<![CDATA[Gizmodo: portege]]> http://tags.gizmodo.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Gizmodo: portege]]> http://gizmodo.com/tag/portege http://gizmodo.com/tag/portege <![CDATA[Toshiba Portege R600 Review: 512GB SSDs Are the Bee's Knees]]> Just last summer, Toshiba's Portege R500 was the first laptop with a 128GB SSD. A year later, Toshiba's Portege R600 is the world's first 512GB SSD lappie. So for this one moment, Toshiba is on the top of the world.

Design
Note: The R600 has been out for several months, we just tested their updated system with the mega SSD. So if you've read about the build before, you can skip down to our section on performance.

For $3,500 (as tested with 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400, 3GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel 4500MHD graphics, DVD burner, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi n), the Portege may be a bit of a disappointment right out of the box. Yes, it's ridiculously light, starting at 2.46lbs, but that weight comes at a cost of feel. It's plastic, and no amount of metal paint can get around that. But luckily the plastic is fairly smudge-proof and part of a "shock absorbing design" complete with "spill resistant" keyboard. In other words, the system may be more durable than a Macbook, especially with so few moving parts.

The 12.1-inch screen is technically WXGA (widescreen) resolution, though something about the system's shape makes it look more vertical, like a 4:3 screen of yore. This is a minor point, of course, and its non-glossy screen gets just bright enough to use indoors by a window. In full-out sunlight, you can one-button switch the system into "transreflective" mode, essentially using the sun to brighten the screen. High brightness (in standard mode) is still the brightest setting, even under direct sunlight, but the transreflective setting probably uses a lot less power.
Extras, from the effective fingerprint scanner to the eSATA and SD ports, do a lot to sweeten the deal on the small, utilitarian system. And in this era, it's straight up shocking to see an optical bay pop out of a system that's just .77 inches thick.

Performance
The R600 runs Vista very fluidly, especially given its stature. Firefox, Windows Media Player, HD content streamed from the web—none of it will leave you waiting. But given the system's Intel 4500MHD GPU, don't get any fantasies of gaming.

Many will expect the computer to boot nearly instantly given the SSD—I've heard this expectation a number of times—but the still takes about a minute to fully load. The bottleneck here is simply not the hard drive.
How does the R600 compare to other light systems like the Macbook Air or Lenovo X301? Just as you'd expect from the specs on paper, it's slower than the Macbook Air. But even with the same processor, it outperforms the X301.

Then you have to check out the speeds on the SSD.
Fast! This isn't some bargain basement drive that Toshiba shoved in a laptop for bragging rights. I mean, a 512GB SSD is clearly for bragging rights, but it's Toshiba's biggest and fastest drive made in-house—way nicer than we see competition from Lenovo and Apple (which we believe to both use earlier gen, Samsung drives).

But what does this speed chart mean in real life? Copying a 700MB file on my Macbook Pro (with a 320GB, 7200 RPM hard drive) took 35 seconds. On the R600, that same copy may have legitimately cracked the 8 second barrier. I'd like to say that I never took the speed for granted, but I totally started taking the speed for granted. Superman doesn't bow down and thank the sun every time he avoids traffic by flying over Metropolis, so why should I be any different?
Toshiba's 6-cell battery is rated internally at 7 hours, 32 minutes. I found that it offers 3 hours and 35 minutes of MPEG4 playback (screen maxed bright, Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, performance settings normal). Our test is rigorous, and it's pretty common for laptops to only get about 50% of their rated battery life in our real world use simulation. Of course, the computer could probably eek out another 30 minutes to an hour with less taxing processes and a dimmer screen.

I Might Buy One...In 2011
The key to remember, of course, is that the 128GB R500 ran $3,000 just a year ago. Now, their 512GB R600 is $3,500. Even with the price bump on their top tier system, Toshiba has the right idea here: Push the envelope and force the market to adapt. Keep topping the sundae with cherries and someone will be hungry enough to buy it (meanwhile those of us who aren't will have plenty of dropped cherries to munch on).
Still, I don't know that I'd recommend this fully stuffed R600 with full gusto. It's simply not as beautiful as premium, small-form laptops like the Dell Adamo or Apple's Macbook Air (side by side above), and the prices of flash storage will certainly come down (and quickly at that). But I'm glad Toshiba made the thing because, frankly, somebody needed to load a laptop with a legitimately beastly SSD first.

The huge SSD Is fast

Under 3lbs, less than an inch thick

Substantial ports and extras

For $3,500, it feels a bit like a Pontiac



[Additional benchmarks from AppleInsider and ThinkPad Forums]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portégé R600 Ultraportable Holds Its Own on Worst Notebook Launch Day Ever]]> On basically the worst day of the year to launch a new notebook, Toshiba's ultraportable Portégé R600 actually holds its own, though not quite as comely as Voodoo's Envy, but you do get a bona-fide DVD-SuperMulti drive in the world's lightest computer with two spindles. The successor to Toshiba's formerly most awesome laptop, the Portege R500, the R600 is only 2.4 pounds and 0.77 inches thick. It feels unbelievably light, too, mostly thanks to the plastic shell, and was the most impressive laptop I saw in Toshiba's new lineup. Besides faster guts, one of the other major updates over the last generation is an LED-backlit display. But excellence isn't cheap—the R600 starts at $2099.

If you're looking to spend less, Toshiba also has a few other new business laptops, most notably the other Tecra R10 and and Portege A600. The latter is a bit thick to be called an ultraportable, but it's only 3.2 pounds and starts at $1399. The Tecra R10 is a cousin to the A10 and M10 launched back in July, so not a whole lot different there.

Toshiba Launches Newest Ultraportable Innovation with Portégé R600 Laptop

At 2.4 Pounds and 0.77-Inch Thin, Portégé R600 Laptop PC Combines Executive Mobility with Innovative Features

IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Toshiba’s Digital Products Division, a leading provider of mobile computing solutions, today announced the Portégé® R600 laptop PC. At 2.4-pounds(1), 0.77-inch thin(2), this engineering marvel incorporates an integrated 7mm DVD-SuperMulti drive making the Portégé R600 Toshiba’s ultimate ultraportable laptop.

As the successor to the award-winning Portégé R500 platform, the Portégé R600 offers its own unique collection of new features, such as Toshiba’s fourth-generation EasyGuard® Technology(3) with PC Health Monitor, an extended life battery, an enhanced LED backlit transreflective display and a durable chassis. Prices for the ultraportable Toshiba Portégé R600 start at $2,099 (MSRP)(4).

“As Toshiba’s signature laptop PC, the Portégé R600 embodies the company’s rich tradition of mobile computing innovation,” said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. “The Portégé R600 builds upon Toshiba’s legacy of innovation and delivers a superior mobile experience by providing performance, functionality and flexibility in an extremely lightweight form factor weighing 2.4 pounds.”

Designed, engineered and manufactured by Toshiba the Portégé R600 provides users with high-quality and enhanced reliability in a laptop PC. Toshiba’s Portégé R600 includes the following leading-edge technologies:

* Design Enhancements: The Portégé R600 features an enhanced LED backlit transreflective display for a better viewing angle and contrast and a durable chassis with out increasing the size or weight of the laptop. The laptop PC's touchpad has been moved to the center and the buttons feature a tighter, firmer and more solid design. While the keyboard has been enhanced to provide a better tactile feel for touch typists.
* EasyGuard® Technology: Toshiba’s Portégé R600 laptop features Toshiba’s fourth-generation EasyGuard Technology with PC Health Monitor. This new feature is a preventative maintenance utility that continuously checks the performance and functionality of a laptop’s critical hardware components and will alert users when the system is in need of a tune up. PC Health Monitor tracks the status of critical components, such as hard drive status, battery life and CPU temperature and system cooling warnings. In addition to PC Health Monitor, Toshiba’s EasyGuard Technology is a proprietary, value-added series of hardware and software enhancements designed to better protect and secure one’s laptop during everyday computing. Components include HDD Protection, a spill-resistant keyboard(5), fingerprint reader and Trusted Platform Module (TPM).
* LED Backlit Transreflective Display: The notebook features a special button to allow users to toggle between indoor/outdoor modes depending on the lighting environments. Indoors, the LED backlit transreflective display produces an image rich in saturated color and of superb quality. Outdoors, the transreflective screen lets the sun’s light pass through and reflects it out, bringing images on the display to life.
* Solid State Drive (SSD): Select Portégé R600 configurations feature a 128GB SSD(6), making it one of the world’s lightest and thinnest laptops with an SSD. With no moving parts, SSD technology provides customers with an enhanced level of protection, reliability and fast data access.
* USB Sleep-and-Charge/eSATA Combo Port(7): This unique port provides convenience and speed by allowing data transfers to and from an eSATA external hard drive at rates up to five times faster than USB 2.0, and the ability to charge select USB mobile devices whether the laptop is on, off, or in sleep or hibernation mode.
* Green Attributes: The Portégé R600 is ENERGY STAR® 4.0 compliant and has achieved a Gold status through the Green Electronics Council’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT).

Complete product specifications for the Portégé R600 models are available at http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/portege.

The Portégé R600 is available with a three-year standard limited warranty(8), which includes carry-in support at Authorized Service Providers throughout the country such as UPS Stores and Mail Boxes Etc. locations.

As a responsible global corporate citizen, Toshiba designs all of its new laptop PCs to be RoHS compatible(9), effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances.

Toshiba is offering a new, free electronic trade-in and recycling program which includes all laptop PCs and other select electronics, regardless of manufacturer, that have no trade-in value. For more details, please visit http://explore.toshiba.com/green. No purchase is necessary to participate in the recycling program.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry leading portable computers; projectors; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure systems. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $76 billion. For more information on Toshiba's leading innovations, visit the company's Web site at www.toshiba.com.

[Businesswire, Businesswire, Businesswire]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege R500 Upgraded to 128GB SSD]]> That's a lot of numbers in the headline. Just know that the Toshiba Portege R500—an acclaimed 12.1" ultraportable—has officially gotten the rumored upgrade to a 128GB solid state hard drive. That's twice the SSD storage we see in the Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air. Still priced at $2,999, the new 2.4-pound Portege R500-S5007V also features a 1.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor, DVD burner, 2GB RAM, and plenty of other goodies. For the full details, here's the mega press release:

TOSHIBA LAUNCHES WORLD’S FIRST LAPTOP WITH 128GB SOLID STATE DRIVE

Portégé R500-S5007V Measures 0.77-inches Thin and Weighs 2.4 Pounds Making it One of the Thinnest and Lightest Laptops

IRVINE, Calif. (June 17, 2008) – Toshiba’s Digital Products Division, today announced the addition of a 128GB solid state drive (SSD)1 into the innovative Portégé laptop series. Toshiba’s 2.4 pound2 Portégé R500-S5007V is the world’s lightest laptop with a 128GB SSD and DVD SuperMulti drive and one of the world’s thinnest with a SSD and DVD SuperMulti drive.
“With seven world’s first technologies the Portégé R500 series has served as a technology launching pad and redefined the ultraportable marketplace with its world’s first technologies and ‘green’ attributes, such as a transreflective LED backlit indoor/outdoor viewing display, the industry’s highest rated EPEAT Gold laptop and Energy Star 4.0 compliance,” said Jeff Barney, general manager and vice president, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. “First to incorporate a 128GB solid state drive is another major accomplishment for Toshiba and illustrates how the company is committed to delivering solutions that meet the needs of our customers.”
Utilizing the industry’s largest solid state drive capacity of 128GB, Toshiba’s
Portégé R500-S5007V provides ample storage space for carrying critical company data
and sensitive personal data while traveling. With no moving parts, SSD technology
provides customers with an enhanced level of reliability, durability and system
responsiveness.
To provide added convenience and on-the-go productivity, the Portégé R500 series was the world’s first laptop to ship with a 7mm DVD SuperMulti drive. The built-in optical drive reduces the Portégé R500-S5007V’s travel weight by providing users with an all-in-one solution, eliminating the bulk and inconvenience of carrying additional drives and cables.
For enhanced outdoor viewing, the Portégé R500 series incorporates the world’s first widescreen 12.1-inch transreflective LED backlit display, a feature that embraces the variety of lighting scenarios in which laptop computers are used including direct sunlight. Indoors, the LED backlit display produces an image rich in color saturation and superb quality. Outdoors, the transreflective screen lets the sun’s light pass through and reflects it out to bring the images on the display to life so users can switch off the LED backlighting off while outdoors and decrease overall battery consumption. This feature also makes the Toshiba Portégé R500 series an ideal choice for environmentally conscious users. This innovative display technology also enables users to expand their mobile computing boundaries beyond the traditional four walls of their office, home or local coffee shop to include locations with direct sunlight.
Measuring as thin as 0.77-inches, the Portégé R500 series uses Toshiba’s proprietary High Density Mounting Technology process to enable dual-sided motherboard component mounting. This innovative technology produces a motherboard that is one-third the size of a mainstream 15.4-inch notebook’s motherboard, while still providing users the same functionality.
The more than eight hours of battery life3 of the Portégé R500-S5007V gives users a full work day of normal computing on a single charge. To achieve this extended computing life, Toshiba subjected key system components to meticulous energy efficiency evaluation. Key Portégé R500-S5007V components use low power consumption technology including both the 128GB SSD and an ultra low voltage processor.
For executive durability and security, the Portégé R500-S5007V incorporates Toshiba’s EasyGuard™ Technology4 including advanced encryption, multiple level passwords and a fingerprint reader. These innovative features help prevent theft, and protect against unauthorized access to the users system, helping keep confidential information secure. In terms of data protection, the elimination of all mechanical moving parts from the hard drive Toshiba has designed a machine that further enhances the level of reliability and durability.
Additional information about Toshiba’s EasyGuard Technology is available at
www.easyguard.toshiba.com
The Portégé R500-S5007V Recommended Configuration (MSRP $2,999)5
• Genuine Windows Vista™ Business (32-bit version)
o Downgrade media for Genuine Windows XP Professional
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor U77006
o 1.33GHz, 2MB L2, 533MHz FSB with 64 bit
• 2048 PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM8
• 128GB Serial ATA solid state drive1
• 12.1-inch diagonal widescreen high brightness display
o 1280 x 800 (WXGA) – Transreflective backlit LED
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 9509
• 7mm, 8xDVD-SuperMulti (+/-R Single Layer) drive supporting 9 formats
• Intel® Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN10
• Intel® PRO/1000 - 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• Bluetooth® 2.0 + EDR
• 3-Year Standard Limited Warranty11

Complete product specifications for all models within the Portégé R500 Series are available at www.explore.toshiba.com/laptops/portege/R500. The Portégé R500 Series is available with a three-year standard, limited warranty11, which includes carry-in support at Authorized Service Providers throughout the country; or customers may utilize any of the 4,460 UPS Stores and Mail Boxes Etc. locations nationwide for packaging and delivery of the product to a centralized depot for prompt turnaround service. Customers can also choose to upgrade the notebooks’ service plans, including up to four years of extended warranty coverage.
All new Toshiba notebooks are RoHS-compatible12, effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances. Beginning in the third Quarter of 2008, Toshiba will offer a computer trade-in and recycling program for all manufacturer’s PCs to reduce environmental impact and promote efficient utilization of resources. To learn more about this free PC recycling program or to find out how to recycle other consumer electronic products, please visit: www.toshiba.eztradein.com/toshiba.

[Toshiba ]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Ratchets Portege R500 SSD Up To 128GB]]> Toshiba's under-2-lb. Portege R500 will get its SSD boosted to 128GB, though at a still undeclared but likely super high price, says UK's Register. The machines get a bit of a chip upgrade, too, from Intel's 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo to a 1.33GHz U7700. The R500 is, to my knowledge, the lightest PC with an internal DVD burner, at least in the US market, but I can't back it 100% because of a little problem called Vista.

It's great to see Toshiba jacking up the specs on it to make it a total badass in the thin, light and fast category—with, ahem, 3 USB ports, and in addition to that, a FireWire port and a PC card slot. But Toshiba is still only offering Vista Business on these guys, and when I tested an R500 early on, it was Vista that totally stunk up the machine.

Toshiba's US site still shows the model capped at 64GB (for $3,000), but we assume it will be updated soon. When you do, Toshiba, please offer XP as an option. Then again, you never know how many of the issues were resolved by SP1. [Register]

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<![CDATA[Is MacBook Air Worth the Money? Five Slim Laptops Face Off]]> Updated with battery life stats, by popular demand. We can all agree that the MacBook Air is a slick-looking little laptop. It's so thin! You can't argue with that! But if you're in the market for a small, high-performance laptop, is it the best option? I pored over specs for four similarly positioned and more-or-less similarly priced laptops to see if you'll get your $1,800 worth out of the Air. Let's go to the chart, shall we?

New_Laptop_Battlemodo_Chart.jpgIt turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the block.

[Gizmodo's Macworld 2008 Full Coverage]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege M700 Tablet Has Touchable Screen, LED Backlighting]]> If you're a tablet person, you should take a look at Toshiba's latest, the Portege M700. It's got a 12.1" LCD screen, the first from Toshiba with LED backlighting and an antiglare coating for maximum indoor/outdoor performance. The screen has another talent too: unlike many Tablet PCs, this can be touched with your finger rather than the stylus, for extra flexibility. It comes with other features not seen on some earlier Toshiba's, such as a built-in webcam. And it has stuff that Toshiba buyer's look for, like a fingerprint reader, spill resistant-keyboard and accelerometer-based HDD protection. Unlike competitor's models, the Portege M700 still comes with a "tablet" level price: $1700. And up. (Jump for press release.)

TOSHIBA UNVEILS COMPANY'S FIRST TABLET PC WITH TOUCH SCREEN LED BACKLIT DISPLAY

New Portégé M700 Series, Toshiba's 9th Generation Tablet PC, Provides Mobile Professionals a Powerful and Versatile Solution

IRVINE, Calif. (Dec. 10, 2007) - Building upon its award-winning legacy of Tablet PCs, Toshiba's Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Portégé® M700 Tablet PC series. The Portégé M700 is the company's first Tablet PC to incorporate a touch screen LED backlit display.
As the ninth generation of Toshiba's innovative Tablet PC product line, the Portégé M700 series offers enhanced versatility, performance and productivity to attend to the needs of on-the-go professionals, "corridor warriors," educators and students.
"Toshiba's Portégé M700 Tablet PC provides mobile professionals with an exceptionally intuitive Tablet PC to meet their mobile computing needs," said Jeff Barney, vice president of marketing, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. "Building upon many years of successful Toshiba Tablet PC platforms, the Portégé M700 incorporates our customer's most requested features resulting in Toshiba's most powerful and versatile Tablet PC to date."
As Toshiba's first Tablet PC with a touch screen supporting both fingertip input capabilities and traditional pen-based input, Toshiba's Portégé M700 empowers users with a more flexible and convenient Tablet PC computing experience. The Portégé M700 detects the presence of a digital pen or a user's fingertip, automatically switching between the different input methods, with the digital pen given priority when both inputs are simultaneously detected.
The Portégé M700 series incorporates an LED backlit display with anti-glare coating, which allows Toshiba's new Tablet PC to be viewed in a wide range of environments both indoors and outdoors. The LED backlit display produces superb image quality and rich color saturation indoors. While outdoors the anti-glare display delivers a clear, easy-to-view image.
The resolution offered by the widescreen 12.1-inch WXGA display of Toshiba's Portégé M700 yields 30 percent more detail than a standard 12.1-inch XGA display. This affords users enhanced clarity for viewing multimedia files and multiple page documents side by side. The Portégé M700 Tablet PC display mirrors the layout of a standard sheet of paper when in portrait mode to give users a familiar writing workspace.
The Portégé M700 series uses high-performance Intel® Centrino Pro processor1 technology, including Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processors2, Intel® 965 Express chipset, Intel® Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN supporting draft 802.11n3, and Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT 2.6). Intel's AMT 2.6 delivers the ability to remotely deploy systems and supply proactive security and maintenance measures. This provides the network manager better control of mobile computing assets to minimize user downtime and provide greater efficiency at the office of when traveling.
The Ultra SlimBay® on the Portégé M700 gives users the flexibility to change the configuration of the Tablet PC to adjust to their individual user needs. With support for an internal optical drive, second hard drive or weight saver, the Ultra SlimBay helps eliminate the bulk and inconvenience of carrying additional external components. The Portégé M700 comes with a DVD SuperMulti Drive4 and weight saver as part of the standard configuration.
To simplify the transition from notebook computer to Tablet PC, the Portégé M700 design incorporates an improved hinge and display guide/peg mechanism as well as latch-less design to provide greater ease of use and industry leading stability. This combination of features ensures the display is securely locked into position in both notebook and Tablet PC mode.
The inclusion of the latch-less design enables Toshiba to cleanly integrate a Webcam and microphone on the bezel of the Portégé M700. The 1.3 megapixel Webcam provides mobile professionals the flexibility to communicate face-to-face with colleagues, co-workers and loved ones when out of the office or traveling. The Portégé M700's Webcam can take still photos, record video clips and record audio notes.
Featuring the full suite of Toshiba's third-generation EasyGuard™ technology5, the Portégé M700 brings a more reliable and secure mobile computing experience that includes:
• HDD Protection—Because the hard disk drive (HDD) is one of the most critical Tablet PC components and that a dropped Tablet PC rarely falls in a single linear direction, Toshiba implemented the 3D accelerometer. This mechanism detects the acceleration caused by a sudden fall from multiple directions. The 3D accelerometer helps guard the HDD against awkward accidental drops, including a spinning, falling Tablet PC, by rapidly removing the HDD head from between the HDD platters, better protecting the Portégé M700 in all three rotational dimensions of pitch, roll and yaw.

• Shock Absorbing Design6—The Portégé M700 Tablet PC features enhanced protection zones that run along all sides of the Tablet PC to help the Portégé M700 better withstand accidental drops. Toshiba also placed reinforced ribs within the rounded edges of the display to better protect critical components including the display and inverter by dissipating energy resulting from accidental bumps or drops. For further durability, Toshiba encased the display with magnesium alloy, a lightweight, rugged material utilized in structural, automotive, industrial and aerospace manufacturing.

• Spill Resistant Keyboard7—Toshiba improved its spill resistant keyboard to help protect against accidental spills of water and other liquids, including soda and coffee with cream and sugar. This enhanced feature affords users time to save work and shut down the system in the event of an accidental spill — helping to prevent the loss of data.

Additional information about Toshiba's EasyGuard technology is available at www.EasyGuard.Toshiba.com
In addition to providing a reliable and secure mobile computing experience, Toshiba has incorporated several value-added features, including two "Sleep-and- Charge" USB ports. These ports allow users to charge compatible electronic devices, such as select cell phones or MP3 players whether the system is on or off. The Sleep and Charge USB ports eliminate the bulk and inconvenience of carrying extra chargers to recharge mobile devices. Toshiba's Portégé M700 is compatible with several Portégé M400 accessories including: Express Port Replicator, digital pen, reserve pen, battery and secondary battery.
The following configurations demonstrate the various specifications and price options available within the Portégé M700 Series:
Portégé M700-S7002 Recommended Configuration (ESUP $1,799)8
• Genuine Windows® Vista™ Business (32-bit version)
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T75001
o 2.2GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB
• 2048 MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory9
• 160GB (5400 RPM) Serial-ATA hard disk drive10
• 12.1-inch diagonal widescreen LED backlit display
o supporting digital pen and touch screen
o Indoor/outdoor display
o Wide viewing angles
o 1280 x 800 (WXGA) native resolution
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with 8MB-251MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory11
• Integrated DVD SuperMulti (+/-R Double Layer) drive4
• Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Intel® Pro 82566MM 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• Bluetooth® v.2.0 + EDR
• Integrated 1.3 megapixel Webcam® with built-in microphone

Portégé M700-S7001X Recommended Configuration (ESUP $1,699)8
• Genuine Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500
o 2.2GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB
• 1024 MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory9
• 160GB (5400 RPM) Serial-ATA hard disk drive10
• 12.1-inch diagonal widescreen LED backlit display
o supporting digital pen and touch screen
o Indoor/outdoor display
o Wide viewing angles
o 1280 x 800 (WXGA) native resolution
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• Integrated DVD SuperMulti (+/-R Double Layer) drive4
• Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Intel® Pro 82566MM 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• Bluetooth® v.2.0 + EDR
• Integrated 1.3 megapixel Webcam® with built-in microphone

Complete product specifications for all the Portégé M700 models are available at www.sell.toshiba.com or www.toshibadirect.com.
The Portégé M700 series is available with a three year standard, limited warranty12, which includes carry-in support at Authorized Service Providers throughout the country; or customers may utilize any of the 4,460 UPS Stores and Mail Boxes Etc. locations nationwide for packaging and delivery of the product to a
centralized depot for prompt turnaround service. Customers can also choose to upgrade the Portégé M700's service plans, including up to four years of extended warranty coverage.
All new Toshiba notebooks and Tablet PCs are RoHS-compatible13, effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances. This coupled with a mercury-free LED backlit display has earned Toshiba's Portégé M700 the Green Electronics Council's Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) gold status. To achieve this status, the Portégé M700 had to pass a strict set of criteria created to reduce the impact electronics have on the environment. The Portégé M700 is Toshiba's sixth mobile computing solutions to earn the EPEAT gold status.
Toshiba also offers a computer trade-in and recycling program to reduce environmental impact and promote efficient utilization of resources. All Toshiba computers qualify for free recycling, while non-Toshiba computers and other consumer electronic products can be recycled for a small fee. For more information please visit: www.reuse.toshiba.com


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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege R500 1.73 Pound Ultra-Portable Notebook Goes Solid State]]> The 2.4-pound Toshiba Portege R500 may have cleared the FCC, but its younger, slimmer brother just weighed in at 1.73 pounds. How did Toshiba do it? By swapping out a standard hard drive and putting in a 64GB solid-state flash drive. The R500-S5003 has no moving parts (there's no DVD drive), and will cost $2,699. If you want an integrated optical DVD SuperMulti drive, tack on another $300 and get the R500-S5004 for $2,999. Definitely two great options for the businessman who wants to travel light. And with no moving parts, it's slightly less likely to break when you drop it. State? STAAAATE?! [Toshiba via Sci Fi]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege R500 Ultra-Portable Notebook Gets HSDPA, FCC Clearance]]> That super light 2.4-pound Toshiba Portege ultra-portable (previous version here) has gotten a little upgrade in the form of 3.5G HSDPA connectivity. That's right, you'll soon be able to take this laptop out anywhere and still be able to get online and upload your own YTMNDs, thanks to the GSM, GPRS, EGPRS, WCDMA and WCDMA+HSDPA support. The good news is, the laptop's already cleared the FCC, so you may get it sooner than you think (if you think that it's coming out in Q4 2007). Full specs after the jump.

* Intel Core 2 Duo U7600 1.20 GHz CPU * 1024 - 2048 MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM * 12.1″ WXGA 1280×800px Display * Intel GMA950 * 120 GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD or * 32GB or 64 GB SSD drives * DVD Super multi (+/-R) drive * Intel Wi-Fi a/g/n * Bluetooth 2.0 EDR * Wireless 3.5G GSM, GPRS, EGPRS, WCDMA, WCDMA+HSDPA module

[PC Joint]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege G900 Screen Video]]> You saw the unboxing video of the Toshiba G900 yesterday, but Matt from Tracy and Matt have a video of the screen up today. It's hard to tell from the video (screens are here), but that 800x480 is really huge. And in a device only slightly bigger than other slide-out-keyboard Windows Mobile smartphones, this seems like the Peter North of WM screens. But slightly less wet.

Toshiba Portégé G900 display video [Tracy and Matt]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Portege High-Resolution Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Unboxed]]> We've seen the Toshiba G900 Windows Mobile 6 smartphone work its way past the FCC already, but Matt from Tracy and Matt have an unboxing of the 800x400-enabled touchscreen phone up now. They compare it to similar HTC phones and Samsung WM phones and pretty much come out with the conclusion that this is gigantic. We wish they'd fire up the screen so we can see what that huge resolution looks like, but that'll be in the next video. Hopefully.

Toshiba Portégé G900 unboxed and compared [Tracy and Matt]

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<![CDATA[Toshiba Kicks Out 2.4-lb Ultraportable with LED Display]]>
Still waiting for Apple to release their long-awaited ultraportable? Don't bother. Today Toshiba unleashed their 2.4-pound ultraportable, the Portege R500. Starting at $1,999, this is a lappie that merits a spot in your travel bag. Here's why.

The unit features a 12.1-inch transreflective LED-backlit display, a Core 2 Duo CPU, and unlike most absurdly small ultraportables, it comes with a built-in optical drive (the only laptop to include a 7mm-thin optical drive). Compared with the competition, the R500 is packing way more power for your money. We spent some time with it last month and it's ridiculously light, but the good thing is that it doesn't feel flimsy. The keyboard is solid (and not overly small) and the screen is one of the best I've seen on an ultraportable. The unit is available for $1,999 (starting price).

Press Release

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