Toshiba Portégé R500-S5007V with 128GB SSD
Smallest, fastest, slimmest, lightest…and the war goes on. Toshiba, who has been in the race at least five times, is in the limelight once again for its Portégé R500-S5007V, which it claims to be the slimmest and lightest among laptops with a certain component configuration. The S5007V which is actually a revamped version of the S5006V, is fitted with a SATA 128GB solid state drive and a SuperMulti DVD drive. Therefore it leads in slimness and weight as far as other similar laptops are concerned.
In support to the green computing approach, Toshiba uses a ‘transreflective’ backlit LED display which has earned it a premier rating from EPEAT and Energy Star. Usually, most displays dim-out in outdoor light; but the transreflective property of the S500 series actually makes the screen more viewable when outdoor light or direct sunlight bounces off the screen.
This means that the backlights will not be necessary when there is direct light falling on the screen, and can therefore be switched off to increase battery runtime. The LED backlights can be switched on in dim outdoor conditions and indoors to give quality images with good saturation of color. Also, the 12 inch screen is benchmarked as the ‘world’s lightest notebook with a 12 inch widescreen’.
Solid state drives do not have metal discs that rotate, and therefore are light in weight. Toshiba has not only taken advantage of the light weight, but it has also boosted up the storage to 128GB, providing more than enough space for rugged office applications and data, as well as bulky personal music and image files. That’s a lot of heavy software in a piece of light-weight hardware.
This makes the 7V the first to use a SSD with a capacity of 128GB. The effectiveness of a SSD over a traditional HDD is still being researched, and it has to be seen if this transition affects data transfers.
While other light-weight players in the market were treating an optical drive as an accessory, the S500 series emerged as the world’s first laptop to integrate the 7mm light-weight SuperMulti optical DVD drive in its slender frame. This enables the user to have access to more office data, share files, back up the hard drive and enjoy entertainment while on the move, and without the hassle of cables and accessories.
Its durable and shock-absorbing frame which is re-enforced with magnesium is only 0.77 inches thin and weighs only 2.4 pounds since it does not have the heavy traditional HDD. Toshiba’s pioneering technology enables components to be connected on either side of the motherboard and thus reduces the motherboard size to one-third as compared to other notebooks. All this is achieved without sacrificing on functionality.
Due to the power-saving components, the 7V’s battery can last for a full working day of eight hours. The keypad comes with a fingerprint sensor using biometric technology that lets the user secure the BIOS, operating system, hard drive and other applications by just the touch of a finger. This saves the user the hassle of remembering passwords and dealing with forgotten passwords.
The 7V runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 processor with a speed of 1.33GHz, Windows Vista Business operating system, 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM and an integrated Intel graphics accelerator card. Wi Fi networking is made possible by 802.11n draft specification, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR ensures excellent data transfers, making the 7V complete for a perfect internet browsing and emailing experience.
For a price tag of $2999, Toshiba’s Portégé R500-S5007V may be an expensive buy, but it is definitely lighter and cheaper than the MacBook Air. For an economical alternative, one can go in for the R500-S5006V which includes the same package with a 160GB HDD and retails at $2100.