Rumored PortÃ©gÃ©s to Challenge MacBook Air?

By Nick Mokey January 21, 2008

It hasn’t taken long, following Apple’s MacBook Air announcement, for other competitors to wheel out their own ultra-thin offerings – or at least for news of them to leak to Web outlets. Yesterday it was Lenovo’s rumored X300 ultra-light notebook that cropped up on Gizmodo, and more recently, the upcoming Toshiba Portégé R500 models leaked on Akihabara News.

According to Akihabara, Toshiba will release an R500-11J and a R500-11I, both with the same 1-inch-thick form factor (at the thickest portion), but with the 11J model ending up as the lighter of the two thanks in part to an omitted optical drive. This shaves weight from 999 grams on the 11l to just 779 grams (1.7 lbs) on the 11J. These specs make both notebooks significantly lighter than the 3-pound MacBook Air, but still not quite as thin, with the Air reaching only .76 inches at its thickest portion. Screen size is also smaller on the Toshiba, 12.1 inches compared to the Air’s 13.3.

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Inside, both models will come configured with much of the same hardware, including an Intel U7600 Centrino Core 2 Duo processor running at 1.2GHz, Intel’s GMA 950 chipset for graphics, and up to 2GB of RAM. Built-in Wi-Fi will be standard, but more importantly, HSDPA Internet will be available as an upgrade. One notable difference will come from hard drives. The 11J will receive a 64GB solid-state drive, while the 11l gets a 120GB SATA drive.

While neither specs nor prices have been officially verified by Toshiba, Akihabara claims the 11J will sell for €2500 ($3,659) at launch, with the 11l going for €2050 ($3,000).

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MacBook Air is still at its lowest-ever price following Prime Day 2023

The M1-powered Macbook Air, open on a table.

The 256GB version of the M1-powered Apple MacBook Air 2020 was on sale for its lowest-ever price of $750 for Amazon's Prime Day, but if you missed the shopping event, don't worry because the discount is still available. You can still take advantage of the $250 discount on the laptop's original price of $1,000, but because it's a holdover from the MacBook deals of Prime Day, we're pretty sure that it won't last long. If you want to get a MacBook for cheap, you're going to want to push through with this transaction before it gets taken down.

Why you should buy the Apple MacBook Air 2020
It has since been overshadowed by the M2-powered Apple MacBook Air 2022, but the Apple MacBook Air 2020 remains in our list of the best MacBooks as the lowest-price option if you want one of Apple's laptops. It's powered by Apple's M1 chip, which is so power-efficient that this model of the MacBook Air can last up to 18 hours on a single charge, and it goes completely fanless. This also makes the laptop completely silent even when it's handling heavy workloads, which you probably didn't think would be such a big deal until you experience it first hand.

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This fantastic MacBook Air deal ends at midnight

A MacBook Air on a desk with an open book in front of it.

There's only a matter of hours until all the Prime Day deals end for another year. However, that does still leave you enough time to buy the Apple MacBook Air M1 while it remains at its lowest-ever price at Amazon. Right now, you can buy it for $750 saving you $249 or 25% off the usual price of $999. It's a great entry point for anyone looking to buy a new MacBook and easily one of the best Prime Day MacBook deals. While it might not have the latest M2 chip, the M1 chip remains exceptional and more than powerful enough for most people. You're really not missing out on much given the price difference involved. Here's a quick look at what else you need to know before you hit the buy button. Remember -- you really haven't got long left to do so.

Why you should buy the Apple MacBook Air M1
Back when it was first launched, we described the Apple MacBook Air M1 as "fast, fanless, and absolutely fantastic". It remains all of those things. We've broken down the differences between the M2 and M1 and while the newer chip is better, it's less of a substantial difference than you'd think.

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You can buy a MacBook Air for $299 for Prime Day – but should you?

Restored Apple MacBook Air and Airpods with mouse and black cas

There's a growing industry of refurbished and restored electronics, and while that usually doesn't engender a lot of faith from consumers, they're well worth considering if you're on a tight budget. Luckily, there are a lot of great deals for refurbished products during the Walmart Prime Day sale, such as this MacBook Air bundle. You can grab for $299 rather than the usual $399, but you might want first to consider a couple of different options. It's important to note, though, that this deal is only going available for Walmart Plus subscribers, but you can grab a , which is a great deal in and of itself.

Why you shouldn't buy this MacBook Air
The biggest issue with this MacBook Air is that it's quite outdated for several years, and it can't even run the latest MacOS 14, so you're going to be missing out on a lot of features. Since this is a version of the Macbook Air that was discontinued after 2017, you're likely getting a 7th Gen Intel i5, at best, and more likely, it's a 6th Gen. There's also the issue that the 1.6Ghz CPU version of the Macbook air was part of the 2010-2017 run that had performance issues due to overheating and the CPU having to be throttled. While these aren't massive issues, especially since you're getting generic earbuds and a mouse bundled in, it's not an ideal deal if you're looking for something more modern that will stand the test of time.