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.

Toshiba Portege M400  Notebook Preview Part II

Although the M400's keyboard is just short of full size, typing on it is comfortable after some practice. The touchpad is a bit small for my liking, and the mouse buttons are noisy. When writing, the pen is comfortable, but my favorite is still the one found on the Motion Computing M1400. Regardless, for note-taking and short e-mails, the writing experience is impressive. With longer tasks, I prefer to use the keyboard.

The Portege M400 lasted for 4 hours, 20 minutes–not bad, but not great compared to the HP Compaq tc4200, which cut out just 4 minutes shy of 5 hours, and the ThinkPad X41, which lasted for 5 hours, 25 minutes, thanks to its considerably larger battery. Though the Portege M400 doesn’t offer an option for a high-capacity primary battery, you can purchase a secondary battery for $199.

The Portege M400 Wireless The M400 includes an Intel Pro Wireless a/b/g wireless card (built-in). We found connections to various hot spots to stay consistent and fast without disruption. We did not find any need to update the Intel Pro Wireless drivers as we have with other various Tablet PC models. It is a pleasure to say that the Toshiba M400 Wi-Fi works "right out of the box". The M400 also includes a built-in Bluetooth radio. Toshiba's software utility for configuring Bluetooth devices worked like a charm. Funny thing though, the M400 just absolutely refused to pair up with our Apple branded Bluetooth keyboard. Hmm... I am thinking conspiracy theory here!

The Portege M400 Heat and Noise:  It doesn't seem to get too hot, but the fan on the bottom can blow some pretty good heat out the back side, especially when you are doing some pretty heavy gaming or CPU intensive tasks. When you first power on the notebook, the fan runs at full speed for about a second or two, but other than that, it is not very noticeable and you can barely tell when it is running and it never runs at full speed. The spot where your right palm rests on the keyboard can get a bit warm. It must be where heat inside the notebook builds up before exiting the fan. It is noticeable, but isn't overly annoying to me. It's never hot enough to be uncomfortable, but you can feel the difference in temperature from where the left and right palms rest. When using it on your lap, it fits very nicely on the lap, but the fan can warm up your right leg, which can get uncomfortable after a few hours of heavy use, but it is never unbearable. The DVD-RW is fairly quiet except when it speeds up to full speed-reading data, but that only lasts a second or two usually. The hard drive makes an audible noise on startup when reading from the disk every few seconds. It is more of a ticking sound and it's just the moving of the head, nothing out of the ordinary, but worth mentioning.

For those times when you want to use the M400 as a slate, there are five hardware buttons along the long side of the display. There was a time when all Tablet PCs had to strictly conform to Microsoft's decrees. That has been relaxed quite a bit, and so the M400's buttons do the following: "Security" (alt-ctl-del), ESC/display rotation, Toshiba Presentation, Toshiba Assist, and a cross-functional button. The fingerprint reader is also integrated into the display housing.

Like almost all Tablet PCs, the M400 uses the Wacom digitizer with its sleek active pen that does not need batteries. The pen garage is on the right side of the computer where you're never quite sure if the pen is there or not. I much preferred the original Portege 3500's solution where there was a recess along the display. That way you always knew if the pen was there, and as a result I never lost one.

How does the M400 feel and handle? Unlike the Tecra M4 which looks like a larger version of the Portege M200, the M400 looks different. The case is made of magnesium and polycarbonate ABS plastic. The LCD cover and the top of the keyboard part of the computer have a Titanium silver finish. The keyboard layout remains exactly the same as it was on the Portege 3500 and M200: black keys with white lettering that provide nice tactile feedback and are easy to read. The LCD cover face, i.e. what becomes the surface of the slate when you use the M400 that way, is all black now. The LCD is protected with a clear overlay that extends an eighth of an inch beyond the LCD edge on top and bottom, and a good half of an inch on each side.

That's good as you want to be able to move the pen beyond the edge of the digitizer to have precise control along the perimeter. There are also four small black hardware buttons, a small but well designed four-way control knob, the on-off switch, and the fingerprint reader. Other design elements remain the same but look a bit different. Among them is the touchpad with its left and right mouse button rectangles and the clever latch centered on the top of the LCD case that lets you secure the screen part no matter which side points up. Toshiba seems to like to move the battery of five or six indicator lights around with each new model. On the M400 they have migrated to the left front. Price is an ever more important issue in the Tablet PC platform's struggle to establish itself. Even though first generation Tablet PCs were much less expensive than earlier pen computers, the public apparently still didn't want to pay the price premium, not quite realizing that almost all Tablet PCs are ultra-portables that always carry a price premium. In any case, the M400 starts at a more than reasonable US$1,699, including the optical dive, but without Bluetooth or the high res 1400 x 1050 display.

Kudos to Toshiba for keeping at it. The M400 appears to be a solid hit. And with its various Tecra, Satellite and Portege models, the company now has a broader lineup of Tablet PCs convertibles than anyone else.

Toshiba backs the Portege M400 with a one-year warranty with return-to-depot service, though customers can extend their time up to four years through one of the company’s reasonably priced warranty upgrade options. Around-the-clock, toll-free phone support is available for the life of your warranty. The Toshiba support Web site offers the requisite downloads and FAQ information, along with a helpful user forum operated by the Windows Users Group Network.

The good of Toshiba Portege M400 Notebook : Inexpensive; integrated hot-swappable bay; built-in microphone; solid security features; generous software bundle.

The bad of Toshiba Portege M400 Notebook : Middling mobile performance and battery life; cheap stylus.

The bottom line of Toshiba Portege M400 Notebook : Though inexpensive, the Portege M400 convertible tablet’s middle-of-the-road performance and battery life may not be enough for the demanding business user. For basic tasks, however, it’s a decent bargain.