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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"a well-rounded little tablet"
Pros: powerfull, built-in DVD/CD drive, good quality
Cons: screen rotates one way only, short battery life, low speaker volume
Summary: If you are shopping for a balanced combination of tablet portability and laptop computing power, this Toshiba tablet might be your best option.
This little tablet surprised me with its powerful performance. I customized it to have Intel® Core? Duo Processor T2400 1.83GHz, 1024MB of memory, 100G hard drive speed (7200RPM), and 12.1" Diagonal SXGA+ Wide View Angle Display (1400x1050).
At first, I was surprise how bad the screen looked, but after I changed the settings or the screen warmed up, it started producing very bright and sharp (at the highest resolution setting) looking pictures I?ve ever seen on a small laptop. However, I noticed that I could not see much on the screen on a sunny day no matter how I turned the screen. But it might be just my total lack of experience with laptops outdoors--I don't have anything to compare it with.
This tablet runs applications very fast though. I also played the Call of Duty and Max Paine on it, and it looked great! Maybe that's why my battery power did not last as long or as consistently as I?d like. Perhaps anticipating this problem, I purchased a battery expansion pack that connects to the bottom of my tablet and is claimed to last 10 hrs! I tried this battery expansion pack and definitely did not get near the claimed longevity, again maybe because I run my tablet on the highest settings. However, my extra battery pack noticeably extends the standard battery life of this tablet (a plus), but also makes it a bit heavy (a minus). You just have to choose your tradeoff.
The stylus could be a bit more comfortably designed though, but it works fine. Also, I did not experience the noisy fan problem that some people complain about. In fact, I think the fan is pretty quite on my tablet?I have to listen for it to hear it.
The "finger-reader" sensor is neat, but it can get annoying when you do not take the time and precision to swipe it accurately. I also found that the optional leather holder/case that I bought with the intention to use it in the tablet mode is not such a good idea. The leather holder/case is bulky, which makes me look and feel very clumsy when using the tablet features.
In general, I am very pleased with this very portable powerhouse and recommend it to others.Updated
At first I was very excited about it and it seemed to work fine. That's why I gave it a good review before. Now, I am disappointed with its inconsistent performance. More specifically:
1. The damn finger sensor is piece of crap--sometimes it just decides not to work or fails to read my finger properly no matter how I swipe it.
2. This tablet does not awake consistently from standby or hibernation. So you have to use the power button, which causes it to shut down sometimes. It's very embarrassing when you are trying to use it during a meeting and it fails on you like that.
There are many other annoying little glitches some (or many) of which due to MS Windows operating system being a miserable failure.
Conclusion: don't buy this tablet.
- 1 reply to this review
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PLEASE READ MY REVIEW OF THE M405-S8003 which is pretty much the same I agree with everything here. At first it was neat and everything looks great on paper but the two issues you mentioned are the same problems I have with #2 being the worst problem and I will also add another one.. the preloaded software is a piece of crap... it just bogs your system down, when you open it out of the box you have 100 processes running without having to install anything.
1. The damn finger sensor is piece of crap--sometimes it just decides not to work or fails to read my finger properly no matter how I swipe it.
2. *WORST PROBLEM* This tablet does not awake consistently from standby or hibernation. So you have to use the power button, which causes it to shut down sometimes. It's very embarrassing when you are trying to use it during a meeting and it fails on you like that.
There are many other annoying little glitches some (or many) of which due to MS Windows operating system being a miserable failure.
3. *REALLY BAD* the preloaded software is a piece of crap... it just bogs your system down, when you open it out of the box you have 100 processes running without having to install anything.
