Joining the new toy club – my new M400 Tablet PC

Along with Rob getting an x60T and Warner getting an Asus R2H, I thought I would share that I have something new as well.  It isn’t a new model for everybody to get excited over, but I picked up a new Tablet PC last week.    I ordered up a Toshiba M400 with a couple of 2.0 processors pushing things around.  It has a 100 gig 7200 rpm hard drive and 2 gig of RAM in the memory slots.

This is a big improvement for me going to the Core Duo line of processors.  I was using the Toshiba M4 Tablet PC with a PM 2.13 – I have to say this is a major step up in performance.  Also, the 7200 rpm drive probably has a lot to do with that speed improvement as well, the M4 only has a 5400rpm drive in it.

Another big difference is the size of the screen.  The M4 had a 14.1 inch screen and the M400 has a 12.1 inch screen.  The resolution is the same a 1400×1050, so I have the same real estate on screen, but just much smaller…  So far, I love it.  I always liked the high res, and don’t know what I would do without it.  I have young eyes, so the size on screen isn’t a problem for me.

One of the main reasons I wanted to get the M400 was for the size.  The M4 was a great machine and very powerful (the most powerful Tablet PC when I first purchased it) but the thing was just big and heavy.  I was taking it around to all my meetings and trying to use it more in my work routine.  The thing is though, it just wasn’t the best at mobility (at least for me).  Now, the M400 didn’t get here till Friday, but I can see with  the size and weight it will be almost perfect for me and what I want to do. I have dropped almost 2 pounds of weight and a lot of bulk with the smaller size in general – not too small, but just about right.

Problems??  I miss the eraser head already… The M400 keyboard doesn’t have one so I am stuck with the track pad or an external mouse – I vote for the external.  I have a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000 that has just been sitting here that will be getting some good use real quick!  I also had a 2nd hard drive that I put into the drive bay of the M4 – it doesn’t fit in the M400. I have to get another bay adapter to put the drive in so I can have that extra storage.  For those wondering, the M4 uses the Slim Select Bay and the M400 uses the Ultra Slim Select Bay – note the “Ultra”.

This will make a great unit to send lots of information to all of you from the floor at CES!