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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 17 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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3 out of 5 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"GREAT EXPECTATIONS - UP IN SMOKE"
Pros: Looks great, optical drive nice.
Cons: Noisy fan always on, battery life stinks, no support.
Summary: I was waiting for the release of a name brand tablet with an optical drive that I could carry. Got one of the first batch of these.
Turned it on and the fan starting buzzing right of the bat - and stayed on at all settings and use conditions. The specs say over 5 hours battery life but mine drained down in a couple hours of negligible use.
Called Toshiba and the tech knew less than me. We checked bios settings, removed and reinstalled Toshiba power saver program, etc., etc. Was told unit was defective and returned to retailer who promptly swapped for new unit.
New unit behaved the same. Called Toshiba again and second tech knew even less than the first. In process of returning to seller who will hopefully yank off their catalog. Two bad apples or design defect?
BTW: I've owned 5 Toshiba laptops in the last 20 or so years and never had a problem before.Updated
I tried two of them to be exact. With both, the fan came on with the power and remained on no matter what. For what it's worth, the battery life in laptop mode was longer than tablet mode. Though the fan speed varied, even the lowest RPM could be heard across my office. It would be disruptive in a meeting. I've since read that the Toshiba Tecra M4 had similar issues with fan noise and heat.
Though the noise made it hard to focus on the better aspects of the mchine, there were some. If you can live with a constant fan and less than promised battery life, the machine's very nice. It looks great, the screen is crisp, it has very little flex in the keyboard, it is fast enough (though I would up jettison the crapware and up the RAM from 512) and the tablet feature is cool.
- 2 replies to this review
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I am having exactly the same experience with the fan noise. It drives me nuts.
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I am one of the first to get this laptop and I love it. I do not have the issues that you have and find it difficult to believe that you have had two of these already when it has been out for only three weeks from your review date. No mention of the unbelievable performance and the great screen.
Toshiba Portege M400:
