700/705 (I don't include the 13" Macbook only because they have not upgraded it from core duo yet and because it's not 3.2 pounds). Everything else pales by comparison.

The fact that neither did anything for you proves unequivocally that you are not a true member of the 13" fan base.

 

Does your issue with heat go away with Eco mode? Because there is no reason not to be in Eco mode when just web surfing, editing Word documents, checking email, and such.