Toshiba Satellite M100 - FULL REVIEW

***UPDATE: I diagnosed one bad stick of ram. Getting replacement from newegg







Toshiba Satellite M100


Overview and Introducion:

This is a review of the Toshiba Satellite M100. Judging from the many stores I went to, it seems that the M100 is mostly available online. It comes fully customizeable with dual core options.



Specs are:

INTEL CORE DUO T2500 2.00GHZ
12 CELL BATTERY
MIST GRAY
INTEL PRO WIRELESS ABG
BLUETOOTH VERSION 2.0+EDR
GIGABIT ETHERNET
ATI MOBILTY RADEON X1400 W128M
HDD0039 120GB HDD (5400RPM, SATA)
14" WIDESCREEN XGA w/TRULIFE (1280X800)
2 GB PC2-5300 667MHz
WINDOWS XP HOME
Ports:
4 x USB 2..0
1 Firewire
1 S-Video
1 VGA Monitor Output
1 Infrared port
1 PCMCIA slot with bonus stowable remote control (for express player & windows)
DVD SUPERMULTI(+/- RW DL)
HARMAN KARDON SPEAKER
DIMENSIONS: 13.5" x 9.53" x 1.5"

*UPDATE - I just installed the second memory module under the keyboard Using a guitar pick, and small screw driver. The installation is as simple as removing the upper keyboard plate, unscrewing the keyboard, and unscrewing the RAM heat sheild. This machine runs VERY FAST!

Reasons for buying:

I actually sold my Dell inspiron 6000 15.4" to buy this computer. I wanted to be able to do everything I did on the Dell with a smaller computer. I liked the dual core and I needed the dedicated video for 3D rendering.



Build & Design:

This is a great feeling laptop. The way it was put together feels solid, and I'm confident to pick it up with one hand without creeks. The lid has a little bit of play, but nothing enough to change what is displayed on the lcd screen. The screen hinges are very solid and firm with no play, except for some spring action, which all laptops have. There is a very very minor creek when moving the lid slowly from a stop, but nothing bothersome. The Latch could be a bit more solid though, as it is made of plastic and is a single latch design in the center, as opposed to two on each side. Because of this, if you press down on one side of the lid, the other side goes up just a bit.

The palmrests are solid and offer great support when typing

One thing that subtracts from the solid feel of the M100 is the dvd-rom faceplate. It is made of cheap and thin plastic.



Screen:

There is minor light leakage at the bottom of the screen. I consider myself a very anal and meticlulous person, and to me, this minute amount of leakage doesn't justify returning the screen for one that could possibly be worse. During normal opperation, I do not notice any light leakage, and a black screen in a dark room is not bad at all. Other than that, the screen is very vivid and has great contrast/brightness. Toshiba's Trulife has won me over.

A drawback is the relatively low resolution. I was used to a 1680 x 1050 15.4" screen, and going to the M100's 1280 x 800 lost me some real estate. This resolution is acceptable in my opinion. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to multitask with such a resolution, but I'm doing fine. I do long for a 1440 x 900 14.1", though!

Speakers:

I ordered the Harmon/Kardon speaker option. I played a few dvd's and Music files, and they handle them just fine. The sound isn't stellar, but it is better than other laptops that I've heard with normal speakers. If you want amazing sound, don't depend on these, because at the end of the day, they're still laptop speakers.

Processor and Performance:

Everything is snappy and quick, and I've noticed a increase in speed coming from my Inspiron 6000 (2.13GHz/2GB). The M100 came with an ATI X1400, which is supposed to perform just a tad bit better than the ATI X300 (silly naming scheme if you ask me). I haven't installed any games yet.

Benchmarks:

I used the Super Pi program since that's what people have been using to test cpu speed. Calculating 2 million digits, I got 1min 20sec.

I also downloaded 3dMarks05 to see what I'd score. I installed Omega drivers, so that probaly improved performance. I noticed that the drivers changed the name of myt X1400 to "M54". I don't know what an M54 is, so I'll need to look it up. After chugging through the tests, I ended up with a 3dMarks05 score of 2219.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The Keyboard has a small amount of flex, when pushed down on, but not during normal typing. One drawback, however, is the stroke and force used to press the keys. The Dell Inspiron 6000's keyboard is the best I have ever typed on, so the feel of this keyboard is a step down. I measured the keystroke of the letter H, and it goes about 2.5mm deep - too deep for a laptop keyboard in my opinion. Also, it's not as smooth as the inspiron 6000 in terms of stroke force. A little bit of force needs to be applied to turn that potential energy into kinetic energy to bring the key down. All in all, the keyboard isn't terrible, so much as tolerable. It's decent, at best. I also miss the control button on the right side of the keyboard, and I'm still getting used to the delete key being next to the right alternate key.

The plastic used feels good and like I said before, there are no creeks or gaps and everything fits together fine. I have yet to try to find a way under the keyboard to expand memory because there are no obvious pry-points.

The Touchpad is nice to use, althought I use a bluetooth mouse. The touchpad buttons are angled downwards at the edge of the front, but I don't see that posing a problem for most people.

Fingerprint Reader:

This thing works like a charm. I'm currently using it with firefox and it stores passwords. For example, at the yahoo mail screen, all I need to do is swipe my fingerprint, and I'm directed to my inbox. I also log on into windows using my fingerprint.

Heat and Noise:

The exhaust port is a little large and resides on the left side towards the back. I really wish that the vga plug and the exhaust outlet could have switched places to push the heat further back as the fan steadily emits rather warm air. Since I am lefthanded, I need to keep my hand away from the exhaust outlet to stay away from the heat. The fan is on most of the time, probably due to the dedicated graphics card, but it's not too loud at all. I also need to point out that the area on either side of the touch pad get warm after the computer has been on for a while. I've gotten used to it, but it may cause some discomfort for some people.

The optical drive is quiet, so I didn't use the dvd-silencer program that toshiba provides on its website.



Wireless:

I haven't had one dropped signal yet, and I can pick up signal from all over my house. The bluetooth stack for toshiba is nice and doesnt hog resources. Smooth sailing. Also included is an infrared port, which interfaces with the PCMCIA-stowable remote control. It can also interface with IR capable devices. The remote control itself is a neat bonus, and easily slides in to the slot (ejected by the pushout button). It can be used to power on and off the computer, and control the express media mode. The express media mode lets you watch movies and music without booting windows.



Battery:

I was disappointed by how large the 12-cell battery was. It protrudes 1+3.5/8" (37mm) from the rear of the computer. I am currently testing out the battery life, and if half of that is long enough, I will switch to a 6-cell, which sits flush with the rear.

Running on battery, with wifi, using a bluetooth mouse, brightness at 5/8 at regular usage, I got 4 hours and 24 minutes. a 6-cell should get about 2hours and 10 minutes with similar specs.



Operating System and Software:

After testing my RAM out and looking at the factory cluttered desktop, I installed Windows XP Media Center 2005 - Much better. Royale Vista 1.1 theme - way better.



Conclusion:
I'm still getting used to this laptop. I like the size, but like i said, the huge battery somewhat defeats the purpose of going from a 15.4" to a 14.1". In my laptop back, the M100 fits just as deep as my inspiron 6000 did. The build quality is better than my old Dell's, I have to admit, but I definitely paid for it.

The Good:

-Quality Build
-Small and light
-Great Performance
-Vivid Screen
-IR port & fingerprint reader is convenient

The Acceptable:

-Keyboard could use a little refinement (long stoke is unnecessary)
-Orange LED for on/off of wireless is bright in the dark
-Palmrests become warm (heated-palmrest for winter?)
-Exhaust is warm

The Ugly:

-DVD-Drive door feels cheap and flimsy
-Sasquatch of a battery is gar-friggin-gantuan


Pricing:

$1716 with tax/free shipping (lowest ram configuration)

3-year extended warranty with systemguard accidental damage protection
$291 with tax - $150 mail in rebate = 141

 

Great review. It looks very tempting to me & I'm feeling the urge to buy one myself.

 

Nice job Arvin. I am moving to to the reviews forum.

 

awesome review thanks..i will be purchasing tomorrow!

 

Anyone know the difference between the M100 and the M5 Tecra?

 

The M5 is better build, has swapable drive, trackpoint, and a serial port just in case. Battery life is better too. A completely different class.

 

Great review! Just the review I was looking for!! I couldnt find a toshiba satellite m100 full review anywhere and this is the first place I think to have one. This is nice and Im planning to buy this notebook soon. But I do have a question about the screen-is it a glossy or a non-glossy screen? Can you bring it outside and have a good view without the glare? Thanks for the review!

 

It is glossy. I like it. For the added glare, the saturated colors, brightness, and contrast more than make up for it!

I haven't brought it outside in the sun yet, but you might get an answer from any other laptop owner with a glossy screen (regardless of brand)

 

ohh o...ok thats cool. Anyways...again that was a great review!

 

M100 got no Hotswap for the dvd rom??????? wat the ...... aiks.....

 

No, i don't think so. Is that essential for you?

 

hmmm if can hotswap wit battery also not bad rite ?

 

yeah, that's not crucial either. I'd never hotswap a battery anyway

 

Thanks for the great review. After waiting 2.5 weeks I finally got my m100. Unfortunately, the unit was damaged upon arrival. So much for shipping. Both the inner and outer box was depressed fairly good. At first boot, screen flicked on, off, and that's all she wrote. Called Toshiba customer service. So far, very impressed with the response. One ring and I had a rep on the phone. Sent me an RMA label email and I sent the unit back. Even though it didn't work I was still liked the computer. Build quality was good and it is very esthetically pleasing, Can't wait till I get the new one. Good looks, power, and a few extras in a 14" footprint. What more could one want....

 

Glad you're getting a replacement. Lemme know how you like it

 

***UPDATE:


I'm having problems with my computer freezing up. It happened yesterday while using a CAD program, and also when installing a game. Today it froze 3 times while encoding a dvd.

I suspect that the computer may be overheating, or incompatible memory. I'm leaning towards overheating becuase when im encoding a movie, only 500 mb of ram is used, while 100% of my cpu is used. It's been working fine, until i've pushed it.

Any opinions?

 

The only things I can think of are overheating, problem with voltage (power supply), bad memory, or maybe virus/spyware activity. You might try running a mem test application like memtest86+ found at http://www.memtest.org/ to rule out the memory issue. Also, you said that you added 667MHz memory. According to Toshiba's website the original memory module is 533MHz SDRAM even though the system has a FSB of 667MHz. Maybe there is a reason why the original is only 533MHz. I was reading somewhere that the Core Duo processors have high memory latency due to the lack of on-die memory controller . Not sure what that means or if it has anything to do with your problem but figured I'd throw it out there. Good luck, Let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks a lot, I'll keep you guys posted

 

It was a bad stick of this A-data memory that im using. I'll get a replacement from newegg

 

Great review, Arvin.

Can you elaborate at all on the fan noise? When not doing 3D/gaming, is the fan always on? In a quiet room, is it noticeable? I recently bought and returned an Acer TM3002 because it had a high pitched fan that just came on and off at all times, even despite using CPU underclocking.

On that subject, is it possible to use RM Clock or other tools to underclock and reduce fan levels?

 

All i can say about the fan noise is that it is quieter than the dell inspiron 6000 that I had. The fan is also running most of the time when plugged in. I haven't yet gamed with this machine.

I don't think anyone has underclocked a yonah dual core processor yet.

 

I think that the toshiba notebooks come with a program that lets you control how often the fan comes on. Although I can't remeber what it's called. The toshiba laptop I have has that program, although I rarely ever use it, it's more of a family PC, so I just remeber I set it for the fans to be on most of the time in case someone covers the vents or has it doing some intensive tasks or something...

 

Another quick question-- I feel like I read somewhere that the remote has a limited functionality-- that it can only be used with certain software. I might consider installing XP Media Center Edition for outputting to a TV-- would the remote work with that?

Thanks

 

Mathias, im sorry I can't answer your question since i have returned my M100.

The machine was defective and was not booting correctly. I didn't have time to do any extensive troubleshooting because the return period was ending. Next stop....asus W3J

 

I've got some questions to the users of M100:
1. which BIOS do you have in this laptop ? mine has 1.60 but I have found newer, marked as 1.70 but I don't know if anyone has it and might be helpful to answer whether this BIOS changes something concerning the fan working time and the temperature measurements!
2. what's the average temperature of your hard drive disk, mine is Toshiba 80GB 5400rpm SATA and it is varying between 46 and 51C - I think it's too high, is it the same with yours ?

 

Hi,

I just got my M100 yesterday.
Arvin, did you get yours back???? How is it??

I have a question!!!
How do you remove the keyboard? Please write a litlle guide to it beacause i dont want to break it. (I want to install memory)

I already upgraded to BIOS 1.70 but can't tell if that improved anything because as soon as I got it i upgraded.

cheers! Balazs, from Hungary

 

Hey there everyone.
I was wondering if someone here could help me out.

I purchased a M100 just yesterday.
Everything works fine, other than I am having a problem with the audio when playing back CD's or DVD's.
The audio is kind of lagging, and is choppy and fragmented/distorted.
When I play DVD's the picture is fine, but again the same problem with the audio.
If I play an mp3 off the hard drive it plays just fine.
But anything that gets played from the CD/DVD drive has problems.

Any suggestions?

 

Try to install new drivers, and set the cpu speed to maximum.
If that doesnt help, then you have a problem with your optical drive.

 

I've ordered my first laptop (m100 obviously) and i cant wait till it arrives...however, mine comes wif ati X1300 with 256mb hypermemory. Im wondering how will it fare with the games like fear or doom.

Cant wait to get my hands on it!!!

 

Hello there, I need to know where the built-in mic in the Toshiba Satellite is located?

 

there is none.