Toshiba Portégé M750

The tablet PC soldiers on

In terms of software, Toshiba crams the M750 with a host of its own utilities, including power, security and HDD protection tools, but commercial applications are thin on the ground. In fact, the only application of note is a copy of Microsoft OneNote 2007, which puts Windows Vista Business' tablet capabilities to good use. Toshiba earns extra points for including an XP recovery disc, allowing you to ditch Vista if you so desire.

Jot to your heart's content

In our tests, PCMark05 awarded the M750 with an overall score of 4625. The CPU result of 5738 is in line with other P8400-driven notebooks, while the 160GB 5400rpm hard drive posted a score of 4407. Nothing outstanding here, then, but certainly enough to support most tablet-related tasks you're likely to throw at it, and Vista Business felt spritely when running multiple applications.

Those in the market for a tablet PC are unlikely to have gaming high on their agenda, and the use of Intel's GMA 4500M HD integrated graphics is in line with this assumption. At its native resolution of 1280 x 800, the Portégé M750 limped its way to a score of 778 in 3DMark06. This increased to 862 when we dropped to 1024 x 768, but you'll need to ensure all detail settings are cranked right down when breaking up your work with a bit of light gaming.

Battery life is an important consideration with tablets, and with PCMark05 troubling the M750 by running in an unrelenting loop, the machine's 4700mAh battery did an admirable job of keeping the lights on for 2h 52m. Take things a little easier, though, and you'll get closer to four hours' use. There's no extended battery option, but this is hardly surprising since the tablet is heavy enough as it is.

Verdict

At £1206 inc VAT, the Portégé M750-10K doesn't come cheap, and at this price we were hoping for a better chassis. If you want to save a bit of cash, the M750-10J variation costs the least at £976, but with an Intel T5870 processor and just 1GB Ram, it's not something we're be tempted by. ®

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