Toshiba Portege R200

Specs

• Intel Pentium-M 1.2GHz (ultra-low-voltage version)
• 256MB DDR2-400 RAM onboard, plus 1 slot free (1280MB maximum - which this one is fitted with)
• 12“ 1024×768 screen + VGA out
• 1.8” pin-type PATA drive (not ZIF)
• Intel 915 chipset
• Intel GMA 900 video
• Marvell 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• 1x Type II Cardbus/PCMCIA slot
• Mono speaker
• Headphone out with physical volume wheel
• 2x USB 2.0

Released around 2005 - 2007.

Good Points

• Tiny, thin, lightweight
• Correct 4:3 ratio screen
• Intel GMA 900 does interpolated full-screen expansion of non-native modes - great for DOS
• Supported by VSBHDA for excellent emulated Adlib, SB16 and GM MIDI softsynth support in DOS

Bad Points

• Mono speaker
• This particular example has a keyboard fault
• Toshiba still use an old style, leaky NiMH CMOS battery - must be removed and checked for damage!
• Original battery modules don't appear to be holding much of a charge

• Specifications PDF - Toshiba document listing the R200 specifications

Toshiba still insisted on using an old style NiMH rechargeable battery for BIOS/clock backup in machines as late as this… and as expected they leak.

Battery must be removed and any damage neutralised and cleaned. Fortunately in this example it is limited to just the battery header itself.

Battery header removed and corrosion cleaned up - this was more extensive than it first appeared and had already started to eat into the motherboard itself:

Fortunately no components or traces were damaged. If you were to use this as a Windows device it would be worth soldering a new battery terminal header back on, but since this is intended for DOS gaming, pressing F1 to bypass BIOS defaults (and lack of date/time) at first power-on is not a real issue.

The keyboard as supplied with the laptop has some problems - certain keys around a third from the right hand side don't register correctly, and there are occasional “ghost” key presses that appear when no key is being pressed at all. It probably has some internal damage to the matrix (possibly a fluid spill, or a crack or similar).

Will need replacing.

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