Toshiba has always been competitive with features and has put more power under the hood of the Tecra M4 than you will find in any other tablet. Our $2,099 (as of August 2005) test unit included a very fast 2GHz Pentium M processor, 512MB of quick 533MHz SDRAM, and a smoking Nvidia GeForce Go graphics card with 64MB of dedicated video memory (rare for a tablet). In CNET Labs' performance benchmarks, the Tecra M4 performed 24 percent faster than the similar-size Toshiba Satellite R15, which has a slower 1.6GHz processor. The Tecra M4 also handily beat the 1.8GHz Pentium M-based HP Compaq tc4200 and the Averatec C3500, which has a 1.67GHz processor. Only the new Acer TravelMate C310, with its 2.2GHz processor and 14.1-inch screen, looks poised to give the Tecra M4 a run for its money.
On the downside, the Toshiba Tecra M4's battery lasted for a mediocre 2 hours, 47 minutes. By contrast, the Toshiba Satellite R15's lasted 4 hours, 42 minutes, and the HP Compaq tc4200's lasted 4 hours, 56 minutes. If you don't need the DVD drive, you might want to consider swapping it out for an additional slim SelectBay battery ($169), which Toshiba claims will give you a total of 6 hours of battery life (CNET did not test this battery).
Like most business systems, the Tecra M4 comes with a three-year warranty on the computer and a one-year warranty on the battery. We called at 9:43 p.m. PT and connected with a technical-support representative in just over a minute. The technical-support Web site includes a thorough knowledge base with a cute Ask Iris interface and plenty of information. The site also includes product-specific support bulletins and downloadable updates of every utility in the computer. If you want to post a question online, Toshiba links to a third-party user message board.
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BAPCo's MobileMark 2002 performance rating |
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MobileMark 2002 battery-life minutes |
Find out more about how we test Windows notebooks.
System configurations:
Averatec C3500
Windows XP Home; 1.67GHz Athlon XP-M 2200+; 512MB DDR SDRAM PC2700 333MHz; ATI Radeon IGP 320M 64MB; Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60GB 4,200rpm
HP Compaq tc4200
Windows XP Tablet 2005; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium M 745; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM PC3200 400MHz; Intel 915GM 128MB; Toshiba MK6026GAX 60GB 5,400rpm
Toshiba Tecra M4
Windows XP Tablet 2002; 2GHz Intel Pentium M 760; DDR2 PC4200 533MHz SDRAM; Nvidia GeForce Go 6600 TE 64MB/6600 TE 128MB; Fujitsu MHT2080BH 80GB 4,200rpm
Toshiba Satellite R15-S822
Windows XP Tablet; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M 725; 512MB DDR SDRAM PC2700 333MHz; Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME 64MB; Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 60GN 60GB 5,400rpm
