July 17, 2007
John Aebi-Magee

Criteria:

• Processor: 1.2-GHz Intel Core Duo or better
• Hard Drive: 100GB or more
• Optical Drive: Integrated CD/DVD drive
• Display: 12 inch minimum

Toshiba Portégé R500, 2.4 pounds

The Toshiba Portégé R500 is the world's lightest widescreen 12.1" notebook PC. Being the lightest also means thinnest. The R500 is only 0.7 inches thick.

The Toshiba Portégé R500 has a full-size keyboard, a 12.1-inch widescreen display, a 120GB hard drive, and a CD/DVD drive. Its battery life of 3 hours is skimpy, but that is the only significant weakness in this breakthrough ultralight product. Price direct from Toshiba starts at $2,000 and goes up as you add RAM and optional features.

At only 0.7 inches thick, the Portégé R500 is one of the thinnest laptops on the market today. This is made possible by Toshiba’s LED backlighting technology, producing a screen that is less than a quarter of an inch thick.

The CD/DVD drive includes an integrated DVD burner, a nice extra feature that even many heavier laptops have not started including yet. The 120GB hard drive is also very generous as is the inclusion of three USB ports plus FireWire. The R500 runs on Intel’s 1.2-GHz Core 2 Duo U7600. This Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor is designed with ultralight in mind.

In the third quarter of 2007, Toshiba plans to further reduce the weight of the Portégé R500 Series to 1.72 pounds, creating the world’s lightest widescreen 12.1-inch notebook. A key feature to achieving this is the adoption of a 64GB solid state drive. Using a solid state drive, users will see improvements in system responsiveness, reliability and durability due to eliminating all moving parts from this select Portégé R500 configuration. Complete product specifications for all models within the Portégé R500 Series are available at www.toshiba.com/R500.