I have been reading this great forum as a lurker

[tabber]

I have been reading this great forum as a lurker for several weeks. I have an M205 that I upgraded to 1 gig of RAM from Crucial.

I've had my M205 for a couple of weeks now and here are my thoughts and warnings based on my experience.

1. The Fieldmate case is beautifully designed, but IMHO, deadly. I had my machine in the case in portrait mode and the thing got so hot it cooked the Toshiba logo on the back of the display so that is is now permamently altered in an ugly way! The keyboard was so hot I could barely touch it. The Fieldmate case is good looking and sweet-feeling in landscape mode but it cooked my M205 in less than 2 hours of work. The machine needs to breathe and I have decided to let it breathe naked outside my Tenba laptop bag. The Fieldmate case also bit into the lower front edge of my M205 and scratched off the paint. Not acceptable. Grr! The case also degrades WiFi performance. More on that at the bottom of this message...

2. Don't mess with the Toshiba Power saving menu. Use the defaults. I played around with the settings to get the best performance while plugged into AC (I defaulted everythign to Max levels) and the lower left front part of the machine would get really hot even when naked. Going back to the default settings helped the heat issue and I don't notice and decline in performance.

3. My machine was made on 5/15 in China and included the most recent BIOS. I have a dust spec as well. Annoying.

4. New Warranty options are coming this week and plans include On-Site repair for Home users as well as Depot and Accident coverage. Home On-Site and Accident coverage and extended warranty should run around $399 for three years. If you just want Accident and extended warranty that will be around $319 for three years. The updated warranty info should be available online by July 1. I found this out by talking directly to Toshiba when I could not find the full slew of warranty coverage for once price offered online that was listed in the accessories booklet included with my machine.

5. They keyboard is excellent. I am coming from a tiny Vaio PCG-TR3A3. IBM still has the best keyboard but Toshiba is a solid second. The Vaio keyboard flexes a bit.

6. The screen is acceptable. Not as good as the Vaio, but good enough for a tablet. SMILE!

7. Does anyone know if the Ultra SD Cards work well in the M205? If yes, do you notice any speed difference?

8. I have the Port Replicator III. It is a must have. Works really well and puts the keyboard on just the right angle for typing. IBM does their replicator better. Undocking is a bit clunky with the Toshiba.

9. Unreal Tournament 2004 looks and runs great on the M205!

10. WiFi G is excellent and outstanding. The Connection Doctor is the best and easiest setup for wireless and IR comms I have seen -- it even beats the Netgear connector. Oh, and another knock on the Fieldmate case is doing WiFi. From 100 feet away from the base station I get 24MBps and in the Fieldcase in the exact same location I get knocked down to 1Mbps.

That's all for now.

[Wcrocker]

Welcome out of the lurking shadows and welcome to the club!

Great comments on your experiences, especially with the Fieldmate case. There have been lots of questions about it recently but haven't seen any serious criticisms until you posted yours. Good views to have available.

Your power saver comments are also intriuging. I've always used the Toshbia version and have several profiles. Haven't really noticed any heat issues with that. But then like everything Tablet, mileage does vary depending on usage.

Again, welcome.

[tabber]

Thanks for the kind welcome, Wcrocker!

This is a great place to find insider information. SMILE!

I am disappointed in the Fieldmate case. I thought it would be a keen solution for teaching and taking classes -- students, doors, desks, etc. are all primed and willing for bumping into -- but now I'll just have to put my M205 in my Tenba case and lug it all around campus instead. The M205 needs air circulation to breathe when it is operating.

Since there are so many site and usage specific Power profiles that Toshiba created I think I'll stay with them instead of creating my own. They have a lot more experience in determining what combo works best when and going off on my own leaves me with a burning left palm. Heh!

Oh, and I forgot to mention the Accelerometer thing. I really have to shake mine to make it work. I don't know about the logic of having to "thrust" your machine from side to side to get a program to work. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me!

I also really don't notice much of a performance enhancement moving up to 1 gig from the standard memory setup and I do a lot of graphics and other work. I'm sure it makes a difference somehow, but I'm not seeing it.

Does anyone know if the Intel chip problem I've been reading about today with Memory chips and timing issues is an issue for the M200/5? Anyone know if Crucial's memory is a problem in our machines with this new reveal?

[Wcrocker]

tabber,

Don't have answers on the new chip problem, though I would love to. A lot of folks here have been using Crucial chips (I don't, by the way) and I haven't seen any problems reported regarding them.

I wholeheartedly agree with you about the accelerometer and the shaking thing. It just seems too risky to shake the unit so hard to get it to turn a page when with one click of the pen it seems much more intuitive.

Again, welcome. Make sure you check out WnewQuay's excellent M200/205FAQ if you haven't already. Something tells me your Fieldmate case warning will end up in there soon.

[dfield]

Tabber,

On the FieldMate case, I assumed in the back of the case on the left side, there is an open area for the exhaust vent on the fan. Is that correct?

[tabber]

Hi dfield --

Yes, there is a permanent cut-out for the M200/5 on the Fieldmate case, but it isn't enough to save the long life of your machine. I could feel my fan on constantly with the machine in the case in tablet and keyboard mode -- however -- the M200/05 dissipates heat from the screen, the keyboard and the bottom of the machine.

When your machine is boxed up in a Fieldcase -- especially in portrait mode, the only exits for heat are the writing area of the screen and that dedicated exhaust hole. The sides are zippered up. Where does the heat go? It goes mainly between the back of your display and the top of the keyboard and together they cook your Toshiba logo and get extremely hot!

I'm sitting down now and working wirelessly and my M205 is naked, but I can feel heat on my lap and on my left hand -- this is normal operating heat. Even in landscape mode in the Fieldcase the underside of the M200/5 cooks -- it's great to work with that case on your lap because your lap stays cool -- but the question is where does the heat go on the bottom of the machine in the Fieldmate case? It gets radiated back into the machine beacause the Fieldmate is so well insulated. That kind of constant heat cannot be good for the life of the machine.

The Fieldmate has a wonderful aesthetic and terrible real world design.

[dfield]

Thanks tabber for your response.

[Kupe]

To provide an alternative viewpoint, I've had my Fieldmate for 6 weeks now and have only removed my M205 from it on one occasion since purchasing. To give you an idea of usage, my M205 comes on about 0500 in the morning (overnight emails, web surfing before work) and is on continuously, except for brief periods of standby traveling between meeting/sites, until 2100 when I hibernate it for the night. I use the machine about 60/40 (laptop/slate mode) at work and about 40/60 at home.

I have not experienced any of tabber's issues with my Fieldmate. I suspect the difference in our experiences is either in the power management settings or usage.

My M205 configuration may be different than yours and is worth mentioning as all these differences will likely raise my internal temperatures above the stock model: 1.25gb RAM (1 gb/256 mb), Hitachi 7200 rpm 60gb harddrive, Verizon EV-DO PC Card (Airprime 5220, one of the hottest running PC Cards I've ever used).

On AC power (mostly laptop mode) I run with most of the original Toshiba settings for AC Power (Full bright screen, processor: Auto 3-8, Cooling: Performance or mid range). This results in ample processing speed and only occasional fan noise.

On battery power (usually slate mode) I use screen brightness 4-5 (unless presenting to others - then full bright), CPU: Auto 3-8, Cooling: Battery optimized, Monitor off: 2 minutes. I almost never hear the fan - when I do it is at its lowest speed (need to hold my ear close to it).

For usage, my M205 generally performs email, web, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint duties - nothing heavy duty. When I work it harder (3D games, voice recognition, multi-tasking as in music + other previously mention) I get higher fan speeds, but rarely to I hear that peak speed that momentarily cycles during boot up.

Maybe my post can account for some some of the differences between Tabber's and my experiences with the Fieldmate. Overall I find the case to be rather utilitarian, slightly heavy, somewhat bulky, and it lacks any form of a pocket (not even a business card holder), but it provides uncompromising protection for the M205 which is something I needed based on the hard treatment my tablets get.

[tabber]

Hey Kupe --

Thanks for sharing your Fieldmate experience. I spent a lot of money on that case, including overnight shipment, so I'm thrilled to hear any good news about the case in the hopes that I might be able to use it every day like you -- that's why I spent the money! SMILE!

It seems our major difference in running is the screen brightness. I like running at full 8 on AC and battery power and never lower than a 7 while on battery -- I want to see what I'm doing and dimming the screen seems to counter intuitive but maybe your eyes are better than mine. You also have a much lower auto-shut off time on battery which mich also help keep things cooler. My cooling is also at the midline while on battery. Perhaps I should drop that down to the minimum? What's the difference in the cooling settings anyway? Does the Max setting mean the fan is always on?

I'm curious how much heat you find in portrait mode after 2 straight hours of use. Has your logo insert discolored at all? Not the actual "Toshiba" letters, but the rest of the tabe that makes up the logo insert?

I also wonder if you have any missing paint on the front of your machine from the metal lip bar in the Fieldmate scraping the front edge? That edge is kind of sharp. I can't believe I have scratches after one day of work.

Do you carry your Fieldmate and M200/5 alone or in another bag? I have lots of heavy books and I walk long distances so being able to take the M200/5 with me without hauling everything else -- that is why I bought the Fieldmate in the first place.

The Fieldmate holes also don't entirely line up with the machine buttons. Did that happen with you? If so, how did you fix it?

[DavidBeoulve]

You can bet I'm following this with interest, as the question of a $130 purchase hangs in the balance here. Perhaps it is better to buy an attachable fan base underneath? But the additional protection afforded by the Toshiba Fieldmate is what interests me, as my Tablet will make daily runs to work and home every day for the duration of its life.