Satellite M500 - First Impressions

Hey all,

Just received my new Satellite with the following specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53 GHz
4 GB DDR2 RAM
320 GB HD
Edge-to-Edge display
GeForce 210M
Slot-Loading DVD Drive
12 Cell Battery

If you have any questions about the laptop, I'll do my best to answer them.

For the time being, here are a few initial impressions after playing around with it for a day:

- I know previous Toshibas seem to be known for having keyboard flex; I can't detect any on this unit. The keyboard is fine, although it has a slightly shorter travel when pressed than my Dell Inspiron's keyboard. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just different and something I'll have to get used to.

- Build quality is about where you'd expect it to be - average/above average. Everything seems to be where it needs to be.

- The edge-to-edge display gives a clean look to the laptop. The screen itself is bright, and sharp with average viewing angles. My particular laptop came with an LG panel. Colors out of the box were slightly washed out, and, since I'm not good with messing around with Nvidia's color adjustment settings, I'm still working on fixing this. Of all the laptops I have owned (3), this has been the first time I've had to ever screw around with the color/contrast/gamma settings, and I'm disappointed and frustrated that I have to deal with this.

- In typical Toshiba fashion, the harmon kardons are probably among the best in its class. I haven't tested them at anywhere near max volume, but they project well with a hint of bass present.

- The touchpad is, unfortunately, an Alps model. While this may not bother some people, I've always found Synaptics pads to be far superior. Having said that, however, the Alps pad is just about on par with the one on my Inspiron 1420, which is to say it's decent, but not great. The touchpad size itself is on the small end, which doesn't particularly bother me. With regards to the multitouch gestures, I'd say the pinching to zoom in/out is kind of worthless, both because it's not particularly responsive, and because the touchpad is so small. The circular motion to scroll, however, is a lot more useful.

- As expected, the fusion finish is a fingerprint magnet. But it looks good and seems to be fairly durable.

- This thing runs very quietly. I was running a 720p stream on Hulu and the fan was barely audible.

- With regards to performance, everything is snappy and works great. I love the Pxxx line of processors - speedy and cooler running than their Txxx counterparts.

That's it for now! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Yes, i do have some questions.

But i guess i'll just settle on one first, how is the battery? What's the min/max you can drag out of the M500?

 

I've been mostly running it on AC power for now, so I haven't been able to do any thorough battery tests on it. I'll keep you posted though when I put the battery to good use.

 

OP, you beat me to it, I just received (finally - major ToshibaDirect delays) my M500 about a week ago with the exact same specs, except a 500GB HD.

For background, I moved up from a Toshiba M50 purchased in August 2005. Best computer I've ever owned; worked as well as the day I bought it up until early September when the power cord gave way. I would have to twist and turn it various ways so that the laptop could continue to receive power. Around the same time, for some reason Windows started taking 5mins to boot up. All in all, it was time to upgrade.

I'm liking my Toshiba M500 quite a bit, but there are a few engineering / build choices that I think were mistakes, and have me longing for my old M50. Performance of the machine is superb, works great, love Win7, etc.

1. Lack of an analog volume wheel. I miss this so much. As the OP noted, Harman/Kardon speakers are leagues above any other laptop speaker I've come across. My girlfriend has a Dell XPS and we struggle to hear DVDs on her laptop even when we're together on the couch in a quiet room with the laptop just a foot away from us. H/K clearly have not been resting on their laurels; the speakers (and headphone sound!) are even better on my M500 than on my old M50. Same headphones, noticeable difference! Never a need for max volume so far. BUT - and seriously here - I hate the digital media controls at the top. From tapping the "+"/"-" volume key, there is I estimate a whole second between tapping the button and a change in output. I disabled the Windows startup sounds, because if I'm running late for class I don't want to have to boot up and have absolutely no way of preventing the Windows startup noises. You can't control volume until boot up is finished. Ridiculous! Mute button aside, the +/- volume shifts are negligible and so you can't rapidly adjust volume w/them either. Oh, and most likely the digital media controls are something you'll tap only once and a while b/c they're so slow, so enjoy one big fat fingerprint staring you in the face. What this means: On my M50, I left all volume settings (system tray, media player, youtube, etc) at max, and only ever had to deal with the perfectly responsive wheel. Now, all my volume controls are all over the place, and it sucks.

2. Placement of USB ports less good. The old M50 had rear ports which were the only ones I ever used. I usually bring my mouse with me, and it was nice to plug it in in the back and not have the cord get in the way. On the M500, the right USB ports are at the mid point, and on the left they're right up front. The mouse cord is now more up in my face. This is a slight point I know, but still. I can't stand wireless mice.

3. Engadget wasn't exaggerating at all on their M500 fingerprints post. It really is that bad. IMHO, they just should never have made the lid or the media controls glossy. I mean seriously it's just gross looking, like some grubby child has just had its way with it. I would pay a decent amount of money to have a matte cover instead. Have google'd around a bit to see if it's actually possible to replace the bezel with something matte; maybe from one of Toshiba's business laptops? Any advice greatly appreciated!!!

3. Fingerprints on the keyboard aren't as bad as elsewhere; the gloss is toned down a bit - BUT it squeaks a bit when I type! I was really surprised to find that I actually enjoy typing on the glossy keyboard, more so even than the keyboard on my old M50. With headphones on, I like it. But when typing in class the squeakiness is annoying and has me second guessing the build quality of the whole machine. And of course, the space bar is the squeakiest of them all.

4. The chrome trim looks kind of cheap/gawdy. I own a Blackberry Tour that also has chrome trim, but it's a bit more subdued; looks more professional. The chrome mouse buttons have a much louder click to them and it sounds awful, very cheap. Like the thud of a fisherprice toy button. I feel like the old Toshiba M50 I got from '05 was better engineered, had better build quality, especially with an eye for longevity. I can't imagine what this M500 will look like in 4 years. Admittedly, that's my impression with a whole slew of electronics today. No cell phone today has build quality to match an old Nokia candy bar phone from the early '00s, those things were indestructible.

4. Fan: I have yet to even hear the fan. Runs perfectly silent. I am hyper-sensitive to fans as well; I've gotten up and moved seats in class b/c I couldn't stand listening to some other guy's Dell fan scream for mercy.

5. Screen is great, super bright. Haven't used it outside, but as I write this the sun is beaming down on the screen through the window and the glare is not an issue at all.

Finally, I still believe the Toshiba M500 was the right laptop for me. I was dead set on a 14", and decent speakers were hella important to me. Toshiba keeps the bloatware to a minimum, got rid of it in seconds. My impression is that PC makers are in a vicious battle to deliver the cheapest laptop possible, and unfortunately while you're able to upgrade the guts of the machine to your heart's content, you simply can't for build quality. I don't see myself ever switching to the Mac camp, but sitting my roommate's Macbook Pro next to the M500 and it's abundantly that the Macbook Pro is a much more solid device. If Toshiba offered the Harman/Kardon speakers in one of their business machines, I almost certainly would have gone that route, despite the extra price and worse every-other-feature that matters to consumers.

 

YOW,

I share many of your same sentiments.

I am so sick of all these gimmicky touchscreen controls, but unfortunately it seems to be a trend across most PC manufacturers, not just Toshiba. Sure, a volume wheel may be "old school" but I'll be darned if it isn't the most practical solution.

I also agree that most PC manufacturers seem to headed towards a "race to the bottom" in terms of pricing, and quality suffers as a result. The first laptop - and Satellite - I bought was back in '04, and I definitely also think that it had a better build quality and more solid components than the M500. This isn't necessarily a knock on the M500, but just a sad realization that these price wars have unfortunate consequences.

I'm also someone who has resisted selling my soul to the dark side by moving onto a MacBook, but I seriously may buy one in the near future as I greatly admire their impeccable build quality and choice of high quality materials.

That being said, though, the key to any laptop is its performance, and the M500 definitely hasn't disappointed in that regard.

 

Oh, and one thing I forgot to add -

I don't know if this will help you any, but my keyboard doesn't squeak, so that may be something you want to contact tech support about as it may be a build quality issue unique to your laptop.

As a short term fix, I might suggest that you get a silicon keyboard cover protector; those tend to mute typing sounds a little, so that may help.

 

calumnus and YOW - Have you had any issues with the slot-loading drive? I've seen several complaints (Best Buy reviews of U505) about the slot-load drives that Toshiba uses. Any follow-up on battery life with the 12-cell? Thanks...

 

JellyGeo,

I have had no issues so far with my slot loading drive. It is different, however, from other slot loading drives I have used in the past, in that when you place a disc into it, you have to manually push it in all the way; there is no mechanism that "grabs" it when you push it in halfway. Ejecting a disc, however, is fully automatic.

As for battery life, I've pulled a little over 4.5 hours doing web browsing and word processing with low brightness settings and wi-fi on.

 

calumnus - Wow - quick response - Thank-you (and + rep ... ) Hmmm - I hadn't heard about a difference in slot-loads. Do you think it's a problem or awkward - or just different? I'm typing this on my Dell 1555 & now I have to go find a DVD and test it!! The one I am looking at (to replace my U405 - just sold) has Intel 4500 graphics - but it's discounted to $779 and has the backlit keyboard.

 

JellyGeo,

I don't think the Toshiba's slot load is a problem or awkward - it's just different, I guess, since the previous slot-load drives I've handled (i.e., on the PS3, for example) all have that mechanism that automatically pulls in the disc once you insert it about halfway or so. It was just surprising at first, but I don't really think about it anymore at all.

I hope you enjoy your M500 (should you purchase it, of course)! Overall I'm pretty satisfied with mine.

 

Calumnus & YOW - Does the laptop get hot when under load, especially when playing games?

Being in a tropic country, heat is a major issue (which is what i'm facing with my current Compaq, heats up pretty badly).

I'm currently trying to choose between the Asus U80V and the Toshiba M500, as a PC fair is coming soon.

 

It doesn't seem to get too hot. Just today I used it on a sweltering BoltBus for several hours (plugged in) on my lap and it didn't get hot, of course I was just surfing the web / using MS word. Running cool is a feature of this laptop, I'd say.

As for the slot DVD, i'm bothered by the loud spasm noises it makes when the computer comes out of sleep mode. I was never aware of my old dvd-rom, which is the way it should be.

More observations:

1. Since I last posted here, I'm less convinced that this purchase was right for me. In terms of build quality, it's a substantial downgrade from my 2005 Toshiba M50. On my old M50,I could just pull the lid up with one hand to open it. Now, I have to keep one hand on the base to hold the M500 down while opening the lid. Sounds trite, but I move my laptop around a lot.

2. Toshiba HDD protection drives me crazy. The slightest movements interrupt video playback. I'll probably uninstall this soon, but the fact that Toshiba preinstalls it makes me think I need it, or the HD will commit suicide. But I never had a data issue on my M50, and that computer went through some serious acrobatics while it followed me around.

3. I got my first blue screen of death (BSOD). Can't remember the last time I ever had this issue. No idea what caused it, I wasn't doing anything at the time but reading a news article. Very random and distressing.

4. There's been a couple isolated incidents of the trackpad not responding for up to 10 seconds, or alternatively jumping around on its own.

5. I want to retract my keyboard squeaking claim, haven't heard it at all lately.

6. Am still disgusted by the fingerprints.

 

YOW,

You can lower the sensitivity of the HDD shock protection or disable it completely. Just find the Toshiba HDD application, and you can tweak the settings from there.

 

I just saw the M505-S4985 for the first time while I was down at Staples. I really liked the 14" screen on it, very sharp, bright, and vibrant. Noticed it came with the 6-cell battery. For those of you with a M500 model, how is the fit of the 12-cell battery as compared to the 6-cell? Does it stick out? Does it add a lot of weight to the laptop?

 

Duvallite,

The 12-Cell battery doesn't stick out in the sense that it juts out of the back of the laptop; instead, it's one of those batteries that extends downward and so tilts your laptop when it's placed on a flat surface.

Since I only have the 12-cell, I can't speak for how the fit is compared to the 6-cell. As for weight, I wouldn't say that the laptop with the battery attached is significantly heavy or anything, although glancing at the specs on Toshiba's website will give you a more objective and official weight measure than I could.

 

You said in your post:

"The touchpad is, unfortunately, an Alps model. While this may not bother some people, I've always found Synaptics pads to be far superior."

Based on what I know about the two touchpads, I prefer Alps. I'd like to talk to you or anybody else about the specific differences. My number is
503-232-2250 pacific time.
Jeff

 

I'm not sure which Touchpad model I have on my M500, but while it works great 95% of the time, there have been a handful of incidents over the last month of daily usage where the touchpad has simply frozen and I can't move the cursor for a good 4-7 minutes.

 

Hi Everyone,

I also recently bought the Toshiba M500 Satellite. Maybe I should start at new post, but here goes anyway.

How does one change the screen so all the text displays correctly? For example, if I go to msnbc.com on any other computer, all of the text is easy to read. On the Toshiba, the text overruns other text. It seems the screen has a portrait and landscape function, but one is worse than the other.

Appreciate any help given.

Mugszy