Premable: This is a ~5 year old laptop, bought off ebay. I'm only posting it because size/price-wise its a great alternative to a netbook.
Introduction:
As a put-upon law student, I bought an eee 701 at launch for lecture notes. It worked well but I had three problems
1, Battery Life - only a couple of hours and I have 6 hours of lectures/seminars some days (woe is me)
2, Keyboard - There was a lot of critisism of the KB size in reviews and while I found it perfectly usable, it was far from perfect
3, Screen size and resolution - 7" at 640x480 - fine for word processing but it meant I couldnt use it, at all, for web browsing or anything else.
So I decided to get something bigger.
Toshiba Portege R100
Specs:
1ghz Centrino M
512mb RAM
60Gb 1.8" HDD 4200rpm
Intel 802.11b mini-pci
12.1" screen @ 1024*768max
Trident CyberBlade XP4-32
Initial impressions
Well, it looks impressive. Very thin, the height of an ethernet port and no more. Magnessium alloy on top, very slick. Feels solid but very light. Definitely a head-turner.
Screen:
Nice enough, 12.1", bright and a usable at 1024*768.
Keyboard:
Fullsize, lovely to type on. A good travel compared with most laptop keyboards. I'd say the only laptop keyboard that better would be on a thinkpad. Some of the keys (like the windows keys) are in odd places (top right) but there some nice additions as well. pg up/pg down are just above right of the arrows, which means I use them a lot more. Lots of hotkeys that look handy but mine came w/o the toshiba utilities to use them If I get the software, I'll update the review.
Battery life
Very important to me. The R100 has an internal battery that owing to the small size lasts about 1.5-2 hours, which is....well, ok. However, it comes with an extended battery which clips onto the bottom. This, in cunjunction with the primary battery, gives me 6.5-7 hours. While it adds a little weight and a little bulk, it's certianly worth it. It's a wedge so it even gives a better typing angle.
N/B - the R100, when new, shipped with both batteries. Not all of the ones on ebay will include both, but you can get the extended for ~£20.
Performance-
Well, given the specs, it isn't going to be that impressive but as a netbook alternative it performs just as well. Upgrading the RAM (one free slot) to 1.5Gb would certainly help but it runs XP perfectly well. It also uses a
Trident CyberBlade XP4-32 GPU which is unusual but seems to work fine. Supports DX8.1 so runs CS fine.
Ports-
2x usb2.0
VGA out
mic
headphones
wireless on/off switch
PCMCIA
SD card reader
Conclusion -
While it's old and not very powerful, I've found it to be better than any netbook. A little larger but the same weight (1kg, 1.3kg w/ extended battery). A better keyboard, a bigger screen and much better battery life.
I got it from ebay for £144 with shipping and the extended battery. At that price (if you're willing to forgoe a warrenty etc), I'd recommend anyone thinking of buying a netbook to take a look.
PS, pictures up tonight, hopefully.
Introduction:
As a put-upon law student, I bought an eee 701 at launch for lecture notes. It worked well but I had three problems
1, Battery Life - only a couple of hours and I have 6 hours of lectures/seminars some days (woe is me)
2, Keyboard - There was a lot of critisism of the KB size in reviews and while I found it perfectly usable, it was far from perfect
3, Screen size and resolution - 7" at 640x480 - fine for word processing but it meant I couldnt use it, at all, for web browsing or anything else.
So I decided to get something bigger.
Toshiba Portege R100
Specs:
1ghz Centrino M
512mb RAM
60Gb 1.8" HDD 4200rpm
Intel 802.11b mini-pci
12.1" screen @ 1024*768max
Trident CyberBlade XP4-32
Initial impressions
Well, it looks impressive. Very thin, the height of an ethernet port and no more. Magnessium alloy on top, very slick. Feels solid but very light. Definitely a head-turner.
Screen:
Nice enough, 12.1", bright and a usable at 1024*768.
Keyboard:
Fullsize, lovely to type on. A good travel compared with most laptop keyboards. I'd say the only laptop keyboard that better would be on a thinkpad. Some of the keys (like the windows keys) are in odd places (top right) but there some nice additions as well. pg up/pg down are just above right of the arrows, which means I use them a lot more. Lots of hotkeys that look handy but mine came w/o the toshiba utilities to use them If I get the software, I'll update the review.
Battery life
Very important to me. The R100 has an internal battery that owing to the small size lasts about 1.5-2 hours, which is....well, ok. However, it comes with an extended battery which clips onto the bottom. This, in cunjunction with the primary battery, gives me 6.5-7 hours. While it adds a little weight and a little bulk, it's certianly worth it. It's a wedge so it even gives a better typing angle.
N/B - the R100, when new, shipped with both batteries. Not all of the ones on ebay will include both, but you can get the extended for ~£20.
Performance-
Well, given the specs, it isn't going to be that impressive but as a netbook alternative it performs just as well. Upgrading the RAM (one free slot) to 1.5Gb would certainly help but it runs XP perfectly well. It also uses a
Trident CyberBlade XP4-32 GPU which is unusual but seems to work fine. Supports DX8.1 so runs CS fine.
Ports-
2x usb2.0
VGA out
mic
headphones
wireless on/off switch
PCMCIA
SD card reader
Conclusion -
While it's old and not very powerful, I've found it to be better than any netbook. A little larger but the same weight (1kg, 1.3kg w/ extended battery). A better keyboard, a bigger screen and much better battery life.
I got it from ebay for £144 with shipping and the extended battery. At that price (if you're willing to forgoe a warrenty etc), I'd recommend anyone thinking of buying a netbook to take a look.
PS, pictures up tonight, hopefully.
