The previous post was an accident and the current blog settings do not allow me to edit or delete previous entries, so here is the correct post:

We recently purchased the Toshiba Portege M400 Tablet PC at work for presentations. Our decision for this model was driven by the need for a beefy notebook that also had a tablet pc digitized screen. While a bit bulky for a Tablet PC, the M400 has above average power with a 1.83 GHz Intel Duo Core processor. We were going to bump the RAM from the standard 1 GB (for the M400-S4032 model) to 2 GB but the 1 GB is two 512 chips and purchasing only ordered one extra 1 GB chip so we settled for 1.5. This model also comes with a 100 GB hard drive which is ample room but only comes in 5400 RPMs. All together it is very powerful for a Tablet PC.

With our company image and the Toshiba OEM software we booted with an initial 450+ MB of a memory footprint. I immediately uninstalled as much as I could to get down to 325 which is about right for the Windows XP Tablet PC edition. I have been using Visual Studio 2005 on for a few weeks with no complaints so far.

The notebook is thick at 1.5", but that is with everything on board including the DVD super multi-drive. There are plenty of IO ports (3 USB, 1 Firewire, SD & CF slots, etc.). There is not a parallel port which in some client offices has presented a bit of a problem. The screen has the standard Tablet PC buttons along with a directional pad. Another feature that Toshiba always includes with their Tablets and I wish BIM and the others would adopt is the stylus with the "eraser" tip. This is a small, rounded end on the stylus that when used in most inkable applications converts to "eraser" mode. This makes One Note and Windows Journal much easier to use. There is also the biometric fingerprint scanner for logging into Windows XP, but I do not regularly use it currently. Of course there is built in WiFi, LAN, and modem.

I have been getting decent battery life with an average over 3 hours between development and DVD watching. I did get spoiled with the IBM X41's extended battery with about 6 hours of life, but you pay the price for more power.

Overall I am pretty happy with the device and it has been a good choice for development and presentations. If I was a true Tablet PC power user the size would be the biggest deterrent, but for a developer who just wants the added Tablet PC functionality it is a good match.