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Toshiba Tecra M5
The Tecra M5 is mainly grey with black keyboard and screen bevel. There is a 1024 x 768 14in standard aspect ratio screen, the bevel of which is a little sharp at the corners. Dual speakers are placed at the base of the screen.
The Toshiba is supplied with both ABG wireless and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. There is also a number of durability features included in this machine such as magnesium-alloy casing, spill-resistant keyboard and shock-protected hard-disk drive. It has a simple, elegant design.
The docking station adds two PS2 ports, DVI and a parallel port. Unfortunately the dock blocks access to the Tecra’s S-video port. Positioning the notebook on the dock is quite difficult and a disturbing amount of pressure is required to lock the notebook in place. Without proper care the connection will be loose and a simple bump will undock the machine. Even when properly docked the connection is sloppy. There is an undock button on the Windows “Start” menu, as with the Dell Lattitude, to ensure the computer is prepared for the change. A lever releases the notebook in a similar fashion to that of the Fujitsu dock. The placement of its status lights on the front edge of the notebook make it difficult to see them without leaning back in one’s chair. Hot-docking and undocking, however, are no problem for this machine.
The Tecra scored a very close and respectable third on MobileMark, but was second last in battery life (3 hours 54 minutes). The Business Winstone score of 20.1 was the second highest (behind Dell). There is no variation noted in the memory bandwidth of disk access when separated from docking station or mains power, indicating that the system is not configured for aggressive power saving when on battery power (as with the Dell).
Adding the cost of the port replicator, the Tecra M5 is the most expensive notebook reviewed ($3330). The machine had respectable performance scores though it fell behind some other products on connectivity, particularly the port replicator. The notebook is supplied with a three-year warranty which includes courier pick-up and delivery.