Posted by best buy on Aug 9, 2010 in
Toshiba Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC (1.33-GHZ Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) Review
When my company decided to spring for new laptops for engineers, I jumped at the opportunity to try something a little different. I’m a huge fan of Toshiba laptops in general (more reliable than a Dell, less expensive/pretentious than an IBM) and the ‘think in ink’ feature set of this baby seemed like a great meeting accessory.
Now, with three months invested, I like it for a totally different set of reasons than why I bought it.
First: It’s tiny. And light. One of my new favorite past times is putting it in “tablet” mode, hooking into my apartment WiFi, and browsing Amazon and web comics. It’s no paperback novel, but for a few hours of web browsing, it’s great. I also use it folded up with a USB bar code scanner for scanning serial numbers on my current project.
Second: It’s got a real battery! I think I was unfairly trained to the 30-minute lifespan of my previous (first Clinton-term era) laptop, but this baby gets every minute of the 3.5 hours advertised. The power saving tools are infinitely customizable and never intrusive.
Third: Limited peripherals will set you free. I don’t think it’s really designed to be your ONLY PC. No floppy. No CD. No DVD. No serial (I got an external USB-to-DB9 adapter since serial consoles are a big part of my job). No parallel. No big freaky docking station jack. Instead, when I’m on the road, I have a Kensington wireless/optical/travel mouse. When I’m at the office, I plug into power and a USB hub that connects me to my iPaq cradle, scanner, external CD drive, and a wired optical mouse. When I’m at home, I’m wireless to my home PC– that does all my DVD playing, CD writing, and floppy reading for me.
Do I use the writable screen? Heck yeah. There are a lot of times it’s easier to email a hand-sketch than do ASCII art or a five paragraph description. A picture’s worth a thousand words, etc. Plus, when your lap’s just not available, the tablet form factor is a touch of genius. I’ve passed it around in a meeting when I wanted to be able to update a worksheet on the fly. I’ll flip the monitor around backward to show the person opposite me what I’m working on. Have I eliminated the tree-killing scourge of paper from my life? I’d recommend “The Myth of the Paperless Office” if you think it could.
So, if I had to have just one computer… this couldn’t be it. But if you’re a geek like me, and you’re looking for a laptop to be king among your gadgets, toys, and existing computer menagerie, this is your baby.
Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC (1.33-GHZ Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) Feature
- Is distinctively designed for on-the-go customers who rely on a combination of notebook PCs, planners, handhelds
- It is comfortable fit, complete with easily accessible ports for optimum functionality
- When converted to tablet mode, the Port?g? 3500 provides the same experience as an 8,5 by 11″ notepad
- Change screen orientation from portrait to landscape mode as often as needed to meet changing work environments & scenarios
- With its large display and digital pen, Toshiba’s Port?g? 3500 easily supports daily use as notebook
Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC (1.33-GHZ Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) Overview
With all the functionality of today’s notebook computer, the Port?g? 3500 is distinctively designed for on-the-go customers who rely on a combination of notebook PCs, planners, handhelds, and post-it notes to conclude their work.Whether you’re right- or left-handed, Toshiba’s convertible tablet PC is comfortable fit, complete with easily accessible ports for optimum functionality. When converted to tablet mode, the Port?g? 3500 provides the same experience as an 8,5 by 11″ notepad. You can also change screen orientation from portrait to landscape mode as often as needed to meet changing work environments and scenarios.With its large display and digital pen, Toshiba’s Port?g? 3500 easily supports daily use as notebook, as well as the comfort of a convertible tablet PC for creating handwritten notes, drawings, or to annotate documents directly on the screen. Save them in your own handwriting or convert them to typed text!
Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC (1.33-GHZ Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive) Specifications
Blending the functionality of today’s top notebooks with the convenience of pen-based input, Toshiba’s Portégé 3500 Tablet PC delivers a possible glimpse into the future of mobile computers. Versatile and extremely compact but not particularly powerful when compared to standard portables, the Portégé 3500 is a great fit for those who are handier with a pen than a keyboard and value a truly petite profile.
The unit is most at home when used to enter, store and share notes and concepts that might otherwise be kept in handwritten format. In fact, measuring just 11.6 by 9.2 by 1.2 inches and tipping the scales at a scant 4.1 pounds, the Portégé 3500 is as comfortably portable as a conventional paper-based notepad. Users input data in one of two ways–either by sketching directly on the swiveling, double-duty 12.1-inch poly-silicon TFT color LCD (maximum resolution 1024×768) or via an 84-key keyboard.
Though the Portégé 3500 is not as powerful as a comparably priced notebook, it is faster than many competing tablets. Featuring a 1.33 GHz Intel Pentium III processor-M with enhanced SpeedStep technology for improved battery life, 256 MB SDRAM memory (expandable to a whopping 1024 MB), and a Trident CyberALLADIN-T graphics controller with 16 MB external memory, the unit will easily handle most day-to-day mobile computing tasks and many 3-D apps too. Serious gamers or 3-D artisans should look elsewhere.
Connectivity amenities include an RJ-45 LAN port for network and online access, an RJ-11 modem port for low-speed e-communication, and integrated Wi-Fi compliant wireless LAN support. The system also sports a surprisingly large 40 GB hard disk and facilities for an external CD and/or DVD drive, a pair of ultra-fast USB 2.0 ports for plug and play peripherals, an integrated TouchPad, 12 function keys, a speaker and microphone and full 16-bit stereo sound. Battery life is estimated at 3.5 hours under ideal conditions.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 09, 2010 06:20:17
Tags: (1.33-GHZ, Drive, Pentium, Portege, Tablet, Toshiba
Posted by best buy on May 19, 2010 in
Toshiba Toshiba PORTEGE M200 Tablet PC (1.5 GHz Pentium M, 512MB, 40GB Hard Drive) Review
I got my M200 several months ago and am very satisfied with it.
However, I use it less than I had anticipated, so I only gave it 4 stars.
Common Tablet Features – neat, but not much used.
I enjoy taking notes in different colored pens, with the ability to erase notes written in “pen” and to add space between lines already written. I use the Journal and the pen for to-do items or short lists. For longer documents, I prefer to type. While suring the web, I find it inconvenient to have to open the input panel to write the web address, and then to look for and peck the “enter” or “go” button. I have used a pocket-pc for a number of years and often attempt to use the same input shortcuts on the laptop which do not work. I get confused between the pen input shortcuts on the tablet and the pocket-pc. I really love many of the “power toys” games that were offered free by Microsoft. I use my pen to play these games. So far, I do not use OneNote much. It forces me to use a different methophore to organize my files (from many folders to a single, very large, binder). This is really inconvenient for me because I have a lot of folders and subfolders already organized. I have reorganized one small project into a binder, but I don’t think I will be transfering over more files into the OneNote format. I most often use the pen as a pointing device with full access to the keyboard in the “laptop” mode. I find the pen easier when I am moving a lot of files around (especially in FrontPage).
I have a fully configured desktop 2 Ghz machine at home with 17″ LCD monitor and real keyboard. The M200 is great, but does not match user-interface with a full desktop. I do use it more at the office.
Machine specific review:
The screen has a bad glare in “tablet” mode when I am at my office where ceiling lights are directly over my desk. Glare is not an issue at home where a table lamp sits next to the laptop. All the colors seem to be washed out when I get a bad glare. The screen is wonderful with a very high resolution when there is no glare. The pen feels silky smooth when it glides on the screen. Keyboard is excellent! Love the cushy bubble-like feel. Audio recording is amazing. It has noise-cancelling through 3 tiny microphones build into the screen bezel. Music sounds very good through plug-in headphones. Built-in speaker (mono) is loud and good enough for hearing recorded conversations. It has a very extensive set of ports including an SD card slot. It is very fast, even with modest memory (I have the Dolthan version). Ethernet connection is fast (have not tries wireless yet). Battery seems to last about 4 hours of continuous light use. Overall, it feels solidly and well built. The hard disk made annoying, continuous, clicking sounds when I first got it. But after I turned some processes off and twicked power save options (and windows has optimized itself) I don’t hear the clickings as often. I thought not having a CD/DVD drive might be a pain, but I found it to be easy to set up another desktop with a CD/DVD drive to share it on the network. I thought the 4.5 lbs weight might be too heavy but I find it to be not too bad. I am glad I bought a hybrid instead of a slate model, since I am not using the pen very much. Setting aside the tablet features, the M200 is a very well made high performance laptop with an amazing screen (in the right viewing angle). But if I were to exclude the tablet features, I could have gotten a 2.4 lb laptop (Toshiba R100) or a 3 lb laptop with a built-in CD/DVD drive (Panasonic W2). So, I gave it only 4 stars, but I still think I made the right choice. I may learn to use more of the tablet features in the future as I grow more proficient at it, and I use it occassionally now.
Toshiba PORTEGE M200 Tablet PC (1.5 GHz Pentium M, 512MB, 40GB Hard Drive) Feature
- This laptop has undergone a thorough and stringent technical recertification process to ensure its quality.
- Manufacture Warranty
- Blending the speed of a standard-size midrange notebook with the convenience of pen-based input and subcompact portability
- The Portege M200 is a great fit for those who are handier with a pen than a keyboard and value a truly petite profile
Toshiba PORTEGE M200 Tablet PC (1.5 GHz Pentium M, 512MB, 40GB Hard Drive) Overview
The Port?g? M200 tablet PC improves upon Toshiba’s award-winning Port?g? 3500 tablet PC offering an impressive array of productivity tools and a uniquely-designed docking station. The Toshiba Port?g? M200 delivers breakthrough performance with a rich feature set, including Intel Centrino mobile technology, built-in wireless connectivity and a hi-density, hi-resolution screen in a tablet, making it the most compelling and intuitive business productivity tool.
Toshiba PORTEGE M200 Tablet PC (1.5 GHz Pentium M, 512MB, 40GB Hard Drive) Specifications
Marginally larger than the Portege 3500 Tablet PC it replaces, Toshiba’s Portege M200 Tablet PC is also more adaptable, more battery efficient and substantially more powerful. Blending the speed of a standard-size midrange notebook with the convenience of pen-based input and subcompact portability, the Portege M200 is a great fit for those who are handier with a pen than a keyboard and value a truly petite profile.
The unit is most at home when used to enter, store and share notes and concepts that might otherwise be entered in handwritten format. In fact, measuring just 11.6 by 9.8 by 1.3/1.5 (depending on configuration) and tipping the scales at a scant 4.5 pounds, the Portege M200 is just slightly more bulky than a conventional paper-based notepad. Users input data in one of two ways — either by sketching directly on the swiveling, double-duty 12.1-inch poly-silicon SXGA+ TFT color LCD display screen (maximum resolution 1400×1050) or via the system’s 84-key keyboard.
Though the Portege M200 is not as powerful as a comparably priced but substantially larger desktop replacement notebook, it is one of the fastest tablets currently on the market. Sporting an Intel “Centrino”-based processor (1 MB Level 2 cache) running at 1.5 GHz, a whopping 512 MB RAM memory and an nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 32M graphics processor with 32 MB of dedicated DDR video memory, the unit will easily handle most day-to-day mobile computing tasks and the vast majority of today’s most popular 3-D apps too.
The Portege M200 features today’s most desirable connectivity options, including an integrated 56K modem for low-speed e-communications, a 10 Base-T//100 Base-TX Ethernet connection for fast LAN and Internet access, and Wi-Fi compliant wireless LAN technology for those times when you can’t plug in. The system also sports a surprisingly large 40 GB hard disk and facilities for an external CD and/or DVD drive, a pair of ultra-fast USB 2.0 ports for plug and play peripherals, an integrated TouchPad, 13 function keys, a speaker and microphone and full 16-bit stereo sound. Battery life is estimated at a whopping 4.34 hours.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: May 18, 2010 22:45:10
Tags: 512MB, Drive, Pentium, Portege, Tablet, Toshiba