The new Portege R500 series notebooks from Toshiba are making my 15.4” Acer notebook look like the fat & ugly step sister of a super model. Toshiba has launched what they claim to be the world’s lightest widescreen 12.1” ultra portable notebook.

This little notebook only weighs 1.72 pounds when equipped with a 64GB SSD, 3 cell battery and no optical drive. The system configured with the 64GB SDD will not be available until the end of July according to Toshiba.

The R500 starts at $1999 running Windows XP Pro with a Core 2 Duo U7600 CPU at 1.20 GHz, 1024MB of RAM, 12.1” 1280 x 800 XGA with high Brightness. Graphics are via Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and the HDD is 120GB turning at 5400 RPM. Wireless 802.11a/g/n is included as is a super multi DVD drive along with a finger print reader for security. Fully optioned systems run $2999. Via Toshiba