Toshiba Portege 3500

MICROSOFT'S EFFORTS to change the way we use computers is gathering momentum, as more of its hardware partners release their products based on Tablet PC technology. The latest to arrive in PC Advisor's Test Centre is Toshiba's Portege 3500.

The Portege is truly portable, measuring 290x230x30mm and weighing less than 2kg. It's a 'convertible' Tablet PC, which means it can be used as a standard notebook with full keyboard and trackpad. But the screen is hinged which means you can flip it around so it hides the keyboard — this is the so-called Tablet mode.

Write on target
Using a special pen on the touch-sensitive screen in Tablet mode, you can select objects and move around onscreen as you would with a mouse. A tap is equivalent to a left-click, while holding down a button on the side of the pen activates a right-click.

Windows XP Tablet PC edition is geared up for getting the most out of Tablet PC devices and features built-in handwriting recognition. Instead of the keyboard, you write into the Input panel docked to the bottom of the screen. Your scrawl is then transcribed into the document you're working on. Alternatively, you can use the Journal application to jot down notes as if you were writing on a pad and then either keep the notes as they are or import them as text into emails or Word documents.

Practice makes perfect
While it wasn't perfect, we were impressed by the accuracy of the handwriting recognition engine — helped, no doubt, by the sensitivity of the Portege's screen. Getting the device to behave how you want it to takes some effort, but feels natural after a while.

The down side is that, because the screen is touch-sensitive, the picture is not as clear as you'd expect from an LCD (liquid crystal display). The contrast is not as high and the viewing angle is quite narrow — if you're not looking at the screen straight on, colours are distorted and text is much harder to read.

The Toshiba Portege also gets pretty hot after a couple of hours use — not ideal if you're supposed to be carrying the device around with you all day. Then again, the three-hour battery life means you won't be able to stray too far from your desk.

Software goodies
Other features of the Portege make up for some of these limitations. The software bundle is good, including packages such as Sensiva Symbol Commander for pen-based access to shortcuts and navigation functions, and Zinio, a portable magazine reader. It's truly designed with mobility in mind, with just about every connectivity method under the sun built in, including ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an impressive array of expansion slots for CompactFlash, secure digital and PC Cards.

As well as its tablet functions, the Portege makes an adequate notebook, with a 1.33GHz Pentium III processor, 256MB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive, although at this price it's strictly for business users. Unfortunately, as it is such an early sample of the hardware, we were unable to run the Portege through our WorldBench tests, so we can't give it a score.

Verdict
The Portege by Toshiba is a strong first attempt at a Tablet PC. It has a number of attractive features, such as its small size, light weight, and virtually limitless connectability, and it nicely demonstrates the benefits of Tablet PC technology. However, because of its limitations, we can't imagine it replacing PCs just yet. Perhaps it will take a few more years (and a significant decrease in price) for Tablet PCs to really take off.

Price £1,700.00 (ex. VAT)
Contact 0870 444 8944
Specifications
1.33GHz Pentium III
256MB RAM
40GB hard drive
12.1-inch polysilicon TFT display (1,024x768)
integrated Wi-Fi
10/100 ethernet
· V.92 56K modem
integrated Bluetooth
IR port
· Type II PC Card slot
secure digital slot
CompactFlash Type II slot
2 x USB 2.0 ports
VGA port
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Tablet PC edition.
Price: £1,700 (TBC)

Scoring
Build quality 7/10
Features 8/10
Value for money 5/10

PC Advisor magazine - the UK's leading provider of Expert Advice in Plain English