Dell, Toshiba, Gateway and HP Gear Up Laptops for Back to School

Dell imagines the Inspiron 14 moving from dorm room to classroom to study lounge, where its 14-inch high-definition screen and optional Blue-ray Disc drive will complement its Intel Centrino 2 processor, optional 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon 433HD Graphics Card and seven hours of battery life. Pricing starts at $499.

Toshiba is emphasizing long battery life, eco-efficiency and budget-friendly prices with its new line of laptops, in L, U, M, A and P Series. The L Series, starting at $549.99, is, more than the others, geared toward budget-watchers and back-to-school shoppers. Seen here is the L515S.

The Toshiba Satellite laptops feature high-definition widescreen displays, illuminated LED-backlit keyboards and, among other features, an Eco Utility button, which leads users to power consumption information. Accumulated power savings can be viewed by day, week or month. Pictured here is the Satellite M505.

From Acer-owned Gateway comes the company’s first netbook, the LT3100. It weighs 3.14 pounds, includes an AMD Athlon 64 L110 processor and sells for around $399. Particularly of note is the 11.6-inch display, where 10 inches is more common.

Gateway introduced several new desktop towers, including the DX Series, pictured here, which comes in two models. The DX4300-03 runs an AMD Phenom X4 9750 processor and is priced at $749.99, and the DX4820-02, with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 processor, is priced at $899.99. Dell calls both “multimedia and entertainment powerhouses.”

Gateway’s NV line starts at $499.99, includes lots of connectivity and media-viewing features as well as little extras, like a One-Touch MyBackup button and PowerSave keys.

The Gateway NV laptop line offers a choice of processors and graphics from either Intel or AMD, as well as NightSky Black, Midnight Blue, Cherry Red or Coffee Brown color options.

The HP Mini 5101 is a 2.6-pound companion PC with a starting price of $449. It offers Qualcomm’s Gobi technology for high-speed connectivity, along with integrated Wi-Fi, WLAN, optional Bluetooth and an Intel Atom processor. An accelerometer, spill-proof keyboard and DuraKeys keyboard coating are geared toward student users.

The HP ProBook 4310s also offers Gobi and multiple connectivity options, plus an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (up to 2.8GHz and 6MB L2 cache) and Intel Celeron processor (up to 1.9GHz and 1MB L2 cache). It has a 13.3-inch screen (on the diagonal) and weighs 4.34 pounds, and pricing starts at $799.

For streamlining a tech life, HP has introduced the Essential USB 2.0 Port Replicator, which includes three USB ports, two Always On USB 2.0 ports for charging devices, a 10/100 LAN port, a USB cable port for passing audio, USB and LAN connectivity to other devices, an AC power input and a Kensington lock slot. It can be used vertically or horizontally and sells for $79.