Interesting. If the thrust vector can be altered without reorienting the drive plate, it may be similar to how a phase array radar can change the direction of the radar beam without moving the radar. Though I'd have to assume it had a limited range of vectoring.
One reason I was looking at a gimballing or thrust vectoring M-Drive was for first generation M-drive spaceplanes, without the niceties such as artificial gravity or contra-gravity (Z drives). One G of thrust along their horizontal direction could provide atmospheric flight, while vectoring it downwards then allows you to fly with the floor under you in space. The thrust plate would oriented at 45 degrees down and backwards with a 45 degree vector angle either way.
Of course a Thrust 1 spaceplane without Z drives would need a higher thrust booster to boost it to several kilometres per second on an arc out of the atmosphere which would give the M-Drive to boost it to orbital speed. The booster could be reusable, returning to land like the Falcon 9 first stage. I don't think simply dropping it from a sub-sonic plane like the X15 or SpaceShip Two would give it enough momentum, even if it could fly upwards using it's wings for hypersonic lift.
A capsule design using this system, such as a Dragon or Orion capsule with the M-drive replacing the regular engines respectively wouldn't need vectoring.
I did some maths. a 10 ton vehicle with a Thrust 1 M-Drive uses 1 power. I know we should be putting aside another 2 power for ships systems, but this is primitive, so we're assuming other power usage is negligible.
I suspect a vehicle that small wouldn't be able to fit a first generation fusion/fission powwer plant, so it might well use a more primitive High Efficiency accumulator (TL-10 gives 40 power/ton for a round and TL-12 gives 60 power/ton for a round so a TL8 version would logically be 20 power/ton). A round is 6 minutes in space ship scale operations, so 1 ton gives us 120 minutes or 2 hours of operation.
4 tons, or in general 40% mass of the vehicle as accumulators woiuld give ample power for a constant boost round trip to the moon, and even 1 ton or 10% vehicle mass would easily achieve extended orbital operations, including slowing down enough for a low speed re-entry, removing the need for a heat shield.