[Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been a bit swamped recently]

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the chance to try out two excellent ultraportable notebooks recently, the MacBook Air and the Fujitsu P8010. Shortly after the P8010 went back, the mailman knocked on the door with year another ultraportable, this time the Toshiba R500.

The model I was sent included the 64GB SSD drive, just like the MacBook Air. I’m not sold on these priced-like-gold hard drives, they just seem too expensive for what they are at the moment, but to each his own!

The first thing I noticed taking it out of the box was it’s LIGHT, and I mean REALLY LIGHT. I have never held such a weightless notebook in my life. It is plastic though, and flexes rather badly, which is quite a shame. It may not be as solid as the Air, but it is noticeably lighter.

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When I wake up, one of the first things I usually do is go check my email. Sometimes my hair is a complete rat’s nest (picture a sleepy five year old), sometimes it’s piled on top of my head in a clip, and sometimes it looks nice because I actually showered and dressed first.

Now imagine if your computer could tell you that you couldn’t check anything until you look “right”?

I realize that isn’t quite what Toshiba is aiming to do with their new Facial Recognition Technology, but I can see where such a feature might be a good incentive to get “presentable” earlier…for me, at least.

picture courtesy of ICT Nuggets

Here’s how the Toshiba version will work:

The TOSHIBA Face Recognition software is a technology that harnesses the Satellite’s built-in Webcam to grant or deny access by quickly referencing a database of stored digital images of a registered user’s face. This database is created during a short setup process, where a user is prompted to move their head from side-to-side and up-and-down until their face has been adequately profiled with a series of still images.

The software also provides flexibility by allowing periodic image updates to ensure that the latest user photos are available in order to account for changes in a user’s physical appearance, such as the growing or shaving of a beard or mustache.

Do you think that this would be a good security feature? Or do you think that there are times when the computer wouldn’t even recognize you?

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For the last month or so, I have known that this would be a very hard review to write. Not because of the subject matter, but because once the review is finished I’ll no longer have an excuse to keep “my” Toshiba Tecra M8 loaner. Ah well, the deadline has come and gone (eep!) and I can’t procrastinate any longer…so let’s jump right in.

Toshiba has different lines of laptops designed to meet different people’s needs: Satellite, Qosimo, Tecra, and Portégé. Satellite are listed as “Laptop PCs with all the new mobile technologies at affordable prices;” Qosimos as “Entertainment media notebook PCs with widescreen displays;” Portégés as “High-end technology in stylish ultraportable laptops;” and Tecras, which I will be reviewing today, are “Professional notebooks for maximum productivity, reliability, and durability.”

To dig in even deeper: there are different models available under each line, and obviously some are more loaded-out than others. The Tecra line includes seven different types of laptops and one Tablet PC; the M8 is second to the top of the line.

all review pictures are thumbnails - click and they will enlarge

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Larry Liaw sent me a link that I think most computer owners will want to click because it tells if your computer is optimised to run the next version of Windows.

Click here.

I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite A-105, which I absolutely love. I just upgraded its RAM to 2GB and I thought it was 100%�ready for Vista…it even came with a little sticker that touted “Vista Ready!”

I figured no problem, I’ll pass with flying colors.

Take a look at this - my video card failed.

click thumbnail to enlarge

Now doesn’t that just figure?!

Evidently I am not the only one, scroll down and see one of�Larry’s forum member’s results. Poo!

Update: Larry just brought up a very good point - “for that Vista Ready testing tool, don’t be too�[worried] about your video spec. since this diagnostic tool is issued by ATI… a Video card manufacturer”

Ha! Too true!! I wonder what they might like to sell me to bring me up to spec?!

Michael Hess with RoadWired wrote and told me that their Skooba Skin is one of “the top-ten finalists for the Cooper-Hewitt (Smithsonian) People’s Design Award, and with only a week left in the voting we are unashamedly telling everyone we know and asking for all the votes we can get (assuming we are deemed worthy, of course). If you feel like taking 30 seconds to give us your vote (it is anonymous), or just to check it out the direct link is here. This is very exciting for us, especially considering the hundreds of very famous, outstanding products we are up against.”

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