Toshiba PortÚgÚ 660CDT

The PortÚgÚ itself isn't new; in fact, at least two previous versions are still available from Toshiba, but the 660CDT represents an important evolution in the design. Given that the most commonly-heard criticisms of sub-A4 format notebooks concern their lack of power and features compared with full-sized notebooks, the latest PortÚgÚ could be seen as a logical step forward for mini-portables in general.

Although outwardly similar to its predecessor, the 650CT, the 660CDT has a surprising number of features, the most notable being a multipurpose bay that can house either the traditional floppy drive or a fast ten-speed CD-ROM module. Even with the CD-ROM fitted the weight only goes up to 2.6kg, which is an acceptable penalty to pay for having an internal CD-ROM.

The base configuration now includes a Pentium/150 rather than the 650CT's P133, and has 16Mb of EDO RAM plus 256Kb of secondary cache as standard. I was a little surprised that Toshiba didn't use the Pentium MMX version of the processor, but no doubt this will happen in the near future.

There's a 1.34Gb hard disk which isn't removable, as is sometimes the case with Toshiba notebooks, and a pair of PC Card expansion slots capable of holding a single Type III hard disk or two thin Type II devices. Both the slots support the 32-bit PCI-style CardBus standard for improved throughput and both can handle Zoomed Video cards, providing a discrete video processing channel which greatly reduces the impact on whatever else the machine is trying to do at the time.

You can plug a mouse or keyboard into the back via a mini-DIN socket and print to a fast 4Mbits/sec (IrDA 1.1) infrared serial port which is handy for wireless file transfers. Alternatively, the machine can be docked with either of the two currently available full-sized docking station options available from Toshiba. This is possible thanks to a simple passive docking adaptor supplied with the machine, which brings the PortÚgÚ's outline up to the right size.

Toshiba has also taken the sensible step of incorporating a modem into the machine as a standard feature. This provides the normal 28.8K data and 14.4K fax speeds and can also handle voice calls in conjunction with the integrated Yamaha 16-bit sound chip, speaker and microphone. You can go a step further and set up one or many voice mailboxes using the bundled Multimedia Connect telephony/fax software.

The PortÚgÚ is built to a high standard and looks as though it should last the course. The one thing that some people may not like is the keyboard, which is rather small and has the typical Toshiba action. This is characteristically light and comes complete with slightly loose keytops and a saggy baseplate.

The active-matrix screen has an 11.3in diagonal which almost completely fills the lid. The standard resolution is 800 « 600, which the screen can display in up to 16.7 million colours thanks to the presence of 2Mb of video RAM. External monitor use is also well catered for, with support for 1,024 « 768 resolution in 16-bit colour at a respectable 85Hz vertical refresh.

Away from the mains, power comes from a lithium ion battery and is coupled with Toshiba's Maxtime power manager, which has a Windows-based setup utility that allows changes to be implemented immediately without requiring a reboot. If battery operation is the primary concern, the multipurpose bay can be used to house an optional second battery pack, but you're still left with the use of the floppy drive if you need it, as it can be connected up externally using a short adaptor cable. Typical operating time is around two hours on a single battery, depending on how hard you push the system.