Laptops Arena

If you have been following the past two articles, then you probably know about what notebook is this article. Toshiba Portege R500 follows the steps of its siblings, Portege M750 and Portege A600. Toshiba A600 is considered to be the entry level notebook for the Portege family. It features a solid built, nice design, and good features for a 12 inches entry level notebook. Portege M750 is the pearl of the Portege family providing so many excellent features. In hardware language, the M750 comes in six basic configurations, which vary mostly within the hard drive used, the dual core processor included, and the display's usability.

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Also, the common features of all these six M750 models are powerful enough to surpass a 16 inches notebook. Another excellent features that M750 sports is the convertible feature. You can transform your 12 inches notebook in a 12 inches PC Tablet. What about the R500? Although the whole Portege family is about ultra portability, the most portable, until now, model in the Portege line is the R500 model. Also it is the safest in terms of protecting the data stored on the hard drive. It is the most ultra portable Portege because it was built with one and only purpose: to get through a full day work without recharging the battery. I am going to present this feature later when I am going to write about the battery. Long story short, until then, Portege R500 sports a solid state drive (which saves power). At first glance you might not notice, but Toshiba Portege R500 is all about business. In design department everything looks run in the family.

Therefore, you will be happy to know that R500 has a silver aluminum lid. Is not a aluminum MacBook unibody but is a high quality material. It rejects fingerprints, and resists to minor scratches. The only plastic feel material you are going to find is on the left and right side of the R500 body. You get no flex from display, no squeaks, no nothing; everything is perfectly build. The overall built not only looks solid, but feels solid.

Once you open the R500 you are going to find the same excellent quality. The only two non silver finishes in the Portege R500 are the glossy black frame surrounding the 12 inches display and the metallic Toshiba logo on the lid. The keyboard is similar to the ones found on the M750 and A600, sporting 85 keys, and a sound volume control dial. The keys have good sizes. The only key that are somewhat small are the Fn keys. The space between them is sufficient, and you can easily write more than a couple of hours without feeling any discomfort.

The keys provide good feedback, and do not offer any flex when pressed. Under the good quality keyboard you get the touch pad (classic no multi touch features), which provides an excellent time response. Under the good sized touch pad you get two buttons, and in the center of these two buttons R500 sports the biometric fingerprint reader. Toshiba suggests you replace the old password with your fingerprint for securing your notebook. I honestly suggest you to use both. For a better security just use both password and fingerprint to lock and unlock your R500. The two control buttons that centered the fingerprint reader are: Toshiba Assist button and Toshiba Outdoor Display Switch. All the ports and slots are integrated either on the left side or on the right side of the R500.

Both front and back side lack of any ports. On the right side you can find the DVD Super Multi + / - R drive supporting nine formats, such as CD ROM, CD R, CD RW, DVD RAM, DVD ROM, DVD R, DVD RW and others. On this side you also get the Ethernet port, memory card slot, and 64 pin docking connector. On the left side Toshiba added the charger pin, three 2.0 USB, RGB monitor out port, microphone input port, headphone output port and others. The Portege R500 has a height of 0.77 inches to 1 inch, wide of 11.1 inches, deep of 8.5 inches; the R500 weights about 2.4 lbs. The connectivity is ensured by the Intel PRO / 1000 - 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet, Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965 AGN with 802.11 a/g/n profile, Secure card slot with SDIO compatibility, and the version 2.0 Bluetooth with enhanced data rate.

Toshiba equipped the R500 with a 12.1 inches diagonal widescreen high brightness display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels (WXGA). This display is trans reflecting and features a LED backlight. This screen offers great visibility in direct sunlight. The R500 display delivers great vibrant colors indoors and outdoors. Toshiba included in all the R500 models a Mobile Intel 945 GMS Express Chipset and the Intel Core 2 Duo processor U7700 with 1.33 GHz, 2 MB L2, 533 MHz FSB with 64 bit. Also available on all R500 models is the 2048 MB PC2 5300 DDR 2 SDRAM. All these features are quite great, and the whole package is completed with the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 256 MB graphic memory. All these specs will be sufficient for you to watch movies without any gaps.

Even if Toshiba says that the R500 can run games, the reality is different. Don't expect to be able to play any real games, maybe old 2D games and low quality old 3D games. Toshiba offers two models for the R500 Portege. At a closer look you will see that the only real difference between the Portege R500 S5006V and the Portege R500 S5007V is the hard drive. On the S5006V you get a 160 GB serial ATA hard drive with 5400 rotation per second, while the S5007V brings a 128 GB Solid State Drive (SSD). This means only one thing.

Toshiba Portege R500 competes directly against Apple MacBook Air. A solid state drive is a smaller, faster and tougher version of the old hard drive. Because is free of moving parts, and is four times tougher than the normal hard drive, the solid drive consumes almost 50% less power than the classic drive. Another great feature of this new technology hard drive is the safety it provides to your data saved on your notebook. If R500 senses a fall or a kick, the solid drive freezes all activity and saves your business and personal data. This technology is great, especially because solid state drives can now provide up to 512 GB. A big drawback of this technology is the price tag. For example, the difference between S5006V and S5007V is about $1000 (remind yourself that the only difference between these two models is the hard drive offered). Toshiba ships the Portege R500 with Windows Vista Business 32 bit version.

The R500 also packs other software like Toshiba Cong Free, Toshiba Assist, Toshiba Disc Creator, Sun Java 2 Runtime Environment, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Desktop, Google Picasa, Microsoft Office Ready, Microsoft Office Professional 2007, and others. Toshiba ships the R500 with a 5800 mAh Lithium Ion battery with six cells that should provide 7 hours and 30 minutes battery life. It is not exactly a full day work battery life, but it does the job better than any other competitors. Overall, Toshiba Portege R500 is a great notebook, providing good features like the shock absorbing design, hard disk drive protection, good tech list and a good battery life. The R500 model starts from $1.399 and goes up to $2.299 price tag for the solid state drive configuration.

Samsung is one of the most important notebook manufacturers in the world. Samsung Sens is the notebook computer series made by Samsung Electronics. Their primarily opponent are the Dell Latitude series notebooks. In the middle of October 2008, Samsung announced that it would be re-launching the Sens series (even for the US market). There are six series of Sens notebooks: M, N, P, Q, R, and X; the X series notebooks feature small design and weight making them ultraportable but sports a wide screen (opposed to the mini notebooks) and a stronger processing power. It is around 14 inches, such as the X06, X1 and X11 (Core 2 Duo).
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The M series includes laptops with larger screen (17, 18 or even 19 inches) with fast CPUs (Core 2 Duo), dedicated graphic cards and other great specs. The P series are the affordable but powerful notebooks. The N series kept all the dimensions (and the price) to a lower level. The Q Sens series provides the best ultraportable notebooks, while the R series includes heavier and faster laptops, but at reasonable prices.

One of the most remarkable notebooks from the X series is the X460, a slim 14 inch laptop with a unique look. It is the bigger version of the 13.3 inch Samsung X360. The X460 has a similar slim and light design as the X360. Weighting less than 4 pounds (with the standard battery included), this notebook has a height of 9.7 inch, wide of 13.3 inch and deep of 0.8 inch ~ 1.25 inch. From the first look you can understand that the X460 plays in the high league. With a nemesis like Apple MacBook Air, this notebook has to bring several excellent specs to the game. Because of its $1.699 price tag (therefore clearly aimed at the premium buyer), the Samsung X460 sports a distinctive chassis that puts together glossy black plastic with red brushed metal. The Samsung X460 has a distinctive look, however if you do not appreciate the glossy black and metallic red combination than you should look for another notebook. With its durable magnesium alloy and excellent aluminum touch, the X460 is as attractive as the MacBook Air. Because the X460 features a relatively large screen (14.1 inch), an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and an integrated optical drive, all wrapped less than 4 pounds (2 kg) is an impressive achievement. Samsung proves that form factor and great specs could go along together just fine. The 14.1 inch wide screen display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels (standard for any 14 inch or even 15 inch notebooks).

The 14.1 inch X460 screen is in fact a Super Bright LED backlit LCD display. With this technology, you will get over 30% more display space than other screens. A remarkable feature is the 300 cd / m² of brightness (comparable to the MacBook display value). Even if the X460's design is rather familiar to the X360 design, there still are some elements that will make the distinguish process more easy. The X460 has a strip of black metal above the keyboard. Here we also have the two 1.5 Watt speakers and a small rectangular power button. However for a good music rendering or a great movie sound you should go either with external speakers (in the comfort of your home) or with a headset (when out).

The lack of quality sound and bass is easily recovered by the excellent connectivity features. Therefore, we have the wired modem with up to 56 kbps V.92, the wired Ethernet LAN 10 / 100 / 1000 Base TX, wireless LAN with 802.11 a / b / g / n profile and the Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.  Other features on board the X460 are: VGA support, HDMI port, headphone in line, microphone in line, internal microphone, three USB v2.0 ports, 7 in 1 card slot (MS, MS Pro, SD, SDHC, MMC, MMC plus, xD), P-Dock port, webcam, RJ11 modem, RJ45 LAN, DC in power port and PC express 34 mm Card Bus slot. They keyboard is not a feature to complain about. The overall quality of the keys is good; there is enough space between them. A drawback: it is a little off center to account for the Home to End keys. Also, the X460 keyboard, offers a minimalist vibe since it does not support any quick launch buttons. However the touch pad is excellent and it is easy to use. When typing you should be careful not to touch by accident the scroll zone from the touch pad.

A luxury feature that Samsung implanted in the X460 is the biometric fingerprint reader. It will be virtually impossible for others to access your important data (Fingerprint Reader w / TPM). The processing power is ensured by the 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU with a 1.066 MHz front side bus and 3 MB L2 cache. The CPU is speedy and it is a typical CPU for the mid to high end laptop. For a price tag of $1.699, the Samsung X460 should come equipped with a better processor. The not so expensive processor of this expensive notebook is saved by the great dedicated graphic chipset. Samsung included in the X460 a NVDIA GeForce 9200 GS with a graphic memory of 256 MB GGR 3 VRAM.

The graphic chip is useful for graphics heavy applications. The X460 comes with a 320 GB hard drive with 5.400 rpm (good value for this line) and an optical disk drive (DVD + / - RW Dual Layer). The standard system memory has a value of 3 GB of 1.066 MHz DDR 3 RAM. However from the specs list (even as an option) the X460 lacks Blu-ray. The Samsung X460 comes with a six Cell Lithium Ion, with a battery life of 3 hours and 31 minutes in video playback. Overall this is a great device, impeccable elegance, support for SD, Memory Stick and xD, small dimensions and lighter than the "enemies". Unfortunately is far too expensive. The features on the X460 specs list can charge a client for $900 and not even close for $1.699 the Samsung asking price. Samsung delivers the X460 with the following installed software: SAMSUNG Recovery Solution III, SAMSUNG Magic Doctor, SAMSUNG Update plus Easy Display Manger, Easy Battery Manager, Easy Network Manager, Easy Speed up Manager, Mc Afee Virus Scan, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Office Professional 2007 (but only a free 60 days trial). The operating system provided for the X460 is Microsoft Vista Business. If you are looking to buy an expensive laptop than Samsung X460 might just be what you are looking for. However this notebook is far from a bad product, but it is an expensive product.

After announcing Longitute 400, 3K Computers is releasing another mini notebook, called RazorBook 400, which will be available at a low price of $299.
This black UMPC weighs just 2 lbs and sports a 7-inch Active Matrix TFT LCD display, while the keyboard has a full-size design.

It is clear that RazorBook 400 is optimized for basic operations such as watching movies and listening to songs while on the go, as well as online chat and Internet browsing at mobile broadband speeds.
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The integrated processor is an energy-saving model, fan-less, for quiet operations without consuming much power. The boot-up time is of 8 seconds.
3K Computers announced also that the mini laptop runs on a Trojan-free and virus-free operating system, which is enough to keep your online purchases secure.
It keeps you media on a 4GB SSD drive which permits a shock-resistant design.

In addition, there are several applications pre-installed like the Office Suite, PDF reader and Outlook email via Mozilla Firefox.
Other features include 512MB DDR2 memory, 3 USB 2.0 connectors, 802.11 Wireless LAN, Ethernet, modem, high-definition audio, and a 2-cell 2100 MaH Battery.



"The day has finally arrived and the 3K RazorBook 400 is now hitting the US market. We just lowered our MSRP to $299 as part of this exciting announcement. There has been a lot of comparison from bloggers to the Asus eeePC due to its similar 7-inch LCD form factor. The 3K RazorBook 400 is a unique product that was designed as a low-cost ($299) portable Internet appliance, not to replace your home PC or Notebook computer," said Dan Jacobs, CEO, 3K Computers.

3K Computers is a US computer manufacturer targeting the Built to Order marketplace. One of the latest notebook releases is the 13.3-inch semi-rugged business model called 3K RazorBook 713R.

Available at a suggested retail price of $1,399, the model is drop-resistant thanks to its magnesium allow housing with Optical Drive Lock Mechanism, has an Anti-Shock Mounted HDD, Anti-Shock Mounted LCD Screen, and sports spill-resistant keyboard, touchpad and buttons.
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Among its features we mention a 13.3-inch XGA Bright LCD display, the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator with up to 224B of shared memory, up to 3GB memory, up to 250GB S-ATA HDD drive, the Intel Core 2 Duo processor technology, web camera, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Express Card slot, optional Bluetooth EDR 2.0, Military/CAC Smart Card Reader, and the TPM 1.2 hardware-based security module.

3K, US computer manufacturer, has announced a new rival for the Eee PC and the other mini computers existent on the market.
This new one is called Longitude 400 and 3K Computers planned to release it on the market next month at a price of $399, but you can pre-order it now.

It is an ultra mobile PC weighting under 2 lbs, with a 7-inch LCD TFT display, just like the first version of the famous Eee PC, and it has also a full QWERTY keyboard, besides other functionalities I will tell you about in the following paragraphs, which make it a good laptop for mobile professionals, students and people that like to spend much time on the Internet and in chat rooms.
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Longitude 400 Mini Notebook UMPC supports mobile broadband Internet connectivity and comes with the Office suite including AbiWord and GNUMeric, as well as some games, schedulers, music players, movie players and other useful applications.

It is powered by a 400 Mhz processor and has 3 USB ports, Ethernet LAN port, while running on Linux operating system.