You can take this Portege anywhere-Ultraportable notebook
Mood:  a-ok
BY M. MADHAVAN

Portege R200
(Toshiba Corp)
Ultraportable notebook
Processor: Intel Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage 733 (1.2GHz)
Memory: 256B PC2700 DDR SDRAM
Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)
Display: 12.1in (1,024 x 768pixels)
Storage: 60GB hard drive, external combo drive
Connectivity: WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), 56K modem, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth
I/O ports: Two USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire port, one Type II PC Card slot
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition
Other features: SD (Secure Digital) card slot, biometric security
Dimensions (w x d x h): 286 x 229 x 9.9mm (front) / 19.8 mm (back)
Weight: 1.29kg
Price: RM9,399
Website: www.teledynamics.com.my
Review unit courtesy of Tele Dynamics Sdn Bhd, (03) 5568-7788


THE Toshiba R200 is the latest in the line of ultraportable notebooks from the Japanese company, and it is a very impressive piece of hardware packed in a very small form factor.

The wedge-shaped ultraportable is barely a centimetre thick at the front and only 19.8mm at the back where the battery is located.

It weighs a mere 1.29kg, making it ideal for those who want to tote their notebook anywhere. You will rarely find it difficult to fit in your bag or luggage and often times, I found it more cumbersome to pack the charger than the notebook.

Tough cookie
The notebook is almost entirely made of magnesium alloy with the exception of the top, so as not to interfere with wireless transmission.

It has a metallic silver-grey finish, which gives the R200 a very elegant and polished look.

When you flip open the notebook, you will be greeted by a silver-coloured keyboard that is as good as it looks.

The keyboard was really a joy to use that I did not mind that some of the keys, like the Windows and Delete keys, are not in their usual positions. The tactile feedback was good even though the keys are do not have full travel.

There is also a fingerprint reader on the right of the touchpad, which comes in handy to safeguard information stored on the notebook.

However, I found the EasyGuard software that configures the reader rather difficult to set up.

Just behind the touchpad is a bright blue LED (light-emitting diode) that lights up when the notebook is on and flashes when the R200 goes into hibernation.

I found this rather nifty and it served as a reminder for me to turn the notebook off if I did not expect to use it again soon.

However, I'll wager that some will find the blinking LED too bright and disturbing.

Like most Toshiba notebooks, the R200, comes with a “3D acceleration motion sensor” that monitors the tilt and movement of the notebook for an imminent fall. In such an event, it will deactivate the hard disk to protect it from damage.

Screen test
The R200 is equipped with a 12.1in TFT (thin-film transistor) display that has a native resolution of 1,024 x 768pixels. Although the screen is nice, it is nowhere close to the quality of screens found on the bigger Toshiba desktop replacement notebooks.

Unfortunately the R200 is only endowed with an Intel GMA, which leaves a lot to be desired even though it is an improved version of the Intel Extreme Graphics processor.

The GMA does not come with its own memory and can be set to consume up to 128MB of main memory. As a result 3D performance is only passable.

In any case, an ultraportable is not exactly the right equipment to be running the upcoming Quake 4 game.

When it comes to running office apps, the notebook was rather lively, thanks to its 1.2GHz Pentium M processor and 256MB of RAM. However we duly recommend that you upgrade the memory to at least 512MB for better performance.

The 60GB hard disk is definitely a welcome addition and should provide ample space to store digital media files.

Since the R200 is an ultraportable model, it should not come as a surprise that Toshiba had to leave out the optical drive due to space constraints.

But at its price, we are glad that Toshiba has thrown in an external combo drive worth RM920 as part of the package.

Ports and slots
The R200 comes with a full complement of ports and slots – it has a monitor-out, two USB 2.0 ports, fast infrared port and Firewire port.

For wired connectivity, it has a modem and Ethernet adaptor, while for wireless it has 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth.

The notebook also comes with an SD card slot, which is great if you have a digital camera that uses SD cards, as you can just plug the cards straight into the notebook to transfer pictures.

IMHO, Toshiba should have done more here by including CF (CompactFlash) and Memory Stick slots.

As far as battery life is concerned, I found it amazing that the R200 lasted over three hours on a single charge, which is unusual for a notebook of this size (due to the smaller batteries).

All in all, the featherweight R200 strikes the right balance – it is very light, slim, stylish and well featured in the hardware department.

Unfortunately, the price may be its biggest drawback.

Pros: Very light; slim and stylish; nice keyboard; long battery life; fingerprint reader; comes bundled with a combo drive.

Cons: Stingy on the RAM; pricey.

From StarNews