Toshiba Satellite R10 review: Toshiba Satellite R10

Tablet Toshiba Satellite R15
The Toshiba Satellite R15 is the convertible tablet for those who are tired of paying a small fortune for a tablet PC with a tiny screen and an all-too-short battery life. At 14.1 inches, the screen on the R15 is as big as it gets for business tablets, and its price, $1,599 (as of June 2005), is hundreds of dollars less than tablets with smaller screens. But along with the extra screen space come outsized dimensions and a weight that will strain muscles and likely make potential buyers think twice. This is the tablet for users who demand the big picture and won't stray too far from a desk or a conference room table.

Measuring 1.5 inches thick, 12.7 inches wide, and 11.3 inches deep and weighing a hefty 6.1 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite R15 is about twice the size and weight of the tiny HP Compaq Tablet PC tc1100. Though the R15 is a little narrower and lighter than the Acer TravelMate C301XCi, it's still so heavy that it can be uncomfortable to hold like a clipboard for more than a few minutes; it's clearly intended for working on your lap or a desktop. The black-and-silver case--with a magnesium frame, base, and lid--has been built to take daily abuse.

Like other convertible tablets, the Toshiba Satellite R15 is two computers in one: it looks like a standard keyboard-based laptop, but its screen rotates 180 degrees and folds over the keyboard to allow for pen input. Unfortunately, the R15's single swivel hinge allows the screen to wobble and rock at the slightest touch when it's in laptop mode. The 14.1-inch XGA display is more than adequate, but it lacks the automatic brightness adjustments of the TravelMate C301XCi, and our test system had an annoying piece of dust below the surface of the display. Below the screen are three buttons for rotating the display orientation, calling up the Windows Task Manager, and scrolling horizontally or vertically.

For any tablet to do its stuff, it needs a good pen and digitizer; in this realm the Toshiba Satellite R15 will satisfy even the most inveterate scribblers. The stylus, the Wacom digitizer, and the flush screen surface make writing nearly as natural as pencil on paper, although we would have liked a slightly rougher writing surface with a little more resistance. Character recognition, at about 85 percent, is slightly better than with older tablets. But the software still has trouble distinguishing between similar characters, such as a Y and a 4. If you want typed notes, in many cases, it's easier and quicker to use the keyboard.

While the screen and the pen are the center of attention, the R15 has a decent-size, if overly flexible, keyboard. The smallish touch pad has two huge mouse buttons, but it lacks either a scroll button or a scroll zone. Like any good business machine, the R15 can connect in a variety of ways, with headphone and microphone jacks, FireWire, three USB 2.0, VGA, S-Video, modem, and Ethernet ports--though corporate buyers who have standardized on Gigabit Ethernet will thumb their noses at the R15's 100Mbps LAN card. There's also an Intel 802.11b/g wireless radio, which has its own on/off switch on the front of the machine; in our anecdotal test it demonstrated a substandard range of only 90 feet.

When it comes to removable media, the Toshiba Satellite R15 comes with a modular combo DVD/CD-RW optical drive, but there's no DVD burner option available. And rather than a multicard reader that accepts five or six types of flash cards, the R15 has a plain-vanilla Secure Digital flash card slot. Unfortunately for businesses worried about data security, the R15 lacks a fingerprint reader, a smart-card slot, or a Trusted Platform Module.

Oddly, sound is central to the R15, with an integrated Analog Devices audio chip and SRS TruSurround XT technology that make the tablet's tiny speakers sound larger and more powerful. Though the speakers are partially covered when the display is folded flat, the sound is surprisingly good once you get the hang of the SRS adjustments. In addition, the machine features an array microphone with echo cancellation technology that makes it almost as good as a dedicated mike, letting you record meetings, dictate to a speech recognition program, and navigate menus by speaking simple commands such as "cut," "paste," and "undo" to the system. If there's a lot of background noise, however, you'll still need to use a headset microphone.

Inside the Toshiba Satellite R15's case dwells yesterday's technology, with a previous-generation 1.6GHz Pentium M processor; 512MB of somewhat pedestrian, 333MHz memory; and a slow 4,200rpm hard drive with an average 60GB of storage. Those components turned in merely adequate scores on CNET Labs' mobile benchmarks, coming in 16 percent behind the more expensive HP Compaq tc4200, which has a faster, 1.8GHz processor. But the R15's score is 28 percent better than the less expensive Averatec C3500, which also has a faster processor; in the end, the R15 should be more than acceptable for most business tasks. In our battery-drain tests, the R15 ran for 4 hours, 22 minutes, more than twice as long as the Averatec C3500 and just 12 minutes behind the HP Compaq tc4200.

While other tablet makers get by with Windows Tablet PC Edition 2005 and a couple of pen programs on their systems, Toshiba loads a slew of software, including Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, as well as a two-month subscription to Norton AntiVirus and trials for Microsoft Office 2003, Alias Sketchpad Pro, and FranklinCovey TabletPlanner organizer. Toshiba's included utilities range from the must-use hard drive protector that senses if the device is being rattled to the superfluous PowerSaver, which duplicates Windows' power conservation interface.

As with its other Satellite systems, Toshiba backs the R15 with an underwhelming one-year warranty (mail-in service) and lifetime support. Extending the warranty to a business-ready three years adds $120; three years with onsite service costs $225. The company leads the pack with a well-stocked and organized Web site that has product tours and a chat room to help resolve problems, as well as setup tips, spec sheets, and downloads. If the toll-free, 24-hour support desk is too personal, you can always e-mail a technician and expect a reply the next day.

System configurations:
Averatec C3500
Windows XP Home; Athlon XP-M 2200+1.67GHz; 512MB DDR SDRAM; ATI Radeon IGP 320M 64MB; Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60GB 4,200rpm
HP Compaq tc4200
Windows XP Tablet 2005; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium M 745; 512MB DDR SDRAM; Intel 915GM 128MB; Toshiba MK6026GAX 60GB 5,400rpm
Toshiba Satellite R15-S822
Windows XP Pro; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M 725; 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM 333MHz; Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME 64MB; Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 60GN 60GB 5,400rpm

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