Toshiba has introduced three new business laptops-as well as a consumer-geared spinoff-that are its thinnest yet and feature Intel "Sandy Bridge" processors.
Toshiba's
business laptop customers have been asking for lighter machines and more robust
battery life without a sacrifice to performance, according
to the company, and on April 12 it delivered, with thinnest-ever
versions of its Tecra and Port??«g??« laptops.
The
company introduced an ultraportable Port??«g??« R830, a Tecra R840-25
percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its predecessor-and an also
slimmed down Tecra R850, all running Intel's 2nd-generation
Core processors
and a choice of 7200RPM hard drives or 128GB solid-state drives.
Discrete graphics from AMD Radeon with 1GB of dedicated graphics memory
are also included, along with USB 3.0, eSATA/USB Combo drives with
Toshiba USB
Sleep & Charge technology; DisplayPort or HDMI ports; ExpressCard
slots,
Gigabit Ethernet; and connectors for pairing the laptops with a dock.
A
suite of security features, such as multilevel passwords, a fingerprint reader
and an optional SmartCard reader, are included, and to lower the total cost of
ownership across a fleet deployment, the Tectra and Portege laptops have
similar graphics, the same AC power adapter and Hi-Speed Port Replicator II,
and the Portege R830 and Tecra R840 have interchangeable 6- and 9-cell
batteries.
The
Tecra laptops were built with a new fiberglass-reinforced casing and
"honeycomb rib" structure. The R840 features a 14-inch
(diagonal) HD or HD-plus LED-backlit display, is an inch thin and
weighs just
4.2 pounds. It can be configured with a Intel Core i3, i5 or i7
processors and-when paired with a solid state drive-boasts a battery
life of up to 11
hours.
There's
easy access to the hard drive and memory (just remove two screws), EasyGuard
technology to protect against knocks and spills and-a particular point of
Toshiba pride-a "highly effective" air intake design for keeping
the machine cool.
The
larger Tegra R850 similarly features the range of processor choices but bumps
the display to 15.6 inches and includes a 10-key numeric pad on the keyboard.
At approximately an inch thick and a starting weight of 5.3 pounds, it's 19
percent thinner and 6 percent lighter than the Tecra A11 that proceeded it, and
paired with the solid state drive offers a battery life of seven hours.
The
Port??«g??« R830, according to Toshiba, is the "world's lightest 13.3-inch
full-performance ultraportable laptop featuring an integrated DVD drive."
It, too, is an inch thick, but weighs just 3.1 pounds. Available in seven
models, users again have a choice of Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 "Sandy
Bridge" processors, plus a hard drive or solid-state drive. They also get
a USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 3.0, the AirFlow cooling system, a Hard Drive Impact Sensor and spill-resistant
keyboard.
Toshiba
slipped into its announcement that it plans to also offer consumer edition
Portege R835 laptops. Housed in spiffy Magnesium Blue covers, they'll feature
the Intel's 2nd-generation Core i3 or i5
processors, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 640GB hard drives and a USB 3.0 port. Intel
Wireless Display 2.0 capable, they can wirelessly connect to an HDTV, but the docking
capabilities will be left off and the warranty will be just a year-versus the
three years offered on the enterprise-grade models.
The
consumer models start at $889 and are now available at Best Buy, as well as the
Microsoft Store and Toshiba, while, through Toshiba resellers and e-tailers the
Tecra R840 Series is priced from $899 to $1,479, the Tecra R850 Series from
$879 to $1,399 and the Port??«g??« R830 Series from $1,049 to $1,649.
Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.
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