Home page » Laptops

Search:

Refine search for Laptops

Nowhere are the improvements more apparent than in the keyboard. Again, there is some flex, but nothing to get too concerned about and nothing that actually affects the typing experience since keys this time around have that firm and positive feeling that we always look for in a notebook. Likewise the layout is the same as before and it's very good, so there are no real complaints here.

Another interesting element to the keyboard is spill protection. Since this is a very small and light machine there isn't a tray as on a Panasonic ToughBook, but what the R600 does have a thin layer of sponge that soaks up small spillages. This can then be left to dry, ensuing that the internals aren't damaged though we're willing to bet really heavy amounts of moisture would still cause a problem - anyone care to test this?

This brings us nicely onto the main subject of change in the R600, the processor and chipset. Unsurprisingly the R600 brings with it Intel's new Centrino 2 chipset and with it new processors and Wireless-N Wi-Fi courtesy of Intel. We've yet to be told about the models to be made available in the UK, but what we do know is you'll have a choice of either 1.2GHz or 1.4GHz Ultra-Low Voltage Core 2 Duo's, both of which feature an 800MHz Front Side Bus and 3MB L2 Cache. 1GB of memory is embedded into motherboard with one DIMM slot available, meaning a potential maximum of 5GB DDR2 RAM, though 2GB is likely to be the standard. Graphics are of the integrated variety utilising Intel's GMA X4500 core, which does the job well enough for the purposes of this machine.

As pictured above, integrated HSDPA will be available across the range, as it will be on all of Toshiba's business notebooks now. There will also be the option of either standard mechanical hard drives, with free-fall sensors, or 128GB Solid State Drives. Clearly the latter will be expensive, but wouldn't you want one? We would. Interestingly, if you look very closely at the photo below, you can see how all drives are sat on rubber mounts (the pink and green bits) to enhance shock protection. Toshiba claims it is the only notebook manufacturer to do this, though without checking every machine in existence it's hard to test this claim.

Continuing on the theme of durability, Thomas Teckentrup, Toshiba's European General Manager for Computer Systems Marketing and Business Development (try explaining that one over dinner) told us that Toshiba has made the display less flexible to address customer's perception that the R500 was too flimsy. Having tried out the R600 we can't say we noticed the difference, the screen is still quite flexible, though we didn't have the benefit of a R500 on-hand to compare it with. In any case, as Toshiba argued with the R500, the flexibility is arguably a benefit when it comes to withstanding bumps and scrapes. Our only concern would remain that there isn't much in the way of tangible protection against full-frontal pressure on the screen, something that is often a problem for LED backlit displays.

Nonetheless what we took away from our time with the machine was that the problems we had seen with its predecessor were largely remedied. And, with US and Canadian machines mooted to come with 5,800mAh batteries, hopefully the R600 will actually reach somewhere close to the battery life we'd normally expect from an ultra-portable - another thing we'll be testing when review machines come our way. Until then you can enjoy all sorts of close-up shots on the following pages.

Add your comment

© 2003-2009 TrustedReviews & IPC Media
About Us | Contact Us | Legal | Privacy | RSS