13. Toshiba Portégé R500: Features, Noise, Heat

Features

Toshiba manages to integrate a normal-sized, silver keyboard in the Portégé. Overall, it follows the standard layout — only the UP/DOWN key is placed below the Return key. As a consequence of the limited space available, some keys are smaller than usual, namely the ^/°, TAB, +/*, #/‘ and left SHIFT keys. The smaller shift key is annoying when using the 10-finger system, because you keep unintentionally hitting < instead.

The stoppers for the keyboard are nice, but don’t seem to be as solid as the competitors’ due to the low weight of the system. There is no rattling noise and the keyboard doesn’t bend even when typing harder. Some functions can be accessed directly by using the Fn key.

The trackpad is nice and precise, overall. Although the trackpad buttons work well and have a comfortable pressure point, they seem to be somewhat loose in their housing. The fingerprint reader has been placed right between these buttons.

Similar to the previously tested Toshiba Tecra A9, assist functions are also implemented. These functions can either be accessed via the FN key, or you can use the menu on the top display edge with your mouse. This is a really nice solution.

Display

The display uses an anti-glare panel with LED backlight and a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. Its brightness is high and the illumination evenly distributed; at 100% it shines at 197 cd/m² at the brightest spot and 177 cd/m² at its darkest; the average is 187 cd/m². Unfortunately, the black level is 1.85 cd/m², so in spite of good brightness the contrast is only 101:1. The horizontal viewing angle is sufficiently wide.

The Portégé displays colors neutrally and in a reserved manner, but has a hard time displaying dark colors, and black in particular. The angle of view is small in any direction. This is not that much of a problem when reading text, but even when you look at the pre-installed desktop picture from a normal viewing angle you’ll see that some details are already lost. On the one hand, the Portégé will hardly ever be used for serious picture editing, but when watching a movie with dark scenes, you will clearly notice that it’s missing details at the top or bottom of the display.

One interesting detail is that Toshiba included a button to manually turn off the back light when sitting in the sun, to save energy.

Noise Level

Under idle conditions the Portégé runs at a constant and non-disturbing noise level of 33 dB(A). Under load the fan operates at a significant 41 dB(A).

Temperature

When idle, the upper side gets just slightly warm, but even without load the underbody gets too warm to put it on exposed skin. The airflow is superficial under these conditions.

Although the fan does all it can, under load conditions the temperature increases even more. The left handrest gets significantly warmer, and you’ll want to look for a table or other resting place to avoid the air flow coming out. The Portégé gets uncomfortably warm between the middle and the left side, and the area around the fan exit on the left edge gets really hot.