Asus U35-X1 versus Toshiba Portege R705-P35

[darunium]

Hi all, I'm having a tough time deciding between two notebooks. I'm looking for something light, portable, sufficiently powerful for productivity tasks (including web browsing, MS Office Suite, Mathematica/Matlab/Maple, AntiVirus applications, FTP clients, etc., but there's no gaming requirement.

These two notebooks stand out because they are 1) <4lbs, putting them in a significantly different usage category for me than the huge number of 5lb notebooks, 2) affordable, 3) are more than acceptable as actual primary work computers, despite their prices and diminutive size. 4) while they carry the usual 1366x768 resolution, the 13.3" screen size I think will give that a sufficient dpi to make me happy. I'm currently using a 4 year old Lenovo T61p that has 1280x1024 resolution, and man do I appreciate the additional real estate (in the 15.6" screen), but I understand that that'll be tricky to find these days.

Here's how they stack relative to one another, note that the -X1 and -P35 are quite important (note the U35 does NOT have a dedicated graphics card, which I definitely don't need):

In either one I will throw an SSD in, although I may wait for Intel and OCZ's new families

U35-X1:

• 
  3.7lb
  $740
  1366x768 resolution in a 13.3" screen
  i3-370M
  4GB of RAM (idk the timings but I doubt I'd need to replace it)

R705-P35:

• 
  3.2lb
  $700 (local retailer)
  1366x768 resolution in a 13.3" screen
  i3-370M
  4GB of RAM (idk the timings but I doubt I'd need to replace it)

Basically they are very similar computers, so here's the dilemma:
- purely in specs, the R705 is the way to go, its as light as a macbook air, and having handled it (I've never gotten my hands on the U35-X1), it's a real pleasure to pick it up and manipulate it: at 3.2lbs it is easy to wip out and use like a netbook in a way a 5lb notebook is slightly more limited (e.g. the U43 or the N82-Jq are both light for their size, but they still feel like notebooks). It's also $40 cheaper.
- I'm not sure about Toshiba however. I've had great experiences with Asus in both notebooks and components, so I'm always partial to their products.

So I'm really looking for anyone with personal experience with either of these notebooks that can testify to their relative qualities.

Of course the alternative is wait for Sandy Bridge to roll out and then wait for sandy bridge notebooks to get cheap and light, maybe by next January (I can wait with my current notebook). I'm hesitant to go that route, however, because 1) I don't need graphics ability, so even while Sandy Bridge may revolution mobile graphics computing I don't know how much it would effect my real-world performance requirements over the next five years. 2) I don't see why sandy-bridge notebooks would be lighter than these, so waiting a year may basically get me the same laptop at the same price but with better graphics power.

Thanks for any input,
Darunium

p.s. I'd love an i5 option, but I haven't found any notebooks at this weight and this price range with an i5 processor, and I don't think that an extra $250 is worth the relative performance increase an i5 grants.

 

[flensr]

Sandy bridge will bring across the board performance improvements with less heat production. Same-performance chips will be cooler, faster chips will supposedly be noticeably faster with the same or lower thermals.

The price will still be up there, but the SB i7 should have the same or lower power consumption as the current i5 cpus, but with better performance.

 

[OS]

toshiba is releasing something like an R800 series protege, same chassis/size but with SB

 

[jrocks84]

The last company I worked for was transitioning away from using Toshiba laptops due to the build quality of the Portege series. I had experience with the Toshiba R500s and 600s there and they were the flimsiest laptops I've ever seen. There was massive flex all around the chassis causing me to worry about breaking it if I ever accidentally leaned on it. The keys touched the screen when the lid was closed so they quickly developed very noticeable imprints on the screen and the screen itself bent far more than felt natural.

I don't have personal experience with the U35, only touching it in a showroom once, but I think that extra half a pound is worth it for better build quality.


Also, like the others have said, I suggest you wait for Sandy Bridge. It'll deliver better battery life, thermals, and processing power. This is a mostly unfounded guess, but I think ultra-portable SB laptops will be available by the summer, rather than next year.

 

[droshi]

I agree with the SB recommendations. It's really beginning to sound like the best thing since sliced bread, but overall it doesn't mean you can't purchase if you are in need. Overall I'm quite partial to Asus laptops, but there are others that are good too, personally I wouldn't trust Toshiba these days to put out a very high quality product, or even one that is worth the money spent. But JMO.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

OP you said you handled the Portege, but did you try typing on it at all? I found the shallow key travel maddening. It also got way too hot for my taste after watching 720p trailers on youtube for a few minutes.