Good and Much Bad

I have been using Toshiba's for years now. My old Toshiba M2 finally gave up the good fight. RIP. Anyway, I get the new M9-S5515 with Vista. This had me stoked and drooling until I started using it. I can't begin to start listing all the things wrong, but here is a start.

Boot up: Probably 15 minutes before it is usable; even after hibernation which may shave a minute or two off.

Battery life: It should be rated in minutes, not hours. I have yet to see hours. My M2 would regularly get 3 hours. I can't get that with the 12 cell on the M9. There is no Toshiba power saver and the Vista one is essentially useless. Battery drains even when turned off or hibernating. I can work plugged in all day, have 100% battery and then hibernate, go home and turn on computer 3-4 hours later in the evening and it is already at 85%. Where it is going is a mystery.

Screen: Same as old M2/M3/M5 but wider. No real issue here.

Keyboard: Much improved over the previous. Keys are same size (as measured) but have larger surface area and are easier to type on. Windows key has been moved to where it is supposed to be and DEL key put on upper right where Windows key was. While frustrating at first, I have overcome and adapted.

Wireless: Performs mediocre at best. I am still blaming the poor wireless performance on Vista, but I can't be sure. When at a hotel, I can sometimes get on and sometimes not. I can sometimes get on and then later the same day it recognizes it but will not allow me on. A reboot always fixes this, but it takes about 20 minutes round trip to do that.

Fingerprint scanner: Cool idea, but performs erratically. Especially when on battery. You have to swipe very, very, very, very slowly and maybe, just maybe it will recognize your finger. On AC this phenomena does not happen.

USB ports: One more than before. Thanks for small miracles.

Volume control: Moved away from right hand corner. Thanks again. No more adjusting the volume with my sleeve cuff. Minor caveat would be the electronic control over the volume rather than mechanical. When using certain programs and a particularly loud sound/son comes on, you can not just turn down the volume. You have to get to a program or situation where the computer will allow you control over the volume.

Speakers: Same poor sounding speakers as other Tecra's. No change here.

F keys: The function keys seem to be controlled by a software program which I assume Toshiba thought was pretty cool. It is intrusive as it pops up when you don't want it and doesn't come up at all when you most need it. You can not just press FN F6/F7 to adjust the screen brightness. You must use the pop-up function control on the screen. The function keys do not work. Ever. You can't use FN F5 to turn on a projector. You must use the pop-up. Very frustrating especially when first booting up as the computer is useless for 15-20 minutes. (See booting above)

Preloaded software: Too much crapware and especially McAfee which caused uncontrollable crashing of Office 2007 until its removal from the system.

In general, when the computer is not spinning it's hard drive uncontrollably (maybe like 50% of the time), it is rather sprite and works OK. Other than that I think most of the time I am fighting with Vista.

We have other people using the M9-S5515X without any of these issues other than the erratic biometric reader. So I have to believe the computer is not Vista compatible or Vista is just not business ready. It is just a new release of Windows Me.

If I were to summarize this computer, I think it is not a viable business computer for travelers if using Vista. I would look elsewhere or buy XP (if you can get it with "downgrade")