Customer Reviews
Great laptop with minor deficiencies. Love it!! 
2006-07-12
This is a fabulous lapotp and I'm honestly surprised that it's not more popular. It's very small, lightweight and stylish. The screen is large (for an ultra-light) and very sharp. For my purposes it's absolutely perfect... and the price is very reasonable.
I've only been using this baby for about a week and am pleased overall. From what I can tell so far, the only deficiencies are:
1) the bottom gets super hot! If you use it on your bare lap, chances are you'll get burned!
2) the speakers are very weak and hard to hear
3) doesn't have a built-in CD burner
4) USB ports are in the back of the unit. Depending on how you sit, yoir knee can hit whatever is plugged in.
Overall I'm thrilled with this purchase and recommend it to someone who wants a quality ultra-portable computer at a fabulous price.
Slow and hot 
2006-06-01
This portable runs very, very hot underneath (there are two warning stickers). Within a few minutes of booting, it is uncomfortably hot on the bottom side.
It is slow.
The screen is just very average.
The keyboard is OK...typically cramped.
The USB ports are, unfortunately, on the back...as are other connections.
Relative to my other portable (at 4 pounds) this is just not sufficiently lighter to convince one of the inconvenience of not having the CD ROM etc.
I am sending this back.
Great Ultra Portable Laptop 
2006-05-28
When i opened the package, i was amazed by its size and elegance. Having used a corporate laptop (dell d600) for the past 3 years, this was a refreshing change. This laptop is not for programming, gaming, heavy-duty number crunching, or other demanding tasks. I am using this for business school as a desktop extension, so the most taxing task i will be doing is moderate-level statistics, word processing, spreadsheet work, powerpoint presentations, and lite-weight database applications.
Pros: beautiful package. light. good overall design.
Cons: the monitor does not go to the edges, so it has the perception of being smaller than it really is. the keyboard layout is a bit crunched on the left and right sides (tab, cap-lock, pgdn, pgup)
A bit more technical insight: the computer does not come with recovery cds (windows, applications, etc.), but it allocates a partition on the harddrive for recovery, so the usable space is not 60gb but more like 50. i plan on rebuilding the computer - i have my own windows xp disc (though i will be using the license that came with the laptop) and the software that is available for download from toshiba's site. Although it does not come with a disk drive, a slim, external Lite-On one is available for around $100 (among others). It comes with many applications pre-installed or able to install (e.g. ms office small business edition that comes with a trial license), but for some reason, no matter how hard i tried, i could not uninstall the damn AOL pre-installation.
Overall, it's a great laptop for its purpose. It will definitely turn heads more than any drab dell or hp slab.
Great laptop with minor cons 2006-05-26
The things I am not satisfied with are:
1.The noise of the fan;
2.The keyboard.
Any way, it is a good buy.
PS: You may consider ThinkPad X60s if better performance is desired.
Toshiba R205-S2062 Great laptop for the mobile person 2006-04-26
I needed a light laptop for surfing, word processing, powerpoint. This thing is great if that's what you want to do. This laptop is NOT for movie watching, cd burning, dvd burning, or gaming. It's light (2.6 lbs), has good battery life (4hrs), has good size to it - small but not too small that you can't type and is relatively cheap compared to other ultraportables (I paid $1230 after rebate).
Before I bought this laptop, I did a lot of research. I spent months waiting for the new core duo chip to come out. I was looking at the Dell X1 initially but it doesn't have a PC card slot for wireless Broadband EVDO (plus gets only 3hrs battery life). Was also thinking about Lenovo X60s but it is bigger 3.5 lbs. (also faster with new mobile core duo chip and longer battery life - 7.5hrs) but also >$2000. Was thinking about Sony TX series (has built in DVD for same weight) but it was way more expensive >$2000 and has a smaller screen/keyboard and is thicker. With Windows Vista coming out in 2007, I figured I can use this laptop for my purposes and upgrade to a smaller, lighter, faster, cheaper Windows Vista laptop in 3yrs with the money I saved by not buying a Lenovo/Sony top of the line laptop now that will be outdated in 1 year anyways.
Some people may also be wondering what is the differnce between the Toshiba Portege R205-S2062 and R205-S209. Basically the R205-S209 has faster memmory - not really much of a noticible difference. I think THe R205-S209 also comes with an external CD/DVD writer incluede in the price. I opted to buy a Targus PC Card external DVD/CD ROM drive for $30 for installing extra software. It's not worth it to spend $400+ to get the Toshiba external DVD/CD writer - I have my desktop for burning dvds/cds.
You can also buy a Toshiba wireless bluetooth mouse and use the built-in bluetooth to decrease clutter and free up a USB port. I also paid $5 for a neoprene sleeve - it will fit into any bag or backpack easily.
I highly recommend getting the extended 3yr warranty with Service Guard and LowJack for $295 - it is great b/c if anything happens to the laptop (i.e. drop or spill), they will fix it for free or replace it. With Lowjack if it is stolen they can trace it whenever someone uses the laptop to connect to the internet (90% recovery rate).
Oh yeah, this laptop got editors choice by PC magazine for ultraportable laptops when it came out summer 05 (before Sony TX was released and took the throne for 2005). You can google it to see a review. Hope this makes your decision easier.
one of a kind 2007-12-02
Toshiba Portege R205-S2062 Ultra-Portable 12" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 753, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)
It is a fantastic lightweight laptop. Still unsurpassed.
Less that 2.2 lbs, good monitor, as thin as it can possibly be. Does occasionally feel hot, but does not really overheat. I had it for more than a year and if I found another one I would buy it again. The only Cons are the lack of a CD/DVD (I bought and external one that I rarely use) and the fact that both USB ports are in the back.
It has 2x256mb RAM memory, one cannot be removed, the other can be substituted with a 1GB RAM (I did it and works great)
nothing but portable 2007-06-17
if you are looking for a laptop for basic necessities and insane portability keeping in mind there is NO built in cd-drive, then this is it. this is NOT for serious gamers or media freaks. if you do not care about portability then go somewhere else because you can easily find a laptop w/ the same and/or better specs than this for a cheaper price but no where near the portability which was my highest priority when looking for a basic computer to go. i am a college student and when i go to class, and DONT need the adapter, then i'll just stick this baby(like an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper but thicker) inside a 1-inch 3-ring binder(that's portability!) and carry one or two books on the side and it is no problem because it is very light. if you are not satisfied with the battery length then if you search well enough you can find the 5hr battery for as low as $60. hope this helps. if i happen to see someone walking around w/ a 1-inch 3-ring break out this laptop, then i can portable, oops, probably say this review helped!:)
Horribly slow to the point of being nonfunctional 
2007-05-23
This is a very slick computer -- light, good looking. But it simply doesn't work well. The processor and hard drive are SO incredibly slow the computer is almost unusable. It takes SEVERAL MINUTES to open Microsoft Outlook or similar programs, the computer freezes constantly, the hard drive never stops spinning, the fan is always blowing, but the poor thing still overheats all the time. Get one of the similarly small Sony Vaios instead of this computer -- they have a fast processor and several times more ram. I only wish I'd figured this out in time to return mine ... now I'm stuck with a computer that looks good, but does nothing but slow me down.
Nice lightweight computer, but display hinges concern me 2007-01-08
This is a very nice computer, lightweight, fast. I purchased the add-on second battery, and I get about 10 hours of time. The only thing that concerns me are the display hinges. When I first received it the display seemed tight as you moved it back and forth, which I liked, but now there is about 1 inch of play. I don't know if this is because I may have applied to much I pressure on the display when I opened it all the way, or if this just happens over time as it breaks in. But I still think it's a great buy! I do not recomend a neoprene sleeve for this, or for any computer for that matter unless they make a brand that has a grippy outer layer. I had this machine in a neoprene sleeve, and as I was walking in a hurry, the computer slipped right out of my hand. Fortunately there was no damage except very minor cosmetic. These sleeves are just too slippery.
looks great, performs poorly 2007-01-03
I bought this computer after having used two sonys one ibm and one compaq. By far, this is the lightest and best looking of them all. However, the performance is so poor, its slower than the sony I used two years ago. It takes about 3 mintues for the computer to load and another three minutes to shut down. This may not sound like much time, but considering that this computer is less than one week old with no new programs installed, its really slow. The speakers are not so great either. And with only two usb ports, I will have to buy an extension if I want to run a mouse, an external CD and a video camera simultaneously.
Overall, its a good buy, considering its super low price. But if you mind the speed, or lack thereof, purchase something else.
