CoolNewStuff

The Portege R705 is a 13-inch laptop  which is the biggest screen size we’d consider carrying around on a regular basis, but also the smallest we’d be able to comfortably use for full-time computing. It’s thinner than the current white plastic MacBook (but not as svelte as the MacBook Air or Dell Adamo XPS) and has a sturdy magnesium alloy chassis.

The R705 looks a lot like past Porteges, and even though it’ll be found on the shelves of Best Buy it still looks like a laptop for the business professional. While the dark navy colored  lid isn’t glossy, the matte, magnesium alloy surface still picks up fingerprints and will need the occasional rubdown. The chrome screen hinges add a little something to the design, and they’re also quite sturdy.

Speaking of build quality, Toshiba’s come up with a new honeycomb structure under the base and palmrest to give the entire system some added rigidly. That fear about the R705 feeling cheap quickly disappeared — it’s actually pretty remarkable how solid the system feels for its size and weight.

In this fixed-configuration retail model, for $200 less than an entry-level MacBook, you get a newer Intel Core i3 processor (the basic MacBook has an older Core 2 Duo CPU), a large 500GB hard drive, and Itetel Wireless Display Technology, which allows the laptop’s display to be beamed to a remote TV or monitor (this requires a sold-separately $100 Netgear adapter that connects to your TV). Not to draw too many MacBook comparisons, but the R705 also has an SD card slot (as does virtually every Windows-based laptop no matter the price), and HDMI and eSATA ports–all things the $999 MacBook lacks.

Perhaps the R705′s subdued aesthetic is Toshiba’s way of not detracting attention from its insanely thin and light chassis. The system measures an inch at its thickest point and weighs an unbelievable 3.2 pounds. Carrying this machine home for the night made our 4.5-pound Macbook Pro feel like a bag of bricks. Toshiba actually claims it’s the lightest 13.3-inch laptop in the world with an optical drive – and we can’t seem to find any information that proves otherwise. In addition to that optical drive, the chassis also makes room for two USB ports, an USB/eSATA, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, headphone and microphone jacks. There’s also an SD card reader slot built into the right side of the palmrest.

The plastic touchpad is decently sized and comfortable for pushing around the cursor. The pad does support multitouch gestures, and while pinch-to-zoom worked fine, two-finger scrolling failed more often than not and the right side doesn’t function as a scroll strip. Yep, we were forced to scroll the entire length of Engadget the good old fashioned way. There’s two dedicated left and right mouse buttons, though we wish they were raised a bit more.

It’s not as large as on a MacBook, but the R705′s touch pad is among the bigger ones we’ve seen on a 13-inch laptop. Multitouch gestures include two-finger scrolling, but as always seems to be the case on Windows laptops, it’s nowhere as smooth and responsive as on a MacBook. The left and right mouse buttons are well-sized and easy to use–a concept many PC makers seem to have trouble with.

There are a few issues. The integrated Intel graphics are a drag, the keyboard isn’t backlit (which would have been a nice touch on this slick-looking system), and the merely average battery life isn’t quite enough for a full day of on-the-go computing. Also, out of the box, the hard drive accelerometer was far too sensitive, parking our HDD head every time we so much as breathed on the R705.

Usually this is where we’d spend some time criticizing Toshiba choice of a super glossy screen, but we’re about to change our tune. The 13.3-inch, 1366×768-resolution display is glossy, but far less glossy than those we’ve seen on laptops lately — particularly the worst offenders from Sony and Acer. We’d say it’s actually got the perfect amount of gloss for a laptop like this, not to mention it’s plenty bright and colors appeared quite crisp. Still, the viewing angles are disappointing. We could see the screen while sitting to the side of it, but tilting it caused colors to distort.

With a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3 CPU, the Toshiba R705 is more than speedy enough for mainstream use, from Web surfing and productivity to Photoshop editing and HD video playback. The next step up, the Core i5 series of processors, offers even better performance, but we haven’t yet seen that chip in a system this thin and light. Performance-wise, it certainly matches up with other current 13-inch laptops, but keep in mind that you can also get much more horsepower in the same price range by trading up to a midsize 14- or 15-inch laptop with an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor. Apple’s latest MacBook actually managed to run our benchmark tests faster with its older Core 2 Duo processor, but many of those tests run Apple-optimized software, including iTunes and QuickTime.

Pros: – Performance and features in a great form factor
- Price
- Cooling system

Cons: – No discrete graphics option

Summary: For someone who travels almost daily, a light laptop is a necessity. However, thin and light notebooks usually require some pretty significant compromises. The R705 manages to minimize those compromises and doesn’t break the bank doing it.