Well... Here are my impressions for the Toshiba/Acer and how they compare...

 

Out of the box:

The Toshiba came in a small box, pretty light.  In it came the unit itself, "floating" in the middle of the box, supported by rubber-foam cradles, the power supply, a small box with pen/tips/remover ring, and a bag with CD-Rom, two small booklets (Warranty and Starting Guide), CD-Roms (Recovery, online user guide, etc), the Windows License and a voucher for the DVD Drive. There was also a loose "Starting Guide", regular large piece of thick paper, glossy finish and so forth "Plug it in, Power it up, Follow on screen instructions".

 

The Acer had much more stuff in it, like documents, and more startup guides.  I must admit that I haven’t used them since, so I guess Toshiba, with all their experience realized it was really worthless.  The Acer came, however, with a nice case (Which I am looking for the Toshiba) which was a slip-in leather case, just for the unit itself with a stylus holder. The Acer also came with a wiping cloth which I am going to use on the Toshiba! :)

 

First impressions:

After getting the unit on my lap, I realized it was BIG... in the good way, I was already used to squinting at the screen and keyboard, no need with this one...  Size was really comfortable.  Even before powering it, I went to Tablet mode and found that the feel was more natural than with the Acer. It is heavier but I didn’t notice. OK, after successfully powering it up (there is a power button "lock switch" which I wasn't expecting, although it is pretty obvious - a switch with the picture of a lock dead-next to the power button - oh well...hehehe).  The unit sparked up and the screen was really bright. Easily brighter than the Acer, even with the Acer at top brightness.  I also found that the screen is more readable on the Toshiba because the Acer has a coating on the screen (also present on the Toshiba, although

less) that causes a bit of glare...

The unit was quick.... I mean really noticeable from the Acer, even on the install and first run, it was really snappy...

 

Set up:

I had no problems on either machine getting the wireless LAN to work, or installing stuff. I haven't tried Bluetooth yet on the Toshiba but I will try it soon (It hasn't gone downstairs to my office yet, I can just type away at this keyboard, whereas before I had to go down to the Bluetooth keyboard for any serious typing)...  I am currently transferring about 20Gb of data between them (mostly movies in DVD format - all of which are only backup copies of movies I own he he he) so the network is working....

 

Hinge:

The Toshiba’s hinge is much stronger... it is fully sturdy.  It doesn't have the side locks because it doesn’t need them!  One thing I did find annoying (at least because I was used to the Acer) is that whenever you hinge it around the screen goes to portrait, and it is not that easy to change orientation.  It also has only 3 programmable buttons, and none of them are Fn buttons that can be used to store additional functions... What I did was replace the "Enter" button with the FN Commander utility (go that from symbol commander, in case Toshiba users want to do this), and when I click that it brings up a little control panel on screen, with "Screen rotation, lock, screen brightness, power options, etc"... just a neat few buttons in the center of the screen.  It is not very convenient compared to the Acer which I just pressed 2 keys and the screen would rotate but it is doable...  (The automatic portrait mode can be deactivated, although I don’t know yet if that would be better or worse). (I have found a way to run a program that changes orientation, though, I must try this out soon.

 

Tablet/Screen:

Now that we are talking about tablet mode, the pen feels sturdy.  Like the Wacom and Acer ones... One thing I like is that the pen stays right in the unit next to the screen... (I really didn’t like the micro-pen that stayed inside the Acer, but this one is the full pen.  I had no problem removing and putting back the pen.

 

Screen feel is more pen-on-paper than with the Acer.  The screen is even less slippery.  I suppose this is good, but it will take some more getting used to the old way, now that I was used to the Acer...

 

There is cursor drift like on the Acer. Perhaps it is a bit more because the screen is bigger, but it is not more annoying... I think it is more controllable because the screen is bigger, therefore, you need more movement to get the same drift which makes the drift more controllable....

 

Sound/Touchpad/PCMCIA/Wireless LAN/Ports:

I have not used the microphone yet but I have found that it is just above the power button. At first I thought it looked like a good place and it had a small hole.  Further tests indicated the mice indeed there... On the Acer, the microphone was on the edge of the machine, it was like on the side of it, perpendicular to the touchpad, I would say... I think the mice placement on the Toshiba is best.  Speaker is to the right hand side of the touchpad, near the bottom right corner of the unit.  This is a better layout than the Acer which was below the swivel of the screen.  I haven’t tried the speaker in tablet.  I suppose the Acer was better for tablet mode...  Again, it is only one speaker, and I suspect it is similar quality-wise, a bit lower than the Acer in fidelity, but might be a bit louder... It sounds a bit "far" perhaps because it is covered with some protecting material which muffles the sound. There is a sliding volume control on the Toshiba which the Acer was missing.

 

Touchpad on the Toshiba feels a bit sturdier, but is just as small as the Acer... :(  Buttons are well placed, but no wheel (I didn’t like the Acer's attempt at a scrolling device either) I prefer nothing than the acre’s attempt though... Others will be happier with that.  I haven’t found a way to get the mouse to continue gliding after you reach the edge of the pad (Like on the Acer you press down harder once you reach the edge and it keeps going) but I think this is mainly software.

 

Ports are located in the back and side of the unit.  On the right side there is a lock port, on the back there is a power connector, then VGA, then 2 USBs and the LAN connector.  The LAN and VGA connector have a black plastic door covering them.  I was pleased to see this since the one I had seen at the launch event didn’t have this! I still prefer the cover on the Acer, if not for additional protection (the Acer has rubber

coverings) at least they were stylish...  On the right of the unit from the touchpad-edge backwards: SD card slot, Wireless LAN cutoff (I prefer this to the Acer because it can be activated, deactivated in tablet mode), Modem (also covered by plastic door), PCMCIA (I like this because unlike the Acer that had a dummy place holder to cover it, it has a "retracting" door) and finally a CF card slot (DAMN, this one has the dummy place holder... I hadn't realized that...) The touchpad-edge of the unit has a microphone and headphone connector and the sliding volume switch.  It then has a battery lock switch, then the screen lock-release, then a panel with the following leds (AC power, Unit ON, Battery charging grn/org, disk access, wireless on/off), then there is the IrDA port, and finally a battery release switch.

 

Battery, etc:

Battery life is noticeable shorter.  I have found that charging is very long, but this might be the first times only... not sure... The unit has a fan indeed.  It is not very loud and keeps the unit real cool when plugged in (slightly warm, but nothing compared to the fanless-burning-acer)...

 

This is all for now, feel free to ask questions in the Forum, I or other knowledgeable users will answer if we can. If you must, you can send me an e-mail through the forum, although if this question might be useful to others, leave it in the forum so we can all learn! :)

 

Regards,

Roy