Not for everybody, but a great laptop if you need it for looks.
Written: Oct 22 '02 (Updated Jan 02 '04)
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Pros: Small thin profile, great external design, awesome keyboard and screen.
Cons: No firewire or USB 2.0, bad build quality. Poor DVD playback performance. Poor performance overall.
The Bottom Line: Get it if you need the portability and looks. You'll pay for the size. Otherwise go take a look at some not as portable 1" height laptops.
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| dcdomain's Full Review: Toshiba Portege 2000 (PP200C-00002F) PC Notebook |
Compared to my old laptop, an aging Portege 3020ct, the build quality seems to have declined. Within one day, I had broken a plastic piece off the side of the laptop near the locking port. Not much of a build quality issue, more of a design issue, who would put a plastic ring around a metal locking port that will no doubt come in contact with another metal object.
The locking mechanism for the screen and panels for the ports in the back are extremely flimsy. One of the panels in the back refuse to stay shut now. And when open, the button that releases the screen can be accidentally pushed down, any harder and it might snap off.
It's been around two weeks since I've had the laptop and now the screen flickers in and out frequently. I have to adjust the angle of the screen or apply pressure to points on the back of the screen. As of now, the screen is pretty much useless, going to contact Toshiba to repair it. Something I should NOT have to do at all, much less within three weeks of my purchase.
The WiFi isn't that great, but then again, I haven't had much success with my Orinoco Gold in the same environment. I've read that the WiFi is weak, so I'm not too surprised.
Anyway, I hear the 2010 is about to come out, supposed to have a 40gb drive and USB 2.0, still no firewire, hopefully the build quality is better, maybe a faster processor and more ram? Bluetooth perhaps? I hope they keep the IR port even though it seems like other manufacturers are phasing them out. I'm not sure what to think about the SD slot. I have no use for it and seems like a Sony move where they have been pushing their memory stick slot. Maybe when I find a use for it, I'll report on how useful it is.
I'd like to have a talk with their product team, definitely could give them a good view on how someone uses this product because it seems as though they are lacking the same good judgement and sense they had when designing the 3020ct.
On the issue of support, I've had some good experiences with the personnel that man the Compuserve-Toshiba forums. I haven't really dealt with their support yet, although I will soon. I've heard positive things though... wish me luck.
I like Toshiba, I like the people and most of their products, as for the Portege 2000... it's not worthy of the Toshiba name or Portege name. My 3020ct has been through some amazingly rough times, not one problem. Dents here and there and a split in the LCD, but after what it went through, I'd give it props.
UPDATE: Turns out the screen was defective, I left the laptop at a local support center for about a week and a half. Not too bad in terms of service... but now there's a dead pixel in the new screen. I guess I can't win in this game. I've also noticed that the keyboard is leaving some hard to remove smudges and markings on the screen when I close it. WiFi is still pretty crappy.
In terms of design, I think they should have gone with two PCMCIA ports, I could have used two of them numerous times. But small matter since many other makers are going the one slot route. Having the headphone jack on the right side must really get on the nerves of right handed people. I'm right handed and I find it annoying when my headphone jack or chord gets in the way of the mouse. But I guess it's better in terms of an engineering stand point, having all those ports on one side of the laptop. No reason why it couldn't be on the otherside...
I think the reason this laptop is so slow, at times feels slower than my old 3020ct is because of the harddrive. Here's a link to a PDF containing information on the 2010: http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/portege_2010.pdf
They upgraded the processor to the 866mhz, the USB to 2.0 and the harddrive from 20gb to 30gb. I could definitely use the USB 2.0 since the TDK CDRW external USB 2.0 drives are so cheap...
Everyone is always amazed by the laptop, but I would recommend this: stay away... many times I don't see how the design can make up for the performance/reliability issues.
UPDATE2: The harddrive holds this laptop back a lot as mentioned in my previous update. To add to this review, I find that the integrated wireless does a poor job, half the time I'm glad I have my Dell Truemobile to fall back on. There are many times where I'll bring the laptop out of Stand By mode and it won't find the wireless network even though the access point is a mere three feet from it. I'll have to reboot/shut down/standby the laptop 4-5 times before it recognizes anything, and with the slow start up times due to the harddrive, that means a lot of wasted time spent fiddling around with it.
I'm looking to do more with my laptop and will be glad to add a few more inches or pounds to get some more performance so that a laptop would actually be usable. Looking at the Thinkpad X31 as a replacement, not as stylish or as small, but more functional, and IBM quality is tops.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1600
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 256
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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dcdomain
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Reviews written: 2
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