16, Jan, 2025
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Toshiba Portege R200

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It’s thin, affordable, has a comprehensive warranty and an absolute stunner. We’ll take one.
As notebook design goes, it doesn’t get much better looking than Toshiba’s R200. It’s a 1cm-at-the-front, 2cm-at-the-back, 1.15kg, magnesium-chassis beauty that makes Apple’s PowerBook look dated.
With its 12.1in screen, Pentium M 1.2GHz ik ultra-low-voltage processor, 512MB DDR2 RAM and 1.8in iPod-style 60GB hard drive, the R200 achieved a good battery life result of three hours and 43 minutes with all power-saving features disabled and the screen on full brightness. Real-life usage with Toshiba’s battery saver configuration will provide better results. The company also offers an optional high-capacity battery with a claimed 10-hour life for $182, though it wasn’t supplied for testing.
While not exactly a fast machine — it achieved a PCMarkO4 score of 2,180 compared to the 3,789 accomplished by the speed-focused Acer Ferrari (see page 47) — it’s snappy enough for office and Web work. It’s clearly a machine focused on battery life and portability.
The built-in 802.11g wireless networking has incredible reception sensitivity. In places where only one or two wireless networks could be detected with other equipment, the R200 routinely picked up eight or nine. This is useful in airport gate lounges with weak Wi-Fi reception, or hotels which may be within range of free cafe hotspots, allowing you to avoid expensive in-room Internet charges.
At $3,520, it’s a lot more affordable than its predecessor, the R100, which debuted at $4,400 (at the time of writing, the R200 was selling for $3,235 at www.hboutlet.com.au). However, you’ll need to cough up a staggering $520 for the external DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo optical drive. You could use a third-party external optical drive but, according to Toshiba, you won’t be able to boot from it.
Other upsides include built-in SD card and fingerprint readers (with software for linking your fingerprint to your Windows login and Internet Explorer passwords reader); a dedicated key for switching video output; Norton AntiVirus; and Toshiba’s fantastic Configfree software utility for guided visual configuration of networking.
Minor gripes include the physical volume dial, which is outdated compared to keyboard-controlled volume; and the ultra-shiny trackpad, which gets covered in fingerprints the moment you use it.
Finally, Toshiba’s warranty is an outstanding three years with free courier pick up and return. Plus, the upgrade to next business day onsite service only costs $274, or $349 for regional coverage.

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