Toshiba Portege Notebook R600 S4201 – S4202 Review And Specifications
Toshiba has long been known as one of the more innovative laptop makers out there, and the company’s supporters will quickly point out the Portege series as a shining example. One of the freshest in the series, the Portege R600, has managed to combine energy efficiency, performance, and convenience, and all in a clever little machine that weighs just under two and a half pounds.
To break it down by the specs…
The unit has an “enhanced LED backlit transreflective display”. A what? Well this means is that you can actually see the screen, no matter how bright it is where you’re using it.
The touchpad now sits in the centre for easier use, and the keyboard has been improved – to a degree, which will please previous Portege users who found keyboards didn’t quite have the satisfying, tactile feel that laptop typists know and love.
EasyGuard Technology in the form of the newest version of Toshiba’s EasyGuard, and PC Health Monitor come equipped with the machine. The program will alert you when a problem needs to be taken care of.
Spill resistant keyboard – yes! Our mothers always told us to never eat or drink at the computer, but let’s be honest: the coffee shop is every laptopper’s favourite place to get some work done. Even when we work at home, it’s rarely without a cup of coffee or a twelve ounce energy drink to one side.
Are you Green compliant? Okay, it sounds goofy to worry about your laptop being green compliant, but there you go. The Portege R600 is ENERGY STAR 4.0 compliant, and has even been granted Gold status by the Green Electronic’s Council’s EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). It also uses less energy, which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but over the years I guess you can afford a few extra pizzas from your energy bill savings.
The size is really something, though – 2.4 pounds and just 0.77 inches thick. The R600 really brings new meaning to the word “ultraportable”, and anyone who’s ever gotten a sore shoulder lugging around an eight pound laptop can appreciate this.
Depending on which options you go with, drive capacity and weight may actually vary. The unit comes standard with a 128GB SSD. An SSD, or Solid State Drive, is a hard drive with no moving parts, allowing for better protection, improved reliability, and super fast data access. In other words, no capability is sacrificed in the name of ultraportability. The Portege R600 is not a superslim hipster status symbol that is essentially useless, it’s actually a capable machine that just happens to be incredibly slim and lightweight.
USB Sleep and Charge/eSATA Combo Port is actually a pretty neat feature too. The eSATA port is five times faster than a USB 2.0 port, but something that really makes it special is that it will actually recharge certain USB devices, whether the laptop itself is off, on, or in sleep mode.
Trade Ins
Right now, Toshiba is offering a new electronics trade in program, and you don’t need to trade an old Portege in for a new one, either. Any laptop PC and certain other electronics will be accepted as trade in for a new Toshiba laptop. This includes products made by other manufacturers, and even a number of units that do not typically have any trade in value. If nothing else, this should show that Toshiba is dedicated not only to product innovation, but to innovation in customer service, as well.
In Conclusion
Toshiba puts forth the Portege R600 as their flagship laptop, their signature unit, and it has big boots to fill as the successor of the award winning Portege R500 unit, so… does it live up to Toshiba’s expectations?
In short: Pretty much, yes!
What’s actually kind of surprising about the unit is that it really does work as a portable PC. Laptop users tend to have lower expectations, knowing that they’ll have to spend a lot (spouse speak for 4 figures) if they hope to have a unit that can run high-end games or be used to edit video or audio. The Portege only costs about as much as a decent PC, and is just as capable.
With a 128GB SDD, the Portege R600 is not a sidekick to your home computer. You can actually use the R600 as your primary computer at home, at the office, and whenever you’re out around town. With a good laptop docking station, you’re going to get, in fact, better performance at home out of the Portege R600 than you can out of many PCs and Macs actually built strictly for home use.
So the bottom line: Whether you’re a writer, a graphic artist, a musician, or a video editor, or, if you just want to watch some YouTube videos and play some games, whatever you use your computer for, the Portege R600 is more than capable.
Portégé® : R600 : R600-S4201
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista® Business 32/64-bit, SP1 with downgrade media for Windows® XP Professional
Processor
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor SU9400
Processor Type
Core™2 Duo
Processor Number
SU9400
Processor Speed
1.40GHz
Front Side Bus
800MHz with 64-bit
Memory Size
3072MB
Memory Speed
PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz SDRAM
Display Size
12.1″ widescreen
Display Type
WXGA with High Brightness, LED sidelight, Transreflective type
Display Resolution
1280×800
Graphics Engine
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Graphics Memory
128MB-1340MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Hard Drive Size
160GB
Hard Drive Speed
5400rpm
Optical Drives
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R) drive supporting up to 9 formats
Wireless LAN
Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth® V2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam and microphone built into LCD bezel
Input Devices
85 key US keyboard, Toshiba Outdoor Display Switch, Toshiba Assist Button, TouchPad pointing device
Security
Finger Print Reader, Multiple-Level Password Utilities
LAN
Intel® PRO/1000 – 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Audio
Built-in microphone, Built-in monaural speaker, Microphone jack (mono), Headphone jack (stereo)
AC Adapter
45W (15V 3A) 100-240V AC Adapter
Battery Type
Li-Ion (5800mAh)
Battery Life
Up to 7.53 hours
PC Express Slot
1-ExpressCard™ Slot
Media Port
Secure Digital (SDHC) slot
USB Ports
2-USB (2.0), 1-eSATA/USB (2.0) combo port with Sleep and Charge
Docking Connector
Docking Connector
Software
Infineon® TPM Software Professional Package, Norton Internet Security™ 2008 (60 day trial), Google Picasa™, AuthenTec EntréPad® TruePrint® technology, Trusted Platform Module (TPM v1.2), TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Management Console, TOSHIBA Security Assist, Microsoft® Office Ready with Trial Office Professional 2007 (60-day trial), TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Disc Creator.
Weight
Starting at 2.4 lbs.
Color
Aluminum Silver
Warranty
3-Years Parts, Labor and AC Adapter; 1-Year Battery
R600-S4202 : Detailed Product Specs
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista® Business 32/64-bit, SP1 with downgrade media for Windows® XP Professional
Processor
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor SU9400
Processor Type
Core™2 Duo
Processor Number
SU9400
Processor Speed
1.40GHz
Front Side Bus
800MHz with 64-bit
Memory Size
3072MB
Memory Speed
PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz SDRAM
Display Size
12.1″ widescreen
Display Type
WXGA with High Brightness, Transreflective type, LED sidelight
Display Resolution
1280×800
Graphics Engine
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Graphics Memory
128MB-1340MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Solid State Drive (SSD)
128GB
Optical Drives
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R) drive supporting up to 9 formats
Wireless LAN
Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth® V2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam and microphone built into LCD bezel
Input Devices
85 key US keyboard, Toshiba Outdoor Display Switch, Toshiba Assist Button, TouchPad pointing device
Security
Finger Print Reader, Multiple-Level Password Utilities
LAN
Intel® PRO/1000 – 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Audio
Built-in microphone, Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono), Built-in monaural speaker
AC Adapter
45W (15V 3A) 100-240V AC Adapter
Battery Type
Li-Ion (5800mAh)
Battery Life
Up to 7.53 hours
PC Express Slot
1-ExpressCard™ Slot
Media Port
Secure Digital (SDHC) slot
USB Ports
2-USB (2.0), 1-eSATA/USB (2.0) combo port with Sleep and Charge
Docking Connector
Docking Connector
Software
Infineon® TPM Software Professional Package, Microsoft® Office Ready with Trial Office Professional 2007 (60-day trial), Trusted Platform Module (TPM v1.2), Norton Internet Security™ 2008 (60 day trial), Google Picasa™, AuthenTec EntréPad® TruePrint® technology, TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator, TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Security Assist, TOSHIBA Management Console
weight
Starting at 2.4 lbs.
Color
Aluminum Silver
Warranty
3-Years Parts, Labor and AC Adapter; 1-Year Battery
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[...] Read the original: btoshiba/b portege bnotebook/b r600 s4201 – s4202 breview/b and specifications [...]
Anyone know wether they fixed the noisy fan of the R500? That was the main reason not to buy one, if this is fixed I’ll order mine right away.
La presente computadora, tiene la particularidad de: Se le puede derramar liquido y no pasa nada, se puede golpear y no pasa nada, es muy ligera de peso 1,4 kg. y 7 horas de duracion de bateria
anyone?
I bought an R600-11Q to replace my MacBook Pro of which I don’t like
the weight, keyboard, and its hiding unix too deep under MacOS. So sought
a lightweight pure linux laptop.
I didn’t dare to go for the solid-state disk since I don’t know whether standard linux distributions have a driver for it. Also, the weight gain is not the disk drive but just the smaller battery Toshiba puts in when the DVD playr is absent. That itself is only 70 grams, the battery difference 200; I guess Toshiba thinks that with a DVD player its customers will play DVDs instead of work on flights and then complain about the battery.
So I ended up with the 320Gbyte disk. And am unhappy with this choice
because the disk is much too loud, making a continuous hissing noise
like a fan. Otherwise, the machine is great, Ubuntu 8.10 installed
smoothly, and with some recipes found with Google (such as xv
installation) it does all my Mac does, but with proper X11 behavior
such as cut-and-paste per mouse click.
The noise kills the show for me. I wonder whether a smaller disk would
help, and whether I can get and insert one. I hope somebody can tell me?
More on Portege R600 noise: I now think it is not the 320Gbyte disk that is so noisy but a little fan that runs continuously. Weird: if you lift the machine 2 inches above your desk you don’t hear it anymore. I tested all kinds of material to put under it but no help. Sounds as if the inside of the box becomes a resonator at reflection. I guess
all the Toshiba R600’s have this fan, also the solid-state-disk versions. Show stopper,
alas.
computers are good.
i like typing on them,
looking at the numbers and the letters; and the number 5 turns me on.
now for the serious comment;
More on Portege R600 noise: I now think it is not the 320Gbyte disk that is so noisy but a little fan that runs continuously. Weird: if you lift the machine 2 inches above your desk you don’t hear it anymore. I tested all kinds of material to put under it but no help. Sounds as if the inside of the box becomes a resonator at reflection. I guess
all the Toshiba R600’s have this fan, also the solid-state-disk versions. Show stopper,
alas.
i did not copy this; no i did not.
i love u mate