The ultimate ultraportable
Written: Sep 23 '99 (Updated Oct 08 '99)
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Pros: light weight, small size, powerful and comfortable to use
Cons: high price and low battery life.
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| mathowie's Full Review: Toshiba Portege 7020 |
My workgroup picked up five high-end laptops several months ago, and our Toshiba portege 7020CT gets used by more people, more often (I'm writing this review on it now). It's an unusual setup, in that it requires the docking station for a CDROM (a pricey add-on), but it's high portability and small size more than make up for it.
When I travel, I always take the 7020 with me over other laptops because it's just 4 pounds and I only need to carry a power adapter with me (has a built in modem and I always leave a PCMCIA ethernet card in it). I don't even take the laptop bag, as it easily fits in my carry-on bag or backpack. The floppy drive is external, but since I rely on networks (either modem or LAN) for transfering files, it's not much of a problem.
It's blazingly fast (PII 366 processor, mine has 192Mb RAM) and has never crashed on me while working (I'm not a big fan of win98, but it has performed well so far). The battery time is so-so, I typically get about 1hr 30min to 2hrs of time on the battery at full charge. Multiple reboots rob a lot of power, and recharging is a slow process.
It's got a 13.3 bright screen which works great at 1024x768, the same resolution my workstation runs at. The keyboard is great, it uses the eraserhead pointer instead of a trackpad, which I prefer (I have big hands that usually cover trackpads when typing). I love to tap away when it's on my lap, as it doesn't get too hot while operating.
An added feature that my workgroup has (not part of your typical setup) is a wireless LAN (review to come soon). Using the Toshiba while connected wirelessly to a T3 network is the greatest thing since sliced bread. We have an operating radius of a couple hundred feet, and I frequently get up and work outside, or take it with me to meetings. It's wonderful to use the internet from this tiny, yet powerful unit.
--- update (a month after original review written) ---
I have successfully got Redhat Linux 6.1 running on this laptop and I'm enjoying it immensely. Configuring linux wasn't too hard, at the linux laptops page, there are three descriptions of Redhat installs on similar machines, and by using a mix of their settings, I was able to get Redhat installed and recognizing everything. I've also compiled in the wireless LAN drivers so I can use this laptop just as I did with windows. It's still got win98 loaded and can be accessed in a dual boot setup. The only downside to linux on this laptop is the built-in modem isn't being recognized (probably a winmodem) and the docking station DVD-ROM is recognized as a CD-ROM only (no dvd support in linux yet).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 4,000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 301-400
RAM: More than 128
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6
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Epinions.com ID:
mathowie
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Member: Matthew Haughey
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 23 members
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