Michael Knutson
07-13-2010, 08:30 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/toshiba-protege-r705-review/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/...ge-r705-review/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Stuck on the Toshiba Portege R705's magnesium alloy palmrest is a shiny sticker celebrating the company's 25 years of "laptop innovation." Now, we're the first to hate on the plethora of decals that festoon Windows laptops these days -- and this one also deserves to be peeled off and tossed into the garbage -- but the sticker actually happens to speaks volumes about why the $800 R705 is such a big deal."</em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1279004076.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Toshiba is celebrating 25 years of making great computers by introducing the R705, a 3.2 pound ultraportable laptop listing for $800 exclusively at Best Buy. The R705 sports an Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB storage, an optical drive, Intel's wireless display technology (also called WiDi), a 13.3-inch 1366x768 display, and a battery that Toshiba claims will last 8.5 hours.</p><p>Is this system as good as early reviews seem to say? Yes, with several small concerns: cooling of the processor during cpu-intensive activity; battery life only half of the time claimed (4+ hours); keyboard (keys) a bit small; trackpad left and right mouse buttons could be raised up; and some viewing angles less than optimal. But overall, great build quality, great performance, and feature-rich for the price. </p>