The
Toshiba Libretto W100 made a guest appearance on the
Engadget Show last week, and since we got to spend a bit more time with the dualscreen laptop we thought it was only right to release some more impressions into the ether. We also got confirmation from Toshiba that the somewhat-of-a-concept-PC will be hitting retail channels in August, including Amazon, and will cost $1,100. It may be one of the only dualscreen tablets on the market, but no matter how you break it down that price seems a little outrageous. But you wouldn't make up your mind before reading some further impressions and watching a close up video of the screens working in tandem, would you? Well then, we'll see you after the break.
The Libretto W100's external hardware design is exactly the same as we described it in our
original hands on -- it's a cute little system, though a bit thick. We're still going to point fingers at its Intel Pentium CPU for the heat coming out of the top of the device, however. The fan does seems to be working overtime, but the whole thing still gets rather toasty -- Toshiba assures us that this is one of the issues it's rigorously working on. The accelerometer does turn the device into a e-reader of sorts, but it took a few seconds to adjust the orientation.
It's on the software front where we've seen major improvements, and the two screens sure do seem to be working as more of a team. To start Toshiba has put controls throughout the whole Win 7 OS -- on every window there's two added controls to the left of the minimize button. The first lets you extend the specific window across both screens, while the other moves the window either to the top or bottom screen. Beyond those controls there's also a home button on the right edge that brings up a shortcut menus on the bottom panel. The software is fairly snappy and helpful for launching programs, making OS tweaks, etc. However, for the most part we used the bottom screen as a keyboard. As you'll see in the video, Toshiba's come up with six different keyboard options, but we're preferential to the split one that allows for thumb typing. In addition to the keyboards, there's also a touchpad button that brings up a small touchpad area that functions just like a regular touchpad -- as ridiculous as it sounds to have a touchpad on a touchscreen, it's actually pretty helpful if you want to dig through narrower menus.
So, what's our overall takeaway after spending an afternoon with the W100? It's definitely working better than the model we saw a few months back, but even when it did work there's not much you can do with it. It's neat as a web surfing device, but very few things take advantage of the two screens -- for instance, we'd like to see a compelling e-reading app (eh hem
Toshiba Book Place). In the end -- even if Toshiba gets all the hardware and software kinks worked out -- we're far from convinced that there's a place for the W100 in our lives for $1,100.
posted July 1st 2010 2:00PM
@irav
hmmm...i can find plenty of uses for this...
using one screen to look at data while i make an excel sheet in the other....playing a vid on one screen while i research movie info on the other....and plenty others
look at my comment, just after jabber, to see why i love this
@irav If you're tablet is limited to one thing at a time and mainly consuming content, then I guess 2 screens may be an overkill. However for a tablet running an OS that can multi-tasks and allows you to both create and consume, I can see myself browsing on one screen and while taking notes on another or composing a document or email. Just like on the desktop, 2 screens is better than 1.
Lots of people got excited about courier when we first heard of it, but I believe courier is just an application running on Windows. If this thing actually sold well, how long do you think it would take for a developer to come out with a courier application?
@boxieblue
"using one screen to look at data while i make an excel sheet in the other...."
1) Keyboard takes whole screen so you can;t look at your data while typing t the same time.
2) For that kind of work I would use a desktop or 15" laptop with physical keyboard and not a device like this.
"playing a vid on one screen while i research movie info on the other"
Pretty... useless? Why does the vid needs to be playing while researching info? That's just wasting cpu/gpu cycles and batterylife.
DS Heavy
i listed a few uses of this thing recently:
http://laymanhack.com/toshiba-libretto-w100-dual-screen-netbook-future-of-mobile-computing
i have a pretty good feeling this is gonna create a whole new market! i know i want one :)
@boxieblue hate to break it to you buddy but they don't have much plans for bringing this to mass market. They have repeatedly said so in numerous statements about the device. It's one of the reasons it costs $1100.
@ttringle
Then you have not listened very good. This is a proof of concept. Try it out, see what users think of it. Have it as a developer platform.
They've said that depending on the outcome, they might consider more devices like this.
@ttringle
Jon is right. Though this is a concept, it's only so because they want to find out how they can improve it further before they bring it to the mass market.
Regardless of whether Toshiba brings this out, other companies are definitely trying to start copying the idea. In 2011, we will be seeing at least one major manufacturer putting this out for the mass market.
I'll only buy it if you can flip the screens around enough to be opposing screens for Battleship.
YOU SANK MY BATTLESHIP!
I for one, am happy to see this. How can kinks be worked out if no kinks are seen? To me,this current device really highlights the value of the stylus, the need for a custom OS (allowing for 3rd party developer involvement), and begs for a closer look at(or active support of) Qualcomm's Mirasol display. Slap in the Tegra 3(!) chip, webcam, wifi, etc. and: Voila! The Courier! But a noisy, hot, psuedo-laptop is not for the masses. Well played, Microsoft. Let Toshiba give it a go with this overpriced concept device, but please keep working on refining your newly patented machine. It's not there yet, but neither is it years away. (Marcel! I miss you SOOOO much...I long to see your slender, opaque hands, skillfully caressing the sweet GUI of incubating techno-love...) OK. Bye, bye now.
I would love to have this, but since its 1,100? wtf? they are in direct competition with the Ipad... everyone knows if you want to compete with apple products you need it cheaper not double the price, id rather get an ipad 64 gb 3g and have a good 200 left over
I use to be a proponent of Windows 7 on a tablet because I wanted to install Photoshop. However, if they use something like Android, then it is just a matter of time before we get the equivalent.
I just want a photshop like program and Wacom active digitizer pen support.
piece of sh%%!
See, the courier video looked good when all you had to do was make a cartoon of what you wanted it to do rather than programing it to actually do it.
Sorry for this positive criticism.
There's a real problem with this video: so much glare, so much shaking make the video close to be unwatchable.
Could engadget afford a table and write a script before starting filming?
"We can't think of too many things we'd use this for"...
Really? I can think of plenty: Web browsing, ebook reading, game playing, email reading, movie watching... how about watching hulu on one screen while still browsing the web or checking email on the other? How about pulling up IMDB during a movie to check an
The uses for this device (or device like this) is the same as any tablet. The dual screen creates many more possibilities. I can DEFINITELY see how this device can be useful.
@sweet greggo part deux
Web browsing: any device from phone to desktop can do that.
ebook reading: tablets, laptops and dual screen laptops are not ebook readers. Especially not if they have glosse screens
game playing: For that price you can get a powerful desktop, and how are you going to game with a virtual keyboard?
email reading: any device from phone to...
movie watching: Netbooks can do that to, and if they have ION hey can handle HD to.
"how about watching hulu on one screen while still browsing the web or checking email on the other?"
Maybe that's the only use (though still not very useful) of the dual displays, but is that really worth $1100+?
"How about pulling up IMDB during a movie to check..."
In that case I pause my movie anyway.
@MaTdg
When I mentioned games I wasn't referring to Crysis or anything.
Of course any other device can do those things, that's not the point. There are just as many "uses" for this as any other tablet device. Whether you actually need it or not is irrelevant to my original argument. Stating "we can't think of many uses" shows extreme short sightedness, esp for a tech blog writer.
windows 7 shouldnt be on this, its obvious it doesnt have much power. toshiba really needs to reinvent the OS and upgrade the hardware
@vanwazltoff
Blah...blah...blah... you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
Making an at least decent OS is not that easy. And the hardware of that thing is already better than any netbook...
It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
@OrsonX So, by logic, this then turns into a problem of its own.
I wouldn't mind seeing it blend.
Hmm... yeah, mmmm ok, let me see the side... oh yeah! mmm... keep turning it... aaahh... great, great... close it, close it, CLOSE..... AAAAhhhh, love it!
If Toshiba can make a tablet with two screens, why is it so hard to find a tablet with just one without the flappy keyboard part?
@Aldeezy I take that back, however i found joanna more interesting that the device.
Whats wrong with the price?
Look at flybook, for me, its this ones real competitor.
The price of that is quite a but higher. It does not come with two screens... but offers built in 3G modem. Surely that means this is rather cheap.
It sure is cool
But to convince me to buy it for that price, they need to put a HDMI-out on it, a built in 3.5G+ modem in there. And one more USB wouldnt hurt. Didnt see a 3.5mm output on the viceo, either.
I really like the concept, but it seems severely lacking in some aspects:
Battery life seems to be quoted pretty low (I think I read 2hours on Akihabara) and there don't seem to be much programs to utilise the two screens.
Price was, you could buy 2 ipads and stick them together!
I'm confused why did she say eleven hundred? that would make it 11,000.
One thousand, one hundred is the price, not eleven hundred.
It's a net-tablet. Probably better then Ipad. But it's not revolucionary. It's more of the same.
Where is COURIER???
i watch it 2 times more... cause of that sweet chica