Toshiba Portege M400-S4032 Review by LAPTOP Magazine

Solidly built and packed with software and features optimized for Tablet and notebook modes, the Portege M400 has been our favorite convertible with a built-in optical drive. Now it’s even faster and more versatile. The S4032 model adds a snappy Core Duo CPU as well as built-in mobile broadband that uses Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO network, so now you can connect just about everywhere.

The M400’s shell remains one of the best convertible implementations we have used. The keyboard, while not up to the firmness of a ThinkPad, has excellent feedback and a comfortable layout given the chassis’ compact design. Directional keys are nicely offset on the bottom right, and all the vital keys (Enter, Shift, and Backspace) are oversized. Input is not altogether perfect, however. The touchpad is smaller than necessary, and it doesn’t have a scrolling area. We’re getting increasingly annoyed that Toshiba continues to bury the Delete key among right-hand function keys instead of placing it in the upper right-hand corner, where it belongs.

The 12.1-inch display is up to Toshiba’s usual high standards. The 1024 x 768-pixel resolution fits the screen size well, and the color saturation is deep. Angular viewing, so important for Tablet use, is good, although not as solid as specialized slate displays from Electrovaya and Motion Computing. DVDs ran beautifully on the DVD+/-RW drive, with excellent sharpness and no discernible artifacts.

Although the stereo speakers offered good quality, don’t expect much volume. The microphone comes bundled with fine-tuning software for better audio input, but we were disappointed that the voice recording quality was not as clear as we have seen from some other convertibles with dual-array mics.

Thanks to the 1.8-GHz Core Duo processor, the M400 performed like a champ. Everything we threw at this convertible loaded briskly. All of Toshiba’s standard business notebook amenities are here as well, including the company’s EasyGuard technology, a full suite of multimedia, security, and network management utilities, and a fingerprint scanner that was relatively easy to use.

In addition to raw power, this iteration of the M400 enjoys mobile broadband support via a built-in EV-DO card that taps into Verizon’s high-speed network. The connection wizard got us online very quickly. Working with four-out-of-five-bar reception, we saw a very good average throughput of 563 Kbps, perfect for surfing the Web and downloading large attachments. We downloaded the 5MB Firefox browser in 38 seconds. Just don’t expect to stream lots of video; in our tests, videos looked choppy and usually required repeated buffering.

Toshiba never skimps on the Tablet experience in its convertibles, and we appreciate its creature comforts. The lid locks firmly over the keyboard in Tablet mode, and the entire unit is comfortable to hold. The pen-sized stylus is textured for easy gripping and has a reasonable hover zone for gesture commands. The four launch and function buttons are generous, as is its scrolling pointer. And at 4.5 pounds, the M400 is only marginally heavier than some slates.

We think the audio input/output could be improved, but in everyday use the M400 is among the few convertibles that do not compromise in notebook or Tablet modes. It has the ergonomics and usability that stylus computing requires, and at the same time, it has all of the power and versatility of a top-notch laptop. The Toshiba M400-S4032 should be on your short list.

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Toshiba Portege M400-S4032

Toshiba’s excellent convertible gets even better with Core Duo and built-in EV-DO.

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