Honey I Shrunk the Laptop, Part Two

©1998 Ross L. Kodner, Esq. All Rights Reserved

A Review of Toshiba’s New Portege 3010CT: The Lawyer’s Dream Tool

In the constant quest of portable PC manufacturers to find the ultimate balance between usability and smallness, we are witnessing the birth of a new category of laptop, the "ultra portable." First came PalmPilots, then the Microsoft-bred Windows CE "Palm Wannabes", then Toshiba’s ground-breaking Libretto series of handheld PCs. But the Libretto series has been flawed by its size–just a little too small for the fingers of the average grown-up to type, in part, defeating the purpose of that full-blown Windows 95/98 sub 2 pound PC. Then Sony, in with clever packaging reminiscent of the original Walkman, released the VAIO-505 series and now Toshiba has a U.S. release of its nearly identically sized Portege 3010/3015CT units. The Toshiba and Sony units are near clones in form factor and specification; I have had the pleasure of working with the former.

The Toshiba Portege 3010CT looks like a regular laptop–standard "clamshell" form factor. The difference is that it is about 2/3 the size of a "normal" laptop if laid on top–measuring about 10" wide and about 8" deep. The most striking dimension, however, is it’s thickness–only about 3/4". To put this in perspective, my "daily driver," a 6.3 lb. Toshiba Tecra 8000 is just a tad over 12" wide, about 10" deep and 1 3/4" tall. The Portege 3010CT also is quite svelte, having shed scads of usual portable weight tipping the scales at a mere 2 3/4 lbs. The question all this dimensional-fascination raises is whether this $1900 street priced little machine has made too many diet-motivated compromises to be usable?

Before we can make that pronouncement, let’s do some background checking. The Portege 3010CT is a marvel of miniaturization when one looks at its specs. Inside it’s magnesium-covered slim chassis is a 266 MHz Pentium MMX processor with 512K of L2 RAM cache, 32 meg of standard is standard, upgradeable to 96 meg, a spacious 4.3 gig hard drive, a 56K 3COM XJACK modem in one of its two Type II PC Card slots, and a typically Toshiba-vivid 10.4" TFT active-matrix display (remember when that seemed huge even on "luggable" laptops?). For "pointing stick" afficionados, the Toshiba Accupoint pointing device is right there between the "G", "H" and "B" keys. The Lithium Ion battery is actually in the space where the hinge would normally be located to attach the screen to the chassis, borrowing the innovation from the Sony VAIO-505. In normal use testing, I found the battery to provide about 1:45 of use. For about $150 more, a larger capacity Lithium Ion battery replaces the standard one and gives about 4 ½ hours of power with an increase in weight of 4 ½ oz. and an extra 3/4" added to the unit’s footprint.

External connectivity is via a built-in 4 mbps Infrared port as well as a USB port and connector for the Lilliputian 9 oz. external floppy drive. AC is provided by a portionately diminutive 5 oz. "brick", or perhaps "bricklet" would better fit. Headphone/speaker and microphone plugs reside on the side of the Portege along with the standard locking adapter for a cable security device. A volume control dial is tucked under the front edge of the laptop. What’s missing? There is a connector for a mini port replicator that adds 3 oz. and provides the rest of the usual ports: a parallel and serial ports as well as an external VGA connector and a PS/2 keyboard/mouse connector. The only thing noticeably absent is a CD-ROM drive–however, $200 away is the terrific PC Card-slot powered 15 oz PocketCD98 from Addonics (www.addonics.com)–use it when you need it and leave it at home otherwise.

Software is the usual Toshiba complement of Windows 95, Intel’s LANDesk Client Manager 3.3, Microsoft Internet Explorer (gee, what a surprise!), Puma’s Intellisync 97, the Ring Zero Ring Central telephony software, and Yamaha Station for the Soundblaster Pro-compatible multimedia system.

Okay, so the specs sound fine . . how does it feel? In one word: GREAT! The keyboard has a pitch of 18mm. In practical terms, I measured the Portege’s character keys at about 3/4" square–the same as those on my standard-sized Toshiba Tecra. The difference in the keyboards, however, is that there is less "travel" and less space between the keys; compromises made to fit into the physically smaller chassis. The overall key feel, however is very good–touch typing is certainly possible and I found the Portege’s keyboard actually more pleasurable than some full-size laptops’ units. The Libretto 50CT I owned previously had comparatively tiny 15 mm pitched keys–simply too small for anything but two-fingered "hunt and pecking." The 3010 is a world of difference–it has a "real" keyboard!

For afficionados of the only "true" pointing device, the Toshiba’s Accupoint pointing stick will feel familiar and precise–and keeps one’s hands on the keyboard when typing. The screen is typical Toshiba clear with rich bright colors. The speed is very good, entirely acceptable even for someone used to one of the latest 300 MHz Pentium II-equipped notebooks.

The most noticeable aspect of the Portege 3010CT? It is amazing how light it feels after lugging around "standard" notebooks for years. In fact, it literally feels that one is not carrying anything at all–the weight difference is that dramatic. Another big plus, and my own motivation for acquiring the unit as a complement to my regular notebook, is that it is airline-friendly. How often have you relished being able to get 3 or 4 solid hours of work done on a cross-country flight, only to have your plans dashed because the ingrate in front of you fully reclines, preventing you from opening a regular laptop? The Portege thumbs its virtual nose at such airhooligans–let them recline!

And let’s not forget the subjective, but very real "wow factor" when you pull out your cool little Portege 3010CT at the next County Bar association meeting or in the middle of your next deposition. For the gadget-conscious, this is of inestimable value.

Info on the Portege 3010 series is available at http://www.csd.toshiba.com.

December 27, 1998

Ross Kodner is an attorney who "saw the light" and founded Milwaukee’s MicroLaw, Inc. eons ago (1985). His firm of 13 professionals provides legal technology consulting and systems integration services to hundreds of law firms and legal departments across Wisconsin, throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is also a member of the Board of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Law Practice Section and Convention Program Co-Chair for Technology. He can be reached at rkodner@microlaw.com and 414-476-8433.