+/- Review of Tecra M7
I was going to do a lengthy review of my new tablet, but if anyone needed to know more about it, they would've already found it via Google. So, I'm going to cut right to the chase and give you a simple summary of my likes and dislikes from using the Tecra M7 over the past 2-3 months. You can get sick of the lengthy indepth reviews, but straight-up, no BS opinions are always gold.
For the purposes of this review, assume that any laptop starts at 50% on the basis that it will function adequately for most jobs that you throw at it. I spent a fair chunk of change on this laptop, so without modifiers, I would expect it to have a near-failing grade!
Let's begin...
Keyboard Layout (-5%) - Seems cramped and some keys are in non-standard or awkward positions. e.g., Tilde is to the left of the Spacebar, the Tab key is too small, and the PgUp/PgDn keys are way too close to the Enter key.
Pen & Pen input (+20%) - The most important feature of any tablet is the pen input. The pen given is light, easy to hold, and has an eraser style button on the end. It also houses a button that can be used for right-clicking or other options. Pen input onto the tablet and into various applications is smooth and the response is quick.
The picture isn't all rosy though. Pen-to-text can be frustrating, considering that the input panel assumes that whatever you're writing is part of its dictionary. If not, that unique acronym or term that you just wrote might be replaced by some sort of nonsense word. Another common problem is that if your style of printing doesn't conform to what the input panel expects, you're going to be doing a lot of correcting. It's unfortunate that the input panel isn't more adaptive to this sort of thing. There are some corrective measures, such as being able to add your words to the dictionary, but I still have many problems with this. As such, I generally use the keyboard for most of my input, unless I'm in tablet mode. If Microsoft managed to improve this, the score here would be beyond 30%.
Out-of-box functionality (-5%) - In this age, no one should have to put up with any preloaded, memory hogging crap. Unfortunately, Toshiba still hasn't gotten the message. My desktop, which was bought over a year ago, loaded twice as fast as the Tecra M7 after the first or second bootup. This should never happen. After the first screen you're bombarded with all kinds of registration forms and dialogs that no one should have to worry about. Remember when registrations actually meant something more than more advertising? Not only that but you have about 30 extra processes eating up a few hundred MBs of RAM. I feel sorry for those stuck with the base model's 512MB of RAM.
After some quick searches on Google and a dash of common sense, you should be able to eliminate more than half of the memory hogging programs. After that, it's a matter of priorities... do I keep that Toshiba power manager or do I ditch it? It's entirely your choice, although I found a handful of the processes to be very useful.
Fingerprint reader (+10%) - This was just icing on the cake for me. There's something about fingerprint authentication that just feels so futuristic and cool! Unfortunately, a little creative magic with fingerprint dust could probably fool it (it's especially bad with quality fingerprints sitting all over the outside of the machine), but I still like the convenience factor.
Screen (+5%) - The 14" screen is bright and extra wide, but it has a screen protector over it that leaves a crystal-like shimmer over images. That aspect certainly bothered me at first, but I've gotten used to it. The width is extremely useful for programming or reading ebooks.
Performance (+10%) - Now that I've cleaned up the process list, the performance of my tablet is excellent. When I refer to performance, I'm not talking about playing games. Actually, while I'm at it, let me be absolutely clear: this tablet is not marketed or targeted towards gamers! Business applications and graphics rendering are the name of the game, and that's part of the reason why I bought it. From my experience, even though the graphics card is not meant for games, it can still pump out decent performance on most games that debuted up to Q1 2006.
Audio (-10%) - It's almost expected that any laptop or tablet has crappy sound from the internal speakers, but I expected a little more quality in this case. Not only are the speakers tucked under the screen, where they emit muffled sound, but the quality of sound is lacking even when unobstructed. This isn't a big deal for me, since the headphones are never far away, but it is disappointing.
Speaking of audio, the internal microphone is just plain awful. I would rather listen to fingernails rubbing against a chalkboard than record lectures or sounds using that junk. For a business-geared tablet, this is simply unacceptable.
Tablet applications and productivity (+10%) - Whether you use Microsoft OneNote or GoBinder or even Windows Journal, you'll have a blast writing notes, drawing pictures, and anything else you can imagine. The greatest joy for me is to see a typed document with hand-drawn diagrams or pictures and embedded voice synchronized to the text. You get the benefits of searchable notes, plus the neatness of type, with the customizability and easy layout of a pen on paper. Simply astounding! :)
Ports and extensibility (+5%) - Nothing beats having plenty of USB ports all around like the Tecra M7 does - 2 on the back, and one on each side. In addition, you have the standard mic & earphone ports, multicard reader, dvd-rw/cd-rw drive, and plenty of other useful stuff.
Physical toughness and portability (-10%) - I've never seen a scratched up iPod Nano, but the finish on that couldn't have been any worse than the Tecra M7. It may look shiny and resistant to wear, but the slightest grain of sand or dirt can leave a nasty scratch that you'll never be able to remove. After two days of having the tablet in my possession, I noticed 3 distinct marks on the top finish. In response, I left the plastic packaging sheet on the back of the screen, simply to preserve the new look for as long as possible.
In addition to the finish, the latch for the screen is weak and the screen hinge is wobbly. The hinge issue is fairly common on tablets but Toshiba should've spent some extra dough to put a sturdier latch into the tablet.
The case is solid, but a little heavy for tablet use. Then again, I don't expect to be carrying it around in one hand for any significant length of time.
***
With that, I conclude my simple review. Add up the scores and we're left with a final rating for the Toshiba Tecra M7: 80%
For the purposes of this review, assume that any laptop starts at 50% on the basis that it will function adequately for most jobs that you throw at it. I spent a fair chunk of change on this laptop, so without modifiers, I would expect it to have a near-failing grade!
Let's begin...
Keyboard Layout (-5%) - Seems cramped and some keys are in non-standard or awkward positions. e.g., Tilde is to the left of the Spacebar, the Tab key is too small, and the PgUp/PgDn keys are way too close to the Enter key.
Pen & Pen input (+20%) - The most important feature of any tablet is the pen input. The pen given is light, easy to hold, and has an eraser style button on the end. It also houses a button that can be used for right-clicking or other options. Pen input onto the tablet and into various applications is smooth and the response is quick.
The picture isn't all rosy though. Pen-to-text can be frustrating, considering that the input panel assumes that whatever you're writing is part of its dictionary. If not, that unique acronym or term that you just wrote might be replaced by some sort of nonsense word. Another common problem is that if your style of printing doesn't conform to what the input panel expects, you're going to be doing a lot of correcting. It's unfortunate that the input panel isn't more adaptive to this sort of thing. There are some corrective measures, such as being able to add your words to the dictionary, but I still have many problems with this. As such, I generally use the keyboard for most of my input, unless I'm in tablet mode. If Microsoft managed to improve this, the score here would be beyond 30%.
Out-of-box functionality (-5%) - In this age, no one should have to put up with any preloaded, memory hogging crap. Unfortunately, Toshiba still hasn't gotten the message. My desktop, which was bought over a year ago, loaded twice as fast as the Tecra M7 after the first or second bootup. This should never happen. After the first screen you're bombarded with all kinds of registration forms and dialogs that no one should have to worry about. Remember when registrations actually meant something more than more advertising? Not only that but you have about 30 extra processes eating up a few hundred MBs of RAM. I feel sorry for those stuck with the base model's 512MB of RAM.
After some quick searches on Google and a dash of common sense, you should be able to eliminate more than half of the memory hogging programs. After that, it's a matter of priorities... do I keep that Toshiba power manager or do I ditch it? It's entirely your choice, although I found a handful of the processes to be very useful.
Fingerprint reader (+10%) - This was just icing on the cake for me. There's something about fingerprint authentication that just feels so futuristic and cool! Unfortunately, a little creative magic with fingerprint dust could probably fool it (it's especially bad with quality fingerprints sitting all over the outside of the machine), but I still like the convenience factor.
Screen (+5%) - The 14" screen is bright and extra wide, but it has a screen protector over it that leaves a crystal-like shimmer over images. That aspect certainly bothered me at first, but I've gotten used to it. The width is extremely useful for programming or reading ebooks.
Performance (+10%) - Now that I've cleaned up the process list, the performance of my tablet is excellent. When I refer to performance, I'm not talking about playing games. Actually, while I'm at it, let me be absolutely clear: this tablet is not marketed or targeted towards gamers! Business applications and graphics rendering are the name of the game, and that's part of the reason why I bought it. From my experience, even though the graphics card is not meant for games, it can still pump out decent performance on most games that debuted up to Q1 2006.
Audio (-10%) - It's almost expected that any laptop or tablet has crappy sound from the internal speakers, but I expected a little more quality in this case. Not only are the speakers tucked under the screen, where they emit muffled sound, but the quality of sound is lacking even when unobstructed. This isn't a big deal for me, since the headphones are never far away, but it is disappointing.
Speaking of audio, the internal microphone is just plain awful. I would rather listen to fingernails rubbing against a chalkboard than record lectures or sounds using that junk. For a business-geared tablet, this is simply unacceptable.
Tablet applications and productivity (+10%) - Whether you use Microsoft OneNote or GoBinder or even Windows Journal, you'll have a blast writing notes, drawing pictures, and anything else you can imagine. The greatest joy for me is to see a typed document with hand-drawn diagrams or pictures and embedded voice synchronized to the text. You get the benefits of searchable notes, plus the neatness of type, with the customizability and easy layout of a pen on paper. Simply astounding! :)
Ports and extensibility (+5%) - Nothing beats having plenty of USB ports all around like the Tecra M7 does - 2 on the back, and one on each side. In addition, you have the standard mic & earphone ports, multicard reader, dvd-rw/cd-rw drive, and plenty of other useful stuff.
Physical toughness and portability (-10%) - I've never seen a scratched up iPod Nano, but the finish on that couldn't have been any worse than the Tecra M7. It may look shiny and resistant to wear, but the slightest grain of sand or dirt can leave a nasty scratch that you'll never be able to remove. After two days of having the tablet in my possession, I noticed 3 distinct marks on the top finish. In response, I left the plastic packaging sheet on the back of the screen, simply to preserve the new look for as long as possible.
In addition to the finish, the latch for the screen is weak and the screen hinge is wobbly. The hinge issue is fairly common on tablets but Toshiba should've spent some extra dough to put a sturdier latch into the tablet.
The case is solid, but a little heavy for tablet use. Then again, I don't expect to be carrying it around in one hand for any significant length of time.
***
With that, I conclude my simple review. Add up the scores and we're left with a final rating for the Toshiba Tecra M7: 80%
posted by Matt at 2:18 a.m.
6 comments
