The R500 received a lot of hype right from the start because of a few important distinctions. First of all, the R500 was (and still is) the slimmest notebook currently available with an optical drive. Its 7mm thick drive allows a total closed system height of just 0.77". Not long after the initial announcement the R500 made more headlines when different SKUs were announced, one of which (the R500-S5003) was called the world's lightest 12" notebook. At 1.7lbs for model with a 12.1" LCD (though no optical drive) this version of the R500 is obviously an incredible system, though its 64GB solid-state disk also helps to set it apart from the crowd. The R500 also touts the longest battery life of any 12.1" widescreen notebook, though this is something that we will look into more closely.