Toshiba R200 or 12" Powerbook?

[Keyvan]

i'm thinking between these two laptops, and trying to make up my mind.
it will be used just when on the go, I have a desktop for use at home.

Basically when I'm on campus, I'll use it to do my work (writing papers, doing research, taking notes and etc.).
And the other use is that I will be travelling quite a bit in about 3 months from now and I want to have a laptop with me when I kill time at airports or during long flights.

Pros of the R200:
Very Sexy! (my sis has the R100, and it's just damn sleek)
Extremely light at 2.2 lbs.
Very good battery life.
Decent specs.
I can get a 20% discount if I order by this monday.
Comes standard with a 3 Yr warranty.

Pros of the Powerbook:
It has an Optical Drive.
Decent battery life.
4.4 lbs, so it's portable, but not a featherweight
About ~300 dollars cheaper than the R200 after Edu discount.

any ideas/suggestions?



edit: update with first impressions a little further down!

 

[KingCheeba]

You kinda picked 2 different notebook types. Are you going for more mobility?
I have a R100 and I love what it is, just a notebook to slip in your bag. No CD/DVD, max mem is 1280mb, 12" screen. Very portable, and almost tossable.

To me, it doesn't make sense on why Toshiba made the R200 or why you would want it. Did you look at the tech stats on it?

If you're willing to lug around a 4lb'er, look at the Portege S200 or the more powerful (and only a tad bit heavier) Tecra M3.

ToshibaDirect.com link

If you want the powerbook, get it

 

[HermDogg]

I loves my powerbook... It gets pretty dec battery life, and it it seems very light to me- then again, I've only had an IBM to compare it with (10"). Although, now you may just want to go the iBook route. Since the upgrade, the damn things are basically the same as the powerbook, with just very minor speed steps.

 

[Commodus]

I'm biased towards the PowerBook, although an ultra-portable has its merits. My logic is that I don't want to have to plug in basic features like an optical drive whenever I get home. It'll be heavier, but it's not ungainly at all.

 

[RichieZ]

i don't consider the 12" powerbook to be light, its about the same weight as a 14" Thinkpad T series.

I do like it though, i have two 12" and i find its much more convenient to use the powerbook since it has a build in optical drive than to use my X31

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: HermDogg
I loves my powerbook... It gets pretty dec battery life, and it it seems very light to me- then again, I've only had an IBM to compare it with (10"). Although, now you may just want to go the iBook route. Since the upgrade, the damn things are basically the same as the powerbook, with just very minor speed steps.

no dvi out, no offical clamshell support (could only do mirroring w/ screen span hack), R9250 only has 32MB and while the FX5200 isn't a speed demon its certainly better than the 9250.

I used to have the previous rev (1.2) ibook and I upgraded to the 12" rev c after only 3 months. I guess a big deal was that the 9200 isn't core image capable so I upgraded b4 tiger came out to make sure it would run decently

 

[ET]

I'm also looking to buy something very portable. I've been thinking about different machines, though:

1. The Panasonic Let's Note (or Toughbook) W4, which is 1.2kg (2.64 lbs for you non-metric guys) including DVD writer and a 7.5 hour battery. Size is 268 x 210.4 mm.

2. Fujitsu Lifebook P1510D, which weighs about as much (1kg with standard battery, but I will surely buy the extended one, which likely will add to the weight) but is considerably smaller (236 x 167 mm -- again, I have no idea how the battery adds to this) and is in tablet form factor (it's not a true Tablet, and uses XP pro, but it has a touch screen). It doesn't have an optical drive, has a smaller screen and is generally not as well specced, but it is also cheaper.

I was planning to post to get opinions about this, and probably still will, but figured I'd raise these options here, too.

 

[Illusio]

i have a 12" powerbook and I love it. Looks awesome, performs great. Its by no means any good for real gaming, but for work its great.

 

[Keyvan]

I got the R200! It's charging right now.
It's pretty sweet. I'll post first impressions later on.

 

[Keyvan]

I've spent a few hours using this laptop, and here's what I think of it so far.

First off, it's incredibly thin, light and sleek.

The Specs:
-Centrino ULV 1.2 ghz
-512 MB ram (2x256, and one of them is replaceable)
-60 gig HDD
-built-in wifi and Bluetooth
-SD card slot
-gigabit ethernet
-finger print scanner
-2.7 lbs/1.23 kg


The memory can be upgraded to 1280, but it's DDR2, so I probably won't be upgrading that for awhile, and 512 is enough for a machine like this. There's so much multitasking that can be done on a 12" screen.

I love the built-in bluetooth. I currently use bluetooth between my cellphone, my pda, desktop and now laptop. And I'm looking to get a GPS nav system for my pda. If I get a bluetooth kit, I could use it with my laptop without any wires!
The SD card is a nice touch for me, since my PDA uses SD as well. I can use it to transfer files back and forth quickly.

I thought the finger print scanner would be more of a gimmick than a useful feature but it's actually very well done. Whenever I'm at a login screen or prompt, I can just scan my finger print and it enters my username and password. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is for MSN messenger, but that's all right.

And of course, this laptop is just about as portable as it gets. Unlike the last laptop I owned, bringing it to school with me to do some work won't be a PITA.

The battery can last up to 4.5 hours, but I think 3.5 hours is more reasonable. I might consider grabbing the extended battery that snaps on if when I start travelling a bit, and that should push it to up to 8 or 9 hours max, but probably around 7 hours of actual use.

The only reason why this laptop would not work for anyone is probably due to its lack of built-in optical drive, but to me it's good this way. The weight/space savings are worth it.

Oh, and it comes with a standard 3 year warranty, which is nice.


The other laptop that I also considered was the Sony T270 (i think that's the model, i forget). That one comes with the optical drive, but the screen and keyboard just feel cramped, and it doesn't look like it would comfortable to work on for any considerable amount of time.