With its eye-catching black and white finish, the SD-P73S looks as pretty as a picture. It uses the traditional flip-top design, with a 7in, 16:9 screen set into the top section. 
It doesn't swivel like some of the other Toshiba models so shared viewing isn't easy, although there are two headphone sockets specifically for that purpose.
The supplied battery clips onto the bottom, but even when it's attached the unit is remarkably slim and compact. Build quality is excellent, too, although it could have done with a rubberised finish.
Battery life is a decent five hours – that's at least three rom-coms – and there's a cigarette power adaptor for in-car viewing. Also in the box is a credit card-sized remote, which is inevitably fiddly and requires the shift key for some functions, but it's tolerable enough.
As per many portables at this size the resolution is 480 x 234 pixels, so when playing back 720 x 576 DVDs there's an inevitable pixel shortfall. This manifests itself in a visible chicken wire effect and lack of fine detail.
But to be honest, when watching DVDs on the train it's not a major problem – of greater importance are the vibrant colours, solid blacks and lack of noise, which make pictures rich and punchy.
Sound from the speakers is okay for dialogue-rich movies, but loud scenes are tinny, so invest in some good headphones.
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