I can almost hear some people shudder at the thought of buying a new notebook running Windows XP. Fortunately the Toshiba Portege R500-S500 series of ultraportable laptops also has the R500-S5002 model which is pre-loaded with Windows Vista Business Edition. For those of us who wish to avoid Vista, the R500-S5002X model is pre-loaded with Windows XP Pro.

The CNET.com review of this ultraportable laptop says:
“Toshiba’s much-anticipated Portege R500 may be the best ultraportable laptop available right now”.

Weighing in at 2.4 pounds, with a size of 11.1 inches wide by 8.5 inches deep by 1 inch in height, this is no toy. The most amazing thing about it is that it features a DVD writer,
which is very rare for ultraportable laptops.

An ultralow-voltage 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU is complemented by an integrated Mobile Intel Express 950GM graphics card. The 1GB of RAM should have Windows XP Pro running quite nicely. The 12.1 inch TFT active matrix screen has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Add to that a 120GB hard drive, not bad for an ultraportable, and this is a pretty capable laptop. Naturally it includes wired 10/100 Ethernet, and 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n wireless as well as Bluetooth. To prevent others from using the notebook there is a fingerprint reader.

For expansion options, it has 3 USB 2.0 ports, PC Card, Firewire port, and an SD card reader.