Toshiba Portege M400  Notebook Preview Part I

When the Tablet PC platform was launched back in the Fall of 2002, Toshiba was the only one to offer a notebook convertible with a 12.1-inch display. Acer had gotten all the big attention with its little C100, the device that pioneered the notebook convertible design for Microsoft's current Tablet PC platform (there had been pen-enabled notebook convertibles much earlier, going back to 1993), but the buying public apparently wanted a larger display and flocked to the Toshiba instead. But Toshiba had another (display) ace up its sleeves, and so the Portege 3500 was first complemented and then replaced by the Portege M200. At first sight the new machine was little more than a technologically updated replacement for the milestone 3500 model, but that notion quickly disappeared as soon as one started up the new machine and saw its terrific 1400 x 1050 pixel display. That's almost twice the number of pixels and makes a huge difference for applications that require high resolution or concurrent use of multiple windows on the screen. The M200 also used the newer and much faster Intel M processors and incorporated a number of other improvements.

Unfortunately, by that time Fujitsu, Gateway, Acer, and Averatec began introducing fairly compact Tablet PC convertibles with internal optical drives. In this day and age, a CD or DVD drive is almost mandatory for many applications, and not having one hurt Toshiba which only offered an external drive.

The follow-up to Toshiba’s prior-generation Portege M200, the new Portege M400 is the first convertible tablet PC to offer Intel’s Core Duo processor as an option. The system combines its new CPU with some nice convertible-tablet standards, such as a swiveling 12.1-inch display and a swappable optical drive. Still, though the Portege M400 costs less than several competing tablets, it also delivers slower performance and shorter battery life than many of its rivals. If you need a tablet form factor at a low price, the $1,699 Portege M400 may fit the bill. Otherwise, we recommend you check out the bigger Fujitsu LifeBook T4020 for superior performance (the configuration we tested cost $2,149, though lower-end models cost $1,499) or the Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet (prices start at $1,599) for extralong battery life.

The 4.8-pound Portege M400 measures 11.6 inches wide, 9.8 inches deep, and 1.6 inches thick–making it a bit bulkier than other convertible tables with 12.1-inch displays, such as the 4.8-pound Fujitsu LifeBook T4020 and the 3.6-pound Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet. Though the Portege M400’s AC adapter tacks on another pound, the total package is still light enough for semifrequent travel and short stints of clipboard-style note-taking.

Like most convertible tablets, the Portege M400’s screen swivels between landscape and portrait modes, automatically switching its orientation in midswivel. The display appears bright and clear both indoors and outside. Its standard 1,024×768 native resolution doesn’t provide minute graphics detail or tons of screen real estate but makes for big, readable text. Two preset buttons alongside the screen serve to manually change the display’s orientation and call up Windows Task Manager, while two other buttons can be programmed to launch the applications of your choice. Finally, a biometric fingerprint sensor sits in the screen’s corner, providing an easy and secure way to log on to Windows and access other password-protected content.

Toshiba stresses a "comprehensive implementation" of its EasyGuard technology. "EasyGuard" is a series of hardware and software enhancements designed to boost overall usefulness of a business-class notebook. It consists of four elements:

Protect & Fix deals with various aspects of data protection. It includes the use of shock absorption materials to protect vital components such as the hard drive and the display. The M400 also uses a 3D accelerometer which alerts the machine (and the user, via a pop-up) to sudden acceleration (as in a drop) and makes it park the drive head until it is safe to resume. The M400 also has a spill-resistant keyboard.

Secure uses various ways to guard against unauthorized access. The Trusted Platform Module embedded security chipset stores encryption keys, passwords and user credentials. An integrated fingerprint reader provides additional security. M400 users can block bad guys via fingerprint AND no less than three unique passwords before they could even boot the machine.

Connect refers to simplified wired and wireless connectivity. Gigabit Ethernet, a V.92 modem and 802.11a/b/g come standard (Bluetooth is optional) and are maanaged via a Toshiba connectivity utility. A "Diversity Antenna" design makes for optimal signal reception.

Optimize, finally, signifies some proprietary software enhancements to allow easy customization for performance, battery life, and other areas. Earlier attepts at such utilities at times interfeered with Windows' own utilities, so we want to live with the utilities before we can officially comment on them.

The M400 keyboard is responsive and spread out appropriately for its size. We found this keyboard to be easy to use. There is no cheap "flex" to the keys. As I have seen in just about any Toshiba Tablet PC convertible or notebook model, the keyboards are held to a certain standard of quality that one needs not to be concerned about. The M400 navigation features are straightforward. There is a classic touchpad with left and right mouse buttons. Of course there is the wonderful electromagnetic pen standard with most any mainstream Tablet PC and finally a "toggle stick" that is located on the display edge to help the user quickly skip the cursor from place to place wen the device is in "tablet mode" Writing on the M400's semi-matte screen is a pleasure. Because there is some texture to the top surface of the display, there is no slippage and we found writing to be a breeze. The sensitivity of the digitizer on our M400 is well-balanced. We did not experience any "dead spots" or areas that seem immune to proper pen to screen calibration.

The M400 features a dual array microphone built into the front of the unit. For those users of apps. like Dragon Naturally Speaking and IBM Via Voice, you will love the responsiveness and quality of this system. Speech recognition in a quiet room requires no headset mic when working with the M400.