Review: Toshiba Portégé R500-10U notebook computer

Light as a feather, but the plastic casing is worryingly thin for regular commuting

Toshiba launched this latest Portégé by sticking it in a hot air balloon back in July 2007 and sending it across the Atlantic with a British explorer, breaking several world records in the process.

On solid ground in the PCW labs, many didn’t even believe that it was a real notebook as we passed it around. But 759g really is all the R500-10U weighs.

It keeps weight down by providing a 64GB solid-state hard disk, which has low power consumption and is silent. Thanks to lightning-fast access times it thundered through PCmark05’s hard drive test scoring 7,046.

While other PCmark05 scores where lacklustre (due to the ultra-low-voltage U7600 Core 2 Duo running at 1.2GHz), it’s perfectly adequate for office tasks and we’ve previously shown that solid-state hard disks can cut Windows boot-up times by 10 seconds.

The chassis has a large amount of flex to it and on applying a small amount of pressure the join on the base separated slightly, with an audible crack. The screen bezel also peels away from the screen easily and is another sign that Toshiba has perhaps gone too far in slimming down.

At least ports aren’t ignored on the R500. There are three USB ports, a Firewire port, VGA and PC Card slots and even an excellent volume wheel. We found the LED backlit screen the dimmest on test and viewing angles are poor. It’s transflective though, which means you can use it in bright sunlight ­ it’s also extraordinarily flexible.

You can save £587 by opting for the R500 with the optical drive, but this adds 200g in weight by Toshiba’s calculations.

There’s no doubt the R500-10U is an astonishing piece of engineering, but it needs tender loving care (preferably with a case) to survive, which defeats the object of having a lightweight notebook.

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This article is part of a group test, see also:
1 Introduction
2 The great weight conundrum
3 Acer Travelmate 6292 review
4 Advent 8112 review
5 Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7230 review
6 Hi-Grade Notino D2200 review
7 HP Compaq 2710p review
8 HP Pavilion TX-1260ea review
9 Lenovo Thinkpad X61 review
10 MSI PR200-064UK review
11 Panasonic Toughbook CF-W7 review
12 Samsung Q45-A007 review
13 Toshiba Portégé R500-10U review
14 Performance graphs, page 1 of 2
15 Performance graphs, page 2 of 2
16 Replacement battery costs
17 Conclusion and awards