Toshiba Portege R705 Laptop Review: A Med Student’s Perspective

The Toshiba Portege R705 is the perfect student laptop.

A bold statement I know, but after surviving 8 months of medical school with toshiba-2010q4-portege_r705-cover-lgthe Toshiba R705 by my side I struggle to see how another laptop could offer a better combination of portability and power along with it’s reasonable price.

Ultra-Portable

The first thing you notice when you pick up the Toshiba R705 is how light it is. Coming in at a paltry 3.2 pounds and barely over an inch thick it adds a very minor burden to my pack when I carry it around. The size and weight make it feel a little less than sturdy but this is just a minor concern.

The battery life on the R705 is impressive, but not astounding. It comes up short of the advertised 7 hours of battery life, but I find I can usually get toshiba-2010q4-portege_r705-profiles-lgabout 5 hours of life with moderate use. That is generally enough to get me through the school day, and I use the laptop for nearly all my note taking.

Much More than a Netbook

For it’s diminutive frame, the R705 packs a formidable punch in computing power. Let’s take a look at the specs-

  • Intel Core i3 Processor 2.40 GHz, 3MB Cache
  • 4 GB of Memory
  • Mobile Intel® HD Graphics with 64 MB – 1696 MB dynamically allocated shared graphic memory

Windows 7 starts up quickly and applications open in a snap. I use Microsoft OneNote for much of my school work and I can cycle through multiple notebooks without interruptions. toshiba-2010q4-portege_r705-hero-lg

A 500 GB hard drive is another huge plus, a number that most netbooks don’t come close to.

Another advantage over netbooks is a built in DVD-RW drive. I may be a dying breed, but I still will burn CDs and watch DVDs using my laptop. With a netbook I would need to purchase a clunky USB DVD drive.

Drawbacks

I have a couple minor complaints.

  • The keyboard and touchpad leave a little to be desired. Both are a little small (understandable for the laptop’s size) but I can’t shake this feeling they could have been constructed better.
  • The left lower side where the fan is can get quite warm, leading to discomfort if you have it on your lap for an extended period of time.

More for your Money

Many of my fellow med students use Macbooks. I can see the draw to Apple products (I love my iPhone) but I cannot justify spending more to get less, which is ultimately what happens when comparing the Toshiba R705 to the latest Macbook.

I am extremely happy with my Toshiba Portege R705. I encourage you to read some of the reviews at Amazon and judge if this is the right laptop for you.

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