protege r500 comments

Congrats

Is it the SSD version ?

 

Yes. The R500-S5003. (they should've weighted down the shipping box to indicate to the delivery people that there's something 'serious' in there and not a t-shirt or something.)

 

Where did you guys buy it from? Thanks.

By the way, check out these notebook sleeves, I bought an older ZeroShock version for my Dell X1 -- very very low profile and nicely padded:
http://shinza.com/product_info.php?cPath=5_10_15&products_id=76

 

I got mine from Toshiba direct (USA). It was ordered Sept. 6th. and just arrived today Oct. 19.

 

Guess what? We get the new laptop and he won't touch it. Some type of network wizard pops up (name the network/computer/blabla), and insists he wait till Monday to have his company's IT set it up properly for him.
WHAT? I tell him I'm sure there's a way to bypass this darned thing just to minimally check out the screensavers/text, etc. Nope!

Surely, this is a no-brainer. If anyone has any suggestions for what I can tell him/do to this thing to keep it pristine enough (get back to these configuration wizards later) - I'm all ears. I keep stareing at the thing and want to play with it.

 

Meagain, you're cracking me up! Let me guess who's the fun, adventurous one in your marriage and who's the one obsessing that you'll have enough money for retirement.

Yes, I'm sure you can run the wizard later, but in his defense, maybe he knows how bureaucratic his IT department is. The problem is that the IT guys will now be the ones to play with your new toy for a week.

We're all looking forward to your review once you get it back! Please be sure to provide your impression of the key factors like: viewing angle of the screen, how loud are the fans, does the laptop seem overly fragile, is the touchpad ok.

 

Naaa - It's a small company. The REAL story is he apparently screwed up settings or something when he set up his last new computer with the networks (work/home/whatever). He wants to make sure it remains pristine with no clutter/crapola. Hopefully I'll get to see the thing in action tonight and play around with it.

I will say the difference in heft between the 2.2 (2.4?) pound version and this 1.7 pound version isn't pissy. Instantly, one could tell "this is the light one". It's odd handling something so different in weight than what you're used to for years/decades..... You know in stores they sometimes have fake displays out of empty plastic or even cardboard? It feels like it's not "real" and if one was inclined, could probably make a good game of frisbee out of it. Opening/closing the lid - seems sturdy to me. Didn't see it skew/rack the couple times I opened it.

Touchpad looks like a nice size, but the buttons look like thin/cheap shiney silver plastic to me. Will see how they feel/work tonight.
I'

I'm a mac person myself. If it was a Mac - it would've been set up in 5 minutes, not have a single fugly sticker on it. Just sayin'....

 

Meagain,
This is the S5003 version with XP, correct?

Can you tell us how much memory the machine has soldered on-board and how much in the expansion slot?

Thanks.

 

Esskay - Yes, S5003 XP. The memory thing has been driving me nuts after reading the discussions on it. Toshiba was very adamant that it came with 500 soldered/mother board/fixed, and 500 which can only be maxed to a 1gb card for a max total of 1.5. But as we see, R500 here is claiming to be at 2gb.

I'll be checking this tonight (and will be doing more net searches on real users cuz according to Toshiba, this last batch they received & shipped on the 17th was a large batch of about 55 or so - so I'm assuming over the weekend there may have been more real life reports on this unit).

 

Here's the data from my S5003 that I scanned using Belarc Advisor (a terrific program that audits your PC and checks, among other things, your system hardware, versisions, and security patches). Note that 2GB of RAM is being read (see the underlined section), with 1GB on the motherboard:

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) TOSHIBA PORTEGE R500 PPR50U-03X020
System Serial Number: 87022334H
Enclosure Type: Notebook
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
1.20 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: TOSHIBA Portable PC Version A0
Serial Number: $$C078237A
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: TOSHIBA Version 1.30 07/31/2007
Drives Memory Modules c,d
54.62 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
28.34 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

SAMSUNG MCCOE64GQMPQ [Hard drive] (64.16 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SE731B0067, rev 2.9.00, SMART Status: Healthy
SD Memory Card [Hard drive] (8 MB) -- drive 1 2040 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'System 0' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM 1' has 1024 MB (serial number F41CFF24)

 

I wonder if it is a crapshoot how much memory is on-board when you order a 5003 model?!

I also just went to the Toshiba site and it doesn't even show the 5003 and 5004 models anymore.

 

Wouldn't it be amazing if Toshiba loaded some S5003 laptops with 1GB on the motherboard (such as mine), and other S5003 laptops with 512MB? I can't imagine such being the the case, but who knows. I can only say that both the list I provided in a prior post documenting the RAM on my laptop, as well as what Windows recognizes (2GB), clearly identify 2GB in total.

 

Yeah, it worked out well for you!

I did post earlier with conflicting information that I found from Toshiba on this very issue, so I was indeed wondering if everyone (or just some people) will get 1GB onboard with their 5003 models:

Contradicting info on the S5003 model specs... Here is the section describing memory from the S5003 data sheet:

The first bullet point describes how your machine is set up -- comes with 1GB RAM on the motherboard and had an empty memory slot available. But then just below it the second bullet point is not consistent either with the first bullet point or even with itself!! -- it says 1GB min/2GB max, but then it says that there's only 512MB on the mother board (which implies a 1.5GB maximum with 1GB in the slot as described in the specs)!!

 

No doubt Toshiba monitors this forum...so let's ask them: What is the spec on motherboard memory? Is it 1GB or 512?

 

A question to all the R500 owners -- Now that Sony is offering Core 2 Duo processors in the updated Vaio G2 machine, would any of you be swayed to switch? Or did any of you guys deliberately choose the R500 over the Vaio G when making your buying decision, and why?

The Vaio G2 seems to be perhaps the most viable competition to the R500:
- Also 12" form factor
- More expensive
- Similar weight, with available SSD & on board DVD
- Similar specs (C2D, graphics, etc)
- More sturdy construction
- Seems to have somewhat better battery life
- Screen is 4:3 instead of widescreen, but reportedly much better quality than R500
- Not sold locally in US, need to import (potential service hassles)
- Slower HD (4200 rpm vs 5400 rpm)

I'd been intending to buy a R500 but the new Vaio G2 has me thinking twice... Any thoughts from folks? TIA.

Review of previous generation Vaio G: Click here!

 

By the way, anyone know what size HD is in the R500? Non-SSD models come with 120GB/5200rpm drives, I was wondering if it would be possible to upgrade to a 7200rpm drive. Thanks!

 

Esskay, the issue with upgrading to a 7200 HD might be heat. It seems like the r500 fan is already running overtime.

 

Maximum PC has a review of the r500-SX2 if their current issue. They gave the r500 a score of 9 out of 10. They listed the incredibly light weight, the screen and the battery life as positives. The only big downside they listed was that the computer is so flexible that you can't pick up the computer while the optical drive is spinning.

Surprisingly, they didn't complain about the viewing angle, touchpad or noise that others have mentioned.

 

Well, I'm back after playing around with the r500 s5003. Still puzzled why it reads as "very low" with the wireless but it's functional.

Screen quality: I must say that I simply cannot tolerate the screen. There's an odd silvering or pearlescent opaqueness that I can't get used to. Like your looking through something or it's covered in some type of ?? dust or something. When reading, I see the 'screen' and not the letters if that makes sense. Bad enough to where I've cleaned it just for kicks. I also find it to be dull. Not brightness. It can go bright enough, but there's just something not right. Letters are very thin/wispy. I find it very hard to read and annoying.

Viewing Angle: There is none IMO. You have to be smack dab straight on and even dead center, there's shading around the edges/corners. Just moving your head an inch either way..... But straight on, it's not great either.

Body, etc: Great. I like the keyboard, wrist area, etc.
Buttons: I find they need a strong press. If you're doing a lot of clicks like I did tonight trying to boost it's wifi connection... well, I actually feel it in my finger right now.

I think for the purposes of heavy travelers the light weight is nice, but frankly, after just surfing the web on my iPhone who's screen smokes this R500, there's a big price to pay for that 1.7 pounds.

I only checked that it had 1gb ram. I forgot to investigate how it's configured. I'll try to check that out tomorrow if someone can point me in the right direction (what to look for). Perhaps with some calibration, the screen quality can improve a bit (lose the thin lettering look), but this opaquey/artifact thing isn't going away cuz it's IN the screen.

This is not even capable of getting remotely hot.
Zero noise detected in the hour I used it.
2.5 hours of battery on wifi surfing the net with auto-dim on the screen to save battery till it gets so dim I can't see anything and turn it up. Very dissapointed with the battery life.

 

Yowza, I just placed my order for a 5002X version this morning because it popped into stock. Seems to be variation in reports on quality of the screen -- hope my unit turns out ok...

Thanks for your feedback!

 

I wish I could see one to compare to ours. For all I know, ours is faulty. But it does seem it's 'in' the screen and the material used.

 

I've been browsing this thread and was intrigued to see that the r500 doesn't like a 2GB module while my Sony G11, which came with 512MB + 512MB, does work. It knows I have 512MB + 2GB modules but only gives 2GB total (I don't know which 2GB) because that's the limit for the 945GMS chipset.

So maybe there needs to be BIOS support for 2GB which Toshiba left out and Sony included, although the Sony specs suggest 1.5GB max for my version of the G11.

John

 

Thanks for the great review Meagain. Unfortunately, I think the personal reviews on this thread are moving me away from the r500.

Also, thanks for the note on the iPhone. I'm planning to get one, but I'm trying to hold out for the first refresh of it.

 

Yea, I guess I bashed the screen huh? Maybe I'll edit that with disclaimers....

1. I'm used to a 24" iMac
2. Clear type was NOT enabled (totally forgot about it).
3. Perhaps calibration such as gamma, color temp, etc. might improve it (will play with that tonight).

Walkman - Trust me. You want an iPhone. You do. My husband went on a short biz trip with his laptop (not r500) and claimed to not have needed it cuz he was able to do everything with it. I love the thing and it works flawlessly.

 

Interesting, I wonder how many people like ClearType. I don't -- unless the display has a really fine (small) dot pitch, I prefer it turned off because it ends up looking annoyingly blurry to me.

 

It already had clear type enabled. Darn. Maybe my issue with the screen is the trans-reflective thing?

Maybe the more people that get these - we can work on optimizing them together with calibration, best setup, etc.

Esskay - do you have an ETA?

 

Wish I did...

I (with some trepidation!) ordered from Buy.com so all it says is "Sent to Warehouse." Don't think they ever give any more detail until it magically changes to "Shipped." Hopefully it will ship in another day or so. My bigger fear is that they took more orders than they have stock. I've tried to order this computer twice already elsewhere when shown in stock only to find out later that they ran out. At least in those instances those were smaller shops that answer their phone and I found out right away! Buy.com is really hard to get a hold of...

 

Sony limits the G in BIOS. I tried putting a 2GB stick in and it didn't even boot, but putting in a 1GB was just fine for a total of 2GB. Unfortunate really.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but I have 2 questions about the protege m450r3200 I just bought. I cannot find any answer anywhere, so any help would be welcome. Just to the right of the power switch is a round button, unlike any others. When depressed for two seconds, it brings up the windows mobilty center. What is that? (I thought the button looked a bitg like a small web cam.) Secondly, some of the proteges come with speech recognition. Mine has a built in mic. Anyone know if it has speech recoginition? thanks

 

Well, guess what, got an email today from Buy.com saying it is backordered. Guess my fear came true! Third strike... I'm looking again at the Vaios...

 

"Maybe my issue with the screen is the trans-reflective thing?"

I think this comment is dead-on. MaximumPC liked the screen -- for a trans-reflective. They made it sound like every other trans-reflective is completely unusable. The thing is, why even bother with them? How many people really use their computers outdoors in full daylight? Toshiba has also released an ultra-portable tablet computer that apparently has a wonderful screen with all kinds of viewing angle.

Meagain -- darn you! Now I can't wait for Christmas when my wife is hinting she's going to get me an iPhone!

 

Meagain - Have you been able to check what the memory configuration of your 5003 is? Thanks.

 

Esskay - sorry for the delay. When is your ETA again?

YEP! This little guy can go to 2. Opened up the back and found an empty slot. Put in a 1 card and it's reading at 2. Just like R500 said on page 1 or so. Toshiba lied. This is a good lie. Hmmm....

 

Thanks for the feedback, that's good news for folks.

I have no ETA whatsoever from Buy.com, and judging from other retailers it may stretch further into November. 3rd unsuccessful try for me to buy this machine. Maybe it's an omen!!

Anyway, I am seriously looking into the Sony Vaio G2...

 

Esskay - what about from Toshiba Direct? Maybe they can give you an accurate date. I can't imagine you'd get it faster from Buy.com over Toshiba cuz at least as of when we got it (2 weeks ago?), Toshiba had a waiting list. IDK

It would be nice if you could see them in person but my husband does like his. I do too actually. I think the build quality surprised me - pretty nice. And having a laptop that doesn't get hot at all is a real treat. Vaio is nice looking though. I wonder how the screens compare. I'd also like to see an R500 in a store to compare the screen to ours.

Isn't it funny though that Toshiba insists there's 512 on the motherboard (fixed) with a total max option of 1.5 when it can go to 2? That just blows me away. How is this possible? It's a big thing IMO.

 

Waterfield makes a SleeveCase for the R500. It is the only place that lists this laptop. I'm suggesting it to my husband as I'm pretty sold on the concept. Should fit perfectly. http://www.sfbags.com/products/sleevecases/images/prod_sleevecase_detail_7_lg.jpg

 

That's because there are 2 models, one with a 512MB on board memory and the other with 1GB. It seems you have the 1GB model, hence you're able to add another 1GB to reach 2GB.

 

Well, last time I checked the specs, it clearly stated the S5003 version only came with 512 fixed on the mother board and 3 different Toshiba reps insisted the same. Before buying, I knew about the confusion surrounding this and repeatedly asked if there were different versions/configs that would allow 2.

This page still states a 1.5 max http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/ebtext.to?page=r500micro_prod

 

Ah well... I've cancelled my R500 order and went with the new Vaio G2 from Japan... Hope to get it in a week or so! Buy.com still showed the R500 backordered when I cancelled.

 

and finally its in stock at Dynamism

- Core 2 Duo U7500 1.06GHz
- 64GB solid state HDD
- 1GB RAM

For $3899

 

A few questions to you guys who have actually bought the r500.

With the lid as flexible as it is, has anyone experienced any marks or scratches on the screen from the keyboard? I imagine this easily could happen after some time of transporting it to and fro.

I saw a video-review of the r500 where they showed that the hinges on the lid was about to break. Anyone who has noticed anything there? What's your impressions on the build quality of the hinges?

I see everyone is recommending upgrading the memory. But I couldn't see anyone actually commenting much on the performance. How does the r500 cope with vista and for example heavy multiple windows browsing?

Has anyone tried editing photos in photoshop? How did that go?

Thank you! I really want to buy this notebook, but I'm not totally convinced yet, so I hope you guys can convince me!

 

Hi, what form factor is the 64gb SSD hdd? is it 2,5 or 1,8" ?Thanks

 

With the lid as flexible as it is, has anyone experienced any marks or scratches on the screen from the keyboard? I've noticed slight grid marks on the screen that look like key outlines. While they easily are wiped off by a soft cloth, the problem is that the rubber pads on the dcreen frame are too small; a slight size increase should remedy the issue..

I saw a video-review of the r500 where they showed that the hinges on the lid was about to break. Anyone who has noticed anything there? What's your impressions on the build quality of the hinges? Thus far, no problems. One video I saw did twist the screen to test its resiliance, but, from my vantage point, represented unlikely stress conditions versus normal use.

I see everyone is recommending upgrading the memory. But I couldn't see anyone actually commenting much on the performance. How does the r500 cope with vista and for example heavy multiple windows browsing? I don't use Vista, but I can say that for XP, my laptop approaches my desktop, which also has 2GB.

Has anyone tried editing photos in photoshop? How did that go? I am about to load PS on my r500 (thus far I've kept PS on my desktop), but will also use a 24in LCD color-profiled and linked to the Toshiba DVI port replicator.

 

1.8" that you can confirm here (part num SAMSUNG MCCOE64GQMPQ [Hard drive] (64.16 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SE731B0067, rev 2.9.00):

http://www.dvnation.com/spns.html

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks r500, its a zif connector...I hoped for IDE. Thanks

 

I have read about the fan problems and this is a concern, but i Have a question.

Even when the fan is on constantly, it is running at the same speed? In other words, is the sound consistent or does it fluctuate? Changing pitches/speeds/sounds would distract the **** out of me, but if it runs at the same speed and produces the same sound it's no big deal.

 

I barely notice the fan. In fact, for me, it's no different than white noise from fluorescent lights. Also, and again for me, while the fan is constantly on, I never hear it change speed. I use Speed Fan to monitor temps, which you can download here http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

Thank you, r500! I am now the proud owner of Portege r500! And I'm very happy with it this far.

There's a few things that absolutely could've been better. And with just a small effort from Toshiba too. All in all though, it's very good!

By the way, in case anyone is wondering; my r500 came with 512 mb RAM located internally and 512 mb RAM that's changeable. I've switched it with 1 gb for a total of 1,5 gb RAM.

 

AET - which model designation did you purchase? Thanks.

 

I purchased a 4GB SDHC card and needed a patch for XP, which I found here: http://www.digitmemo.com/articles/219/adding-sdhc-support-for-windows-with-your-old-sd-card-reader/

If you go to the bottom of the post, you'll find a link to a ZIP file. I ran the file to update XP and now my r500 SD drive can read the 4GB card. Note that, if you are more comfortable downloading a file from Microsoft, the article gives you that info, as well; your call, obviously. Anyway, I wish Toshiba had made this available at its tech support site, given that the company has introduced a 32GB whopper that obviously needs this patch to work with the protege and probably every other laptop it sells.