"The Toshiba Portege R700’s black, brushed metal finish is a good visual fit for a strong laptop, and the whole device feels fairly robust"
Matthias Scherer
The Toshiba Portege R700-15X is part of Toshiba’s Portege R700 range, which in turn is a revamp of the Portege R600 range. The R700-15X model runs on a second generation Intel Core i5 520M processor and the 32-bit version of Windows 7.
What we like best
Portability and power are married to impressive effect with the Portege R700-15X. For a lightweight, 13.1 inch laptop, it packs a punch that can match a fair few business laptops on the market (e.g. the Dell Inspiron 15R).
It also avoids the trade-off between battery life and weight that often mars laptops – it weighs less than 1.5kg (despite coming with a DVD writer, an increasingly rare feature among new laptops), but lasts around five hours at medium usage and almost eight with light usage.
The Toshiba Portege R700’s black, brushed metal finish is a good visual fit for a strong laptop, and the whole device feels fairly robust. The keyboard is a bit hit and miss – while the different keys are spread out across the base (there is no numeric keypad, which opens up space for the keyboard), they are small and a bit too heavy to the touch to make for efficient touch-typing. There’s also a well-working facial recognition feature built into the Portege R700-15X’s webcam, which will please users who are conscious of security risks.
All major port needs are satisfied with three USB ports, VGA and HDMI outputs.
What we like least
With a processor as capable as the Intel Core i5, it’s a shame that the RAM spec has been so neglected – with the R700-15X, you only get 3Gb maximum, which restricts the speed at which you’ll be able to multitask. Similarly, 320Gb hard drive spacetnet isn’t exactly spectacular for a laptop in this price range.
The matt 1,280 x 720 display comes in handy when used in bright conditions, but often makes videos and images look oddly flat and lifeless.
The Toshiba Portege R700-15X proves that you can’t have everything in life. It’s got the processing power to get you through your degree/project and the battery life to last you through the night, but not enough RAM to run more than a handful of applications simultaneously. On the other hand, it is very light and handy, fitting snugly into a backpack. On yet another hand, however, at around a grand a pop, you’d really expect at least 500Gb storage. It’s a difficult call, but the overall design and functionality of the R700-15X just tip the scales over to ‘recommended’.
Processor Speed
2.4 GHz
Processor
up to Intel i7
RAM
Up to 2 Gb
Screen Size
13.3 inch
Graphics
Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drive Storage
Up to 320 Gb
Battery
up to 8 hours
Multimedia
Optional Dock
Ports
1 x HDMI
DVD option
Docking for Desktop environment
Weight & Size
(W) 316 x (H) 18.3 x (D) 227 mm
1.48 Kg
Connectivity
WLAN
Bluetooth
Operating System
Windows 7 Starters
The Toshiba Portege R700-15X is a good cross-over laptop. It combines the performance capabilities of a business laptop with the portability of a more student-friendly model. Its second-generation Intel Core processor facilitates the use of office applications, but can’t really handle much in terms of gaming – this is down to the limited RAM specs.
The long battery life is another strong suit of the Portege R700-15X: it can last as long as eight hours without being charged (at low-intensity usage).
Toshiba Portege R700-15X
The Toshiba Portege R700-15X’s keyboard does away with a numerical keypad and thus can offer a spacious keyboard with a well-sized trackpad. Along with a fingerprint scanner, the R700-15X also comes with a facial recognition facility for extra security.
To read more about the Toshiba Portege R700-15X and its features, check out the PC Site review here.
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