The "Onyx" version of the M600

I thought I’d be getting a Toshiba M600-E360 Portege Notebook to review, but what I actually got was a primer-level education to Windows Vista and its eccentricities. I understand that new laptops will naturally want to have new software to go along with it, but in some cases, it is not such a good idea to present to the buyer a learning curve, whether steep or not, the moment they open their laptops.

It goes without saying that this is my first experience of Vista other than a quick look-see when it came out. At the time, I concluded that I wanted the software and its drivers to mature a bit before I really buckled down and give up XP for Vista… maybe mature it in an oak barrel somewhere far away… To be fair thou, XP wasn’t all that great when it came out, but now it is passably indispensible rather than just tolerable.

Since I am unable to review a laptop without including the software that makes everything tick, it is unfortunate that the software gave me such trouble - the laptop itself is fabulous. Not fabulous in the “everything-on-it plus some mayonnaise” sense, more of “just right” or “not overdone”. This laptop incorporates some nifty features like finger print identification, a 13.3”, SuperView non-matte TFT screen, light weight at 1.89Kg, card reader, a dual layer DVD recorder.

                                            It's a HUGE CD! No, it's just the M600 that's small...
 

This is of course in addition to the laptop’s T7100 Core2 Duo running at 1.8Ghz, 1GB of RAM that’s expandable to 4GB (in a Notebook!), 120GB S-ATA hard disk, and Intel’s X3100 Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) – an acronym which I think is true only up to the 2^nd letter. Well, this is a business laptop, so I’ll forgive this little slip up -  and the X3100 is designed not particularly to run games well, but to run Vista prettily, with its graphical effects and GPU based acceleration.

The software features list is just as impressive, bundled software ranges from a zooming utility, to an “acoustic silencer” for the optical drive, and a Hard Disk protector that automatically detects vibration or jolts to the laptop chassis. One downside to this of course is the number of background apps that you will have running in the background during normal laptop operation. This is no fault of the laptop itself, but these applications does cause a noticeable slowdown – performance picked up a lot once these background apps were disabled from the msconfig screen.

This laptop in other words has little to prove on the hardware side, with its sleek chassis, and great features in an attractive chassis. This laptop is also one fo the first Sta. Rosa based laptops in the market, with Intel's Turbo Memory, 965 chipset and improved battery management providing usability and power in a svelte frame. On the other hand, compatibility with some benchmarking tools and DVD-authoring programs remains a challenge for Vista, as well as Microsoft’s constant pop-ups asking for confirmation for a program to proceed – these queries will eventually be ignored by the majority of the users who will encounter it – which will defeat the whole purpose of this feature. It’s just a bit too persistent to put up with thou, sometimes.

                                     So light, it can stand on tip-toe...

On the bright side, Microsoft has released two new patches to the general public – the “Vista performance fix pack” and the “Vista reliability fix pack” - some days ago. Vendors and manufacturers are also slowly catching up with the drivers required for Vista operation as well. Putting it into perspective, my family can easily consume a thousand pesos’ worth of fries alone, so I guess I can put up with that to get to the Free McYum, and I can always ignore the poor guy giving away the samples. It’s only a matter of time before Vista attains its predecessor’s usability. Only then will hardware like Toshiba’s M600 truly shine.

Specifications:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache  
Chipset: Intel’s Santa Rosa (Intel 965GM Express chipset)
Front-side Bus: 667MHz (T5450), 800MHz (T7100, T7300)
Memory: DDR2 SDRAM
Memory Capacity: 1GB - 4GB (2 slots)

Graphics/Display:
Display: 13.3″ Wide Clear SuperView TFT LCD
Resolution: 1280×800 WXGA
Touchscreen: No
Widescreen: Yes
Graphics Chipset: Integrated Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
Graphics Memory: Up to 358MB Total (shared out of system with 1GB overall memory)
Other: VGA Out

Storage:
Hard Drive: Serial ATA (SATA) - 120GB, 160GB
Optical: Internal “Ultraslim” DVD SuperMulti Drive (9.5mm), Dual-Layer
Other: 3D HDD Motion Sensor (for protection the hard drive)

Connectivity:
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Modem: 56K
Ethernet: 10 / 100 Ethernet
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR
Mobile Broadband:
Other: Diversity Antenna,

Input/Output:
Audio Chipset:
Speakers:
Audio I/O: Microphone in, Headphones out
USB: 3x USB 2.0
Firewire: 1x i.LINK (IEEE 1394)
PC Card: 1x ExpressCard
Flash/Memory Card Reader: 5-in-1, Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Pro (MS PRO), MultiMedia Card (MMC), xD

Other:

Security:
Biometric/Fingerprint: Yes
Other: Password Utility

Software & Warranty:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business,
Other Software: Toshiba Configfree, Toshiba Summit, Toshiba PC Diagnostics Tool, Adobe Acrobat reader, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, Toshiba DVD Player, Ulead DVD MovieFactory®, Toshiba PC Diagnostics Tool, Norton Internet Security 2007 (90 days), Microsoft® Office Ready (Office 2007 Professional Trial - 60 days)
Warranty: 1 year or 3-year Carry-in International Limited Warranty for parts/labor (1 year for battery)
Drivers: PC.Toshiba-Asia.com/support

Battery:
Options:
Battery Life:

Dimensions:
Width: 310mm (12.2 inches)
Depth: 227mm (8.9 inches)
Height: 30.2 - 34mm (1.2 - 1.3 inches)
Weight: Starts at 1.89kg (starts at 4.2 pounds)

Look out for the full review this coming month, in HWM.