"The 12.1 inch netbook doesn’t feel particularly light or slim, and that’s because it isn’t – at least not for a tablet"
Matthias Scherer
The Toshiba Portege M780 netbook is an interesting mix between an old-fashioned laptop and a tablet. It comes with plenty of features that are standard with laptops, but its display can be rotated and folded down, so that the device can be used in tablet mode. PC Site takes a look at the Toshiba Portege M780.
What we like best
The 12.1 inch netbook doesn’t feel particularly light or slim, and that’s because it isn’t – at least not for a tablet. For a small laptop, it has a lot of welcome features absent in the super-slim devices currently flooding the tablet market.
One of these features is a DVD rewriter drive, and there are plenty of connectivity options: three USB ports and a multi-card reader, as well as a fingerprint reader that allows you to log in quickly, without having to enter a password.
The different models of the Toshiba Portege M780 use the newest Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processing chips, with prices differing according to which processor you end up going with. This netbook is mainly aimed at businesspeople (as you can tell from the fairly dull matte silver design), a lot of whom will appreciate the large (for a tablet) 12.1 inch display and the stylus pen. The latter comes in handy especially for data entry and note-taking.
What we like least
While the Toshiba Portege M780’s pen input facility is useful, there is one fairly glaring omission: there is no multi-touch support on this device. Toshiba offer only single touch, and even that only comes with the more expensive models.
At 39mm thickness, users are fairly unlikely to use this device in tablet mode – it just feels a bit odd, especially if you’ve held other, slimmer tablets before. So while it’s a commendable effort by Toshiba (who were one of the pioneers in the development of tablet computers) to try to continue the work they were doing with the M750, they might have been better off concentrating on making a device that is either only a laptop or a tablet.
Images aren’t displayed in their most detailed form, which is fine for users who want to use it for data processing and as a platform to connect to bigger
projectors, but things like image editing won’t be a lot of fun with this device.
For a netbook whose price starts just below the £1000 mark, the Toshiba M780 is surprisingly unfashionable, but it boasts enough processing power in all of its variations to make sure browsing and data processing can be done quickly and without hiccups. Portability isn’t its strong suit (neither is gaming thanks to the below-average graphics specs), but it is a reliable and solid work netbook option.
Processor Speed
2.4 GHz
Processor
Intel Core i3
RAM
Up to 2 Gb
Screen Size
12.1 inch
Graphics
Intel GMA HD
Hard Drive Storage
Up to 250 Gb
Battery
up to 5 hours
Multimedia
DVD
HD Audio
Webcam
Mic
Express Card
2 x memory slots
1 x connection to Toshiba Express Port Replicator 2
Ports
1 x eSATA USB
1 x MultiCard Reader
1 x i.LINK
2 x USB 2.0
Weight & Size
(W) 305 x (H) 37.4 x (D) 239 mm
2 Kg
Connectivity
WLAN
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Operating System
Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
The Toshiba Portege M780 is too small to be a laptop and too big to be a tablet, but it is both of these things. Its 12.1 inch display can be swivelled round and folded down into the keyboard, turning the whole thing into a tablet.
Its simple, matte silver design makes the Toshiba Portege M780 a good proposition for businesspeople looking for an unassuming but powerful netbook, for example to hook it up to bigger projectors for presentations. The Toshiba Portege M780′s new Intel Core i3 (or i5/i7, depending on configuration) processors will be a further enticement.
Toshiba Portege M780 netbook
The Toshiba Portege M780 does not, as most tablets do, support multi-touch technology, but it comes with a stylus pen for quick and comfortable data entry. Its keyboard is a tad cluttered but feels responsive and solid, and there are plenty of connectivity options.
To read more about the Toshiba Portege M780 and its features, check out the PC Site review here.
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