[Macworld]

Post your comments for Toshiba lays claim to 'world's lightest' laptop here

[solipsism]

The two drives were a smart move. All Apple and Lenovo can do is reduce the price of their machines and the SSD upgrade, but they can't match the 128GB, at least not without upping the price severely for double density Flash, if it even exists yet.
We know from testing that SSD don't really offer any power savings over the already power efficient 1.8" HDDs found those other machines, but 8 hours is nice. I would have gotten a MBA if it had 8 hours of battery life, but we still don't know under what circumstances its longevity was tested.

[TeaEarleGreyHot]

I note that the new Toshiba laptop, while being a few ounces lighter than the MacBook Air, is at its thinnest point as thick as the MBA is at its thickest. Give or take a few microns. Undoubtedly the thickness is required to accommodate the internal optical drive.

[flybynight]

solipsism said:

The two drives were a smart move...

Re-read the article. The Toshiba does use a single, 128Gb SSD. It's the Lenovo that was referenced that uses 2 drives. They exist and the prices will come down soon. Competition in this area is a good thing. People will point to this and say "see, they made it lighter and have an optical drive" but the MBA is still thinner, faster, and oh, yeah... it runs OS X.

[solipsism]

Thanks. I was reading it on my phone while on the subway.

[Dubbalubagis]

The MBA also has a larger screen which makes a larger footprint by my assumption. That could also add to the weight.

Toshiba's machine doesn't look that bad aesthetically at all but I still prefer the MBA look.

[natmusak]

By launching this, Toshiba will inadvertently help the MacBook Air get a 128GB SSD sooner as it'll drive down the cost of SSDs. That is, if people are willing to spend $3000 on a Vista running laptop. :D

[neilr_]

The MacBook Air does not have a SATA hard drive. It uses Parallel ATA. See the specs here:
http://www.apple.com...kair/specs.html
Toshiba makes a 1.8" SATA HDD, but I'm not sure if anyone else does.

[Macworldfan]

3G's and Vista or XP. What a joke! The prices of these SDD laptops are insane. Starting with the MBA. I say, one year tops, we'll start to see more reasonable prices. For now I'm very happy with my "full featured" MBP. Noisier, heavier, and all.

[macFanDave]

Biased reporting.
With all of the specs flying around, it's curious that the author failed to mention that the Air has a 13.3-in screen compared to the Toshiba's 12.1. That is really a big difference. How did the author miss that?
The folks at Microsoft sure must be proud that their latest OS has created a new feature for hardware vendors to use: downgradability!

[Philip Michaels]

neilr_ said:

The MacBook Air does not have a SATA hard drive. It uses Parallel ATA.

You're right -- that's an editing mistake.

[dreyfus]

While I am not interested in any Windows laptop, I would like to hear about the available ports. I also did not really understand that "transreflective display" shut-down and using the sunlight part - how will that not make it a mirror?!
On a different note: I wonder when literally all the Asian companies will learn at least something from Apple. Portégé R500-S5007V is not a name for a luxury item, nobody will ever say: Oh, look this cool guy has a Portégé R500-S5007V ... if it is lighter than Air, call it Portégé Helium or anything else that is a bit aggressive marketing, witty and can be remembered.

[mistersquid]

This laptop is not shipping until Q3. I'll believe the specs when the machine exists to be purchased.

[MacGod]

Quite a nice little laptop, though you really do pay extra for it-3 grand is a big pill to swallow. Steve Jobs is right-with these sub-notebooks, it really is a question of which tradeoffs to make. And I have to say, I think Toshiba made better choices. True it's not as thin and the screen is smaller, but that just makes it take up less room on an airplane tray table. And at a lower weight WITH an optical drive and Ethernet, this seems like a better balance; too bad you'd then be forced to use Windows. Maybe the next gen MBA will include more options for less weight.