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View Full Version : Review: M50, Swiss Army Bag and Marware Sleeve


Snoopy
09-17-2005, 05:23 PM
Hello everyone:

I have bought a Toshiba M50, well actually, I bought it for my wife to go back to school. I purchased the copper coloured M50 from Future Shop. This will be a review of the M50, the Swiss Army Bag that I bought and the Marware sleeve.

I paid $1699 Cdn and got a free router. The priced dropped to $1499, so I managed to get a $200 rebate from Future Shop. I also bought an extended warranty that covers the laptop for 3 years and includes the accidental damage protection for $425 Cdn.

Let's start off with the one thing that a lot of people are always complaining about, the heat under the palm rest. There is heat, but it's tolerable. The heat issue all depends on the person using it. When I use it the area does get quite warm after awhile, but when my wife uses it, she finds that it doesn't get hot at all.

The best thing about the M50 so far is the screen. It truely is a thing of beauty. The colours are truely amazing, movies are fantastic to watch.

The sound system is better than most laptops. You have to play around with the settings to get the best sound, but it's worth it because it really helps when you listen to music or watch movies.

The keyboard does have some flex to it, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I actually think that the flex is a good thing and I like it. My wife didn't even notice it when she uses it.

The lid closes nice and tight and there are no loose parts anywhere.



Next:
It took me about four months to finally find a bag, not because my wife is picky, but it's because she is only five feet tall and her back is not very big. You see, most bags are made for:
1) men and
2) men.

Sorry, but all you ladies out their know what I'm talking about. Also, if there are any bags for ladies, they are also for average size women and my wife, at five feet tall, is definately not an average size. So as you can see, for us, it was quite an ordeal.

So, after going to Best Buy, Future Shop, Fairway Mall, Markville Mall, Vaughan Mills etc, etc, you get the idea, we've been everywhere and we still couldn't find a bag. We looked on the net and found lots of bags, but I've got issues with all of the companies that sell over the internet.

1) Most of them don't have enough pictures to accurately determine if it's a good bag or not and most of them never have pictures of the inside with the bag loaded with stuff to show what will fit and what won't.

2) Almost all of the companies are in the States and they either don't ship to Canada or they don't give you any information on shipping to Canada, like, oh say the shipping rate?

So we were forced to shop locally and we found what we thought was the perfect bag made by a company called Heys. It's a company located here in Toronto and everything about it was perfect, except it was a little to big, and the bottom sagged when you put the books in it.

Then we found the Swiss Army bag and we found the perfect bag. It has everything, three different pockets for books, laptop, pens, pencils etc a side pocket for the mouse and two pockets for water. The back of the bag and the straps have lots of padding to help protect and support the back. One of the best parts of the bag is the bottom. It's reinforced with extra plastic to help protect the stuff inside and it also has hard plastic feet. You'd be amazed at how many bags don't have any extra protection on the bottom. The bag is also not as big as all the rest of the bags which was another plus. The only problem that my wife has with the bag is the colour, it has none. It's all black and she would like one with colour.



Next:
The last thing to buy was a laptop sleeve. This one didn't take as long as the bag, but to find a good one in Toronto or even Canada, was difficult. I found that looking at or buying a laptop sleeve over the internet was the same as looking ator buying a bag over the internet, so once again, we were forced to buy locally. We found one at a place called CompuSmart in Toronto. It's called Marware and they're made for ibooks. The M50 is a 14" laptop and they had a 14" sleeve, but it was to small, so we bought a 15" sleeve and it fits perfectly. It's made of Neoprene and it has a zipper and it has a reinforced bottom for extra protection. It also has a cover on the inside of the zipper that sits between the zipper and your laptop to prevent any scratches from happening and to also add a little more cushion and support for the laptop. Best of all, it fits our new bag perfectly.

In conclusion, all I have to say is that the laptop is great and the bag and sleeve work well together to provide all the protection that is needed.

So there you go, one review of three different items that we bought for my wife to go to school. If you want any more information, please make sure to ask any questions and I'll try to answer them. Here are some pictures.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/3092/p10205206vt.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/883/p10205142zd.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/3719/p10204982fq.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6366/p10205073jv.jpg

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/3025/p10205120fl.jpg

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/9333/p10205095mz.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/7705/p10204933nl.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/968/p10204947xd.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/1396/p10204961dh.jpg

I think that's enough, I have more pictures if anybody wants to see them, let me know.

YP5 Toronto
09-17-2005, 05:51 PM
nice review!

thelostpatrol
09-17-2005, 06:51 PM
I have the M60 and a Swiss Army bag as well, except the bag I have is all black with just the little red symbol. I need a sleeve though, that's next on my list.

Great choice for bags, and for PCs, been incredibly happy with both.

As far as that heat issue, I find that if room temperature is lower, you feel the palmrest heat a lot less.

M.

Fidget
09-17-2005, 10:50 PM
i love the bags that swiss army makes, along with much of their other gear it is very very good. well made and sturdy, i would not hesitate to buy from them.

thelostpatrol
09-18-2005, 12:26 AM
Yep, really well crafted. I love mine.

M.

suddste223
09-18-2005, 12:52 AM
can you get a coulour insted of orange like cool blue?

thelostpatrol
09-18-2005, 12:53 AM
That computer and mine come in copper, dark blue metallic, and a dark grey metallic they call "ash grey." I have the grey.

M.

Fidget
09-18-2005, 02:16 AM
i dont believe the blue is available in canada... the gray is from toshiba directly and the copper is from bestbuy/futureshop....

thelostpatrol
09-18-2005, 04:11 AM
I got mine from Future Shop just a couple of weeks ago, the grey. They had the blue one on display, I was expecting it but the box contained the grey. They did not give me the choice but I got the one I would have chosen anyhow so no complaints at all.

I would have slapped the salesman if he gave me a copper one, I dislike that colour personally. I'm into the subtle ones, the ones that match basically everything. Like a black pair of pants or something. Heh.

I dislike the Mac and Ferrari laptops because of the design as well.

M.

alkaholikc
09-18-2005, 10:13 AM
How much was your Marware sleeve?? I've been trying to find a sleeve for a while now. Do you know which CompuSmart was it? :D

Snoopy
09-18-2005, 11:05 AM
I went to the Compusmart in Fairview mall and I paid $39.99. They had one more 15" and 2 or 3 17" sleeves left. That may have been a little expensive, but I went to the Source and they had a real crappy sleeve for $29.99 and as my wife said, the laptop is $2000, so spending $40 on a good sleeve to protect an expensive piece of equipment is a good thing.



How much was your Marware sleeve?? I've been trying to find a sleeve for a while now. Do you know which CompuSmart was it? :D

Snoopy
09-18-2005, 11:08 AM
I got mine from Future Shop just a couple of weeks ago, the grey. They had the blue one on display, I was expecting it but the box contained the grey. They did not give me the choice but I got the one I would have chosen anyhow so no complaints at all.

I would have slapped the salesman if he gave me a copper one, I dislike that colour personally. I'm into the subtle ones, the ones that match basically everything. Like a black pair of pants or something. Heh.

I dislike the Mac and Ferrari laptops because of the design as well.

M.

I'm amazed that they have the blue. I like the blue better than the grey or the copper, but I also like the copper more than the grey. It has a little more personality and style. Just my personal preference of course. :)

thelostpatrol
09-18-2005, 01:06 PM
Yeah, that's true I suppose. I just prefer the more toned down classic look, to me it seems more practical, aesthetic, and it obviously attracts less attention, of which I want the least possible.

M.

davez82
09-19-2005, 11:33 AM
sweet review nice laptop,

I woulda gotten a pink one lol j/k, coppers cool, the blue seems to default looking to me. grey is nice too but after a few years it might get boring to look at.

thelostpatrol
09-19-2005, 04:55 PM
sweet review nice laptop,

I woulda gotten a pink one lol j/k, coppers cool, the blue seems to default looking to me. grey is nice too but after a few years it might get boring to look at.

The grey is the people in front of me to see, not me. I look at the shiny TruBrite! :mmm:

Honestly I've barely seen it.

And either way, I love that one more than any other!

M.