Toshiba Portege R500

The keyboard has ample key spacing, so large-handed typists won't bumble over it, but the tactile response of the keys feels hollow and unsubstantial. The mousepad is better suited for small hands; however, I give credit to Toshiba for metallic mouse buttons that can definitely take a beating. Don't try beating too hard, though, because you don't want to accidentally damage the fingerprint reader that rests between the buttons. Also, all the indicator lights for everything from Wi-Fi to hard-drive activity shine through the silver panel that houses the mouse buttons.

Toshiba also smartly loads on all the outputs one expects from an ultraportable these days: FireWire, VGA-out, an SDHC card slot, and a PC Card slot--heck, the R500 even has an old-fashioned analog volume knob. Like the MacBook Air, though, it has only one USB port. On the other hand, it also has built-in ethernet.

Other uniquely Toshiba features are a couple of shortcut buttons adorning the top-right of the keyboard, including one that brings up the handy Toshiba Assist application (think of it as a pared-down version of Lenovo's awesome ThinkVantage utility suite that comes with the ThinkPad X300). For the less tech-savvy, the Toshiba Assist button pops a suite of useful utilities for doing everything from connecting Bluetooth devices to configuring output to an external display.

The second button controls the screen's backlighting. It kills the lights in a hurry, letting you operate the notebook in broad daylight without totally burning the battery. (In my case, I use it as a panic button when I don't want passersby knowing that I'm watching The Goonies again for the millionth time.)

Toshiba does many things right with the Portégé R500--you just can't become too bent out of shape over the twisty monitor.

--Darren Gladstone