Neat Package!
Written: Aug 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful Screen, Light, Supported With, Many Options
Cons: Uses AccuPointer, I Miss My "Built Ins"
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| RichBoston's Full Review: Toshiba Portege 3440CT (NF344T30N) PC Notebook |
I’m in the market for a laptop and had the opportunity to use a new Portege for the last couple of weeks. Only because of personal taste have I decided to keep looking. I’ll get into why later.
First, this is a beautiful machine as I think all laptops are that have relegated the (what are now) peripherals to the sidelines. The question is whether the reduced size and weight of the unit minus the CD/DVD etc. are worth in size what they lose in convenience. I decided…no.
But…the flip side makes for a good debate. The Portege weighs in at under 4 pounds, 10” x 9” and is under an inch thick. It was hard to believe that this was even in my briefcase. I actually stopped in the street one time to make sure that I hadn’t left it in my office. At more than $2,000 this isn’t something you want to leave lying around.
The Portege has a LAN Port Replicator which plugs into the side. This is like a multi plug outlet for your home. Into the Replicator you plug your Zip Drive, CD/DVD, etc. With these now hooked up you’ve lost whatever size benefit you started out with. As I was always in need of a peripheral I found this maddening and longing for a clunkier “old fashioned” laptop with all this stuff built in. You can easily spend $1,000 on the add-ons – be forewarned.
OK, that’s a BIG thing but sometimes the smallest is the most annoying and is why I almost passed on the opportunity to try this. I heard Toshiba and said “oh no, not one of those pointing things?!” Sure enough, even on upscale models Toshiba insists on the use of their AccuPoint pointer. You know, that little button buried in the keyboard. Ahhhhrrrgggg – I HATE THIS THING! Why can’t they admit defeat and go to a touchpad?
Let’s get into some of the technical details which is where this baby shines:
It has a 500MHz Pentium III and 6 gigabyte hard drive. There are 64 expandable MB of PC100 SDRAM and an S3 Savage IX graphics controller including 8MB of video memory. Two PC card slots for Type II or III cards, V90 modem, USB and IR ports and a lithium ion battery. I got about 2 hours of continuous use out of the battery – a bit less than the owner’s manual says to expect. Has anyone ever gotten MORE battery time than a manufacturer claimed?
Toshiba does have a neat option to extend portable time. It’s a flat battery which connects on the bottom which will triple your battery time but…it’s expensive at $399 and adds weight. However, for professional use this could be for you.
It has an 11 inch active matrix display. I haven’t used too many laptops to be an expert but I loved the display and found it to be my favorite of all that I’ve used. As a matter of fact, to me it’s one of the best features.
Invisible to the naked eye is a state of the art internal liquid cooling system. This supposedly extends the life of the unit and speeds up the processor. One of those blind faith things. Either you believe this works or you don’t.
Other than the dastardly AccuPointer I found the feel of the keyboard and other functions to be pretty standard – nothing good or bad to say one way or the other.
Sooo…I loved the display and the easy portability but when it came down to it I’d prefer everything included in a single bigger package. Oh….and Toshiba…..please….please….please….LOSE THAT ACCUPOINTER!
I’m giving it a 5 rating because it did all it said it would and superbly. I just have a personal bias against these slim units that use add-ons and I hate the AccuPointer. Somewhere though I’m sure people must love them as I can’t figure why Toshiba continues to make them.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
RichBoston
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Member: Rich
Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 92
Trusted by: 134 members
About Me:
I live for the latest gizmos and doo-dads!
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