The Toshiba Protégé R705 lives Up to the Legacy at ½ the Price!

 15 Jul 2010 - By Omar Mariño+
 omar@myddnetwork.com


The protégé line of laptops built by Toshiba have always been top of the line performers and have come with a top of the line price . . . until now.  The Toshiba Protégé R705 packs all the performance punch you’d expect from a protégé for around $800!

The Magnesium alloy used extensively in the palm rest and other parts of the body means that this machine is light–3.2 pounds.  Toshiba claims that’s a world record for a laptop with an optical drive!  At only 1 inch at the thickest point meaning it feels light and responsive in your hands yet remains incredibly sturdy.

The 13.3 inch 1366×768 is a little on the glossy side and has some issues with vertical viewing angles but performs quite well when compared to whose on similar machines.  The heart of the device is a 2.26GHz Core i3-350M processor that ravages 4GB RAM (some of which is shared with the on-board graphics processor.  However, the 500GB hard drive means there’s plenty of space for all your media.

A good thing to because the protégé R705 boasts Intel’s wireless display technology which means you can beam right to the TV (if you have a NetGear Push2 TV).  Though the reported 8.5 hour battery life is really more like 5 or 6, you’ll have plenty of time to watch your favorite re-runs or stream Hulu to your 42 inch screen.

Hardware-wise, the Toshiba offers2 USB ports, a USB/eSATA combo port, a single Ethernet socket, VGA out, and an HDMI output.  There’s also a SD card reader on right of palm rest.

The only real issue with this PC is that it has a tendency to squirrel away heat—which is a bad thing.  The left part of the unit where the exhaust vent is housed often gets quite warm during intensive use.  However, that overheating never once impaired the machine’s performance.

While this isn’t a gaming machine—the on-board graphics and middle-of-the-road processor keep it from being that—it is a solid workhorse and will provide all the functionality a busy bsiness person might need on the go.






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