Ultralight, ultrathin Portege
Written: Aug 23 '02 (Updated Mar 28 '06)
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Pros: Extreme lightweight, ultrathin, comfortable keyboard, descent battery life, 2 pcmcia slots, "oooh" factor
Cons: All peripherals external, some software incompatibilites.
The Bottom Line: An ultralight for those seeking weight relief from the regular 8lb laptop.
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| imation1000's Full Review: Toshiba Portege 7000CT (PAP700U-T2W5) PC Notebook |
I recently received my 4th Toshiba laptop, the Portege 7000ct.To say the least, the looks are impressive. A magnesium alloy casing, an ultrathin and ultralight chassis contribute to its 'Wow' status.
The keyboard feels very comfortable, although the accupoint mouse was a litte touchier than my portege 320ct (see my review). Im typing this review on the 7000ct.
The display is sufficient bright and sharp, however it is
limited to a 800x600 display (versus the 320ct which has a 1024x768 panning display). The 320ct offers an excellent if not smallish display (.22dot pitch with a 10.4inch LCD) vs the 7000ct (.30dot pitch 12.1inch LCD).
Reason I purchased the 7000ct was to address certain limitations of the 320ct, namely RAM. My unit arrived with 160MB (max) vs the my 320ct which only can be configured up to 96MB. The 320ct however performs well under Windows 2000, I have yet to test the 7000ct under similar conditions. (I promise to plug an update in a month or so).
My 7000ct comes with the DVD dock which provides the floppy and all important DVD drive as well as average sounding stereo speakers. Also, included in the dock is a secondary cooling fan to assist the built-in cpu cooling fan (a nice touch).
If you purchase a 7000ct or subsequent models, be sure to purchase the external floppy. Mine included the floppy in the dock, so I am forced to save the documents to a disk prior to undocking.
As with all ultralights, ultrathins, all the ports and peripherals are not attached directly to the unit. The floppy and CD drives must be attached externally. The serial and parallel ports are also on a port replicator bar.
(Note: I am still trying to win some off ebay as of this writing.)
Another gripe by many of Toshiba Laptops are the noisy harddrives. Although the 7000ct is an improvement over previous portege models, the harddrives presence is well heard with its random 'click' and 'clack'.
I will post my observed battery life, as the battery that arrived with my laptop was brand new and needs to be conditioned (4 discharge and charge cycles before normal use). My initial observation though (according to the Toshiba software) indicates a 2-2.5hour runtime with the proper power management settings (not over-aggressive).
More updates to come... as Ive only had this unit a few days.
Update: August 29,2002.
Actual runtime with max battery settings. 100minutes approx.
This is on the standard capacity unit. A high capacity model is available that promises 6 hours of battery life with little weight penalty.
Display has capability to run 1024 x 768 in virtual mode ( the picture pans around.)
The 320ct has definitely a superior quality display, most appreciated if you do graphics work. The display on the 7000ct tends to be grainy.
Another beef with this model, you cannot do a warm dock and undock. The system has to be shut down to do either.
This however is small consequence as it boots up completely in 45seconds (approx.)
My recommendation stands. This is a very good laptop, as with all Toshibas.
Update: March 28, 2006
Installed Windows 2000 SP4. System runs adequately until antivirus software is installed. Drivers easily available from Toshiba site. Windows ME or 98 runs better on this laptop's modest CPU, RAM & harddrive specifications.
Using Windows 98/ME with OpenOffice (a free alternative to MS Office), Mozilla Firefox (vs Internet Explorer); the 7000ct is more than sufficiently useable as a portable machine so long as you dont expect it to run 3D intensive software.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 485
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 201-300
Screen Size: 12
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Under 4
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Epinions.com ID:
imation1000
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Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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