The Portable Toshiba Portege R600-ST520W

Laptops — By Ricky on June 21, 2009 at 9:28 am

The Toshiba Portege R600-St520W is one of the more portable notebooks and one that sports a built in DVD burner. For its higher price, it has a lot to offer the person looking for one of these small notebooks, with a longer lasting battery, the built in DVD burner and has a 1.4GHz processor capable of handling spreadsheets, office documents and other business needs. The usability, the backup options, along with the battery life makes the R600 the perfect lightweight business notebook.

The Toshiba has a Core 2 Duo processor and is WiMAX ready all in an ultra light design weighting 2.4/3 pound. This is one of the Toshiba portables that can provide the level of performance for producing work in a lightweight notebook without forfeiting quality for its mobility. This is only matched by the security options that are a part of the Portege standard notebook options. The Toshiba R600-ST520W is not a notebook that will leave the user wanting anything else, or that they are missing something that another notebook might have. This includes the matte finish screen with sunlight options that make it an even more mobile notebook than others in its class. What the Toshiba R600-ST520W is equipped with is:

1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 processor
3GB, 800 MHz DDR2 memory
160 GB 5,400 rpm hard drive
The chipset is Mobile Intel GM45Express Chipset
The graphics card is 128 MB Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated
Windows Vista Business is the operating system
The dimensions are 11.1 inches by 8.5 inches deep
The height is 0.77 inches
The screen size is 12.1 inches
The Toshiba Portege weight is 2.4/3 pounds
The audio is mono speaker, headphone, and microphone jacks
There are 2 USB 2.0 USB/eSATA combo and an SD card reader
Expansion is ExpressCard /54
Networking equipped with Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluethooth, Xohm and WiMAX
The Toshiba has a DVD burner optical drive

The Toshiba Portege R600-ST520W has a pleasing design and one that will catch a lot of looks, the larges issue with this notebook is the amount of flex and the screen can be bowed. Even for the size of the smaller notebook it has the functions of a full sized laptop and is not uncomfortable to use. The keyboard is comfortable for typing and has palm rests, the touch pad and complementary buttons that are very useable for frequent use and with the backup options gives it the feel of a full sized laptop. The 12 inch screen is wide screen LCD with 1,280×800 native resolution and is not a glossy screen, but has a matte finish. The screen is trans-reflective display that allows the backlight to be shut off with a button at the top of the right side of the keyboard. The notebook is able to use direct light, such as sun light to light the screen, which is something not offered in other notebooks, making it easier to use for business and easier to see.

The Toshiba R600 has a web cam and microphone at the top of the screen that is not standard on most other notebooks and can take the notebook one step further for business use than other notebooks. Because the Toshiba Portege is made as a business notebook it has one single speaker next to the power button and a volume control dial at the front left side of the body, there are no media controls since it is a business machine.

What it does have that other laptops are not equipped with is a fingerprint reader between the touch pad buttons for security and there is Security Assist software for data encryption and password protection for the Bios and hard drive. This gives the Toshiba R600-ST520W the security that is often needed for business use that is not required by home users on most notebooks.

There is the 160 GB hard drive, and there are the options for more storage with the DVD burner optical drive and the ExpressCard slot that gives backup storage options. These are storage options not usually found in the compact laptop and are often an important feature for business use, to save, backup or use the information on other computers. Most of the ultra compact laptops are missing these features and especially the DVD burner optical dive. Another feature with the Toshiba R600-ST520W is the Sleep Charge technology. This allows the notebook to recharge a device while it sleeps; this is a unique feature for the business on the move and is not standard on most other notebooks.

There is the USB/eSATA combo, the Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi that gives the businessperson on the go a lot of options. The R600 does well under testing for multi tasking, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing and Web applications.

The battery life on the R600 is also impressive for the businessperson lasting 5hours and 8 minutes on a battery drain test with the 6 cell battery. This is a test using video playback, which means that the battery life will last a longer amount of time when used to surf the web or for office use.

The Toshiba Portege R600-ST520W has a three-year parts and labor warranty, which is usually standard or business systems and the battery is covered for one year. There is technical support either with the 24 hour a day 7days a week telephone line or with online live chat at the Toshiba website for technical support issues. For service on the business notebook there is the options of mailing the system to the Toshiba Depot or taking it to one of the authorized carry in warranty providers locally. This can make having the Toshiba R600 service easy and fast when it is needed for business purposes and a service that is not offered by most other notebook companies.