Portege Disappoints

Toshiba Portege

MIS is bringing my new laptop tomorrow. I have used four in the last three years. One of those rank hath its privileges things is that I tend to get the newer ones. Everything was fine with my beloved Dell until a VPN install went awry and the MIS boys began tinkering. By the time they were done, they wanted to rebuild my Dell from the ground up and gave me a Toshiba Portege 7010 CT to tide me over. That was a month ago.

Thank heavens that the new machine is not in any way related to this one.

A Long and Proud Tradition

My very first laptop was a Toshiba T1000. They came out a long time ago - late 1980s, I believe. Color? We don't need no stinkin' color. But it did have a handy RAM chip with WordPerfect 5.1 and a hard drive that could actually hold documents. With Microsoft's stable 3.3 DOS, you really didn't need anything else at the time.

I loved that machine.

I could have loved this one as well. You have probably heard the accolades for its looks and size. Indeed, I have gotten into a very bad habit of carrying my computer tucked under my arm like a schoolboy would carry a notebook to class. At an inch or so thick and just under five pounds, I was ready to fall in love. True, I was sacrificing a little horsepower. And I really should not complain about the RAM, except to say that Windows is a hog and Outlook is right behind it at the trough. I miss my T1000.

So in the plus category, we have a trim and light machine with enough power to handle most standard office functions.

Why I Can't Recommend This Machine

There's a whole list. Let me number the most maddening reasons.

1) I despise the "eraser" mouse. Dell's latest machines have made me a touchpad fan. I never use a mouse with my laptop anymore, but I can't stand this thing. No problem, you say. Use a mouse. Well, yes, but then you have to plug in the expansion port. Sorry, we just blew portability out the window. But there are plenty of fans of that stick mouse, including a former boss and current client.

2) Cooling problems - I live with my laptop. If I'm more than 20 feet away, one of us is lonely. I type for hours on end. The Portege's lighter, thinner case heats up much more than its bulkier cousins. Last week, I actually found the front part of the case hot, not warm, and couldn't rest my wrists on the case as I typed. This is becoming true of all notebooks instead, which is why the word laptop is verboten at manufacturers. Dells and HPs in our arsenal have the same issue.

3) Battery life - Yes, I know you can buy mo betta batteries, but seriously, for the price, I need more than 150 minutes of usable life. And speaking of power and heat, the power supply, while sleek-looking is flimsy and detaches into three pieces. I don't want my power supply in pieces. I want it solid, rugged and able to withstand the abuse that portablity brings.

4) Keyboard configuration - There is no ALT OR CTRL key on the right side of the keyboard. The natural order of the universe is upset. This is probably my biggest usability issue beyond the cooling problem. Why? Because it's non-standard and non-standard means disgruntled users who then seek any little thing to pick on such as:

5) Transfer Speed - Nope, not impressed. This is a slow system. Yes, my Dell Inspiron spoiled me. But I have noticed a definite slowdown in writing to disk, reading from my network and just about every I/O function I can think of.

6) Screen Size - You want small, we got small. I'm old. I wear bifocals. I'll sacrifice a little weight to keep my resolution at normal size and still read the screen.

So Why The Rant?

A bunch of these machines are hitting the end of their useful life with regard to accounting practices. That means that they will be fully depreciated and can be sold as distressed inventory. A lot of them will be making their way into the secondary markets, and Toshiba's name and this machine's sleek body may beckon to you. There are already more than 150 for sale on auction sites as of this writing (Yes, I checked).

The Portege is truly portable and very stylish, but you may have other needs. Toshiba produces great laptops, err, notebooks, and you might want to look higher up their line.