Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100 laptop on sale in America for $1,100
Terrific news, laptop shoppers. Toshiba's concept-turned-commercial Libretto W100 is now on sale in the US of A, but there's no telling how long it'll remain in stock. We heard from the get-go that this dual-screen wonder would only be a limited run, and just a week after going on sale in Japan, the W105-L251 is getting prepped right now for a shipping label with your address on it. $1,099.99 buys you a Pentium U5400 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), integrated Intel HD graphics, a memory card reader, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 62GB solid state drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, an inbuilt webcam and an 8-cell battery. Oh, and twin 7-inch WSVGA LCD panels. Toshiba reckons that you'll get yours in "2 to 3 weeks" if you order direct, though Amazon has a pre-sale of its own going for those who like to press their luck.
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Really Appealing, but... That Price
@DaHarder
Ahhhhh... Screw It - I'll Do It!
Neat product, but very pricy.
@DaHarder
It is me, or it seems like m$ courier?
@DaHarder
yeah but its got a solid state! and what looks like 2 nice screens! one touch. and its a damn concept! ur payin for all that 4 sure!
@DaHarder
That things an Emulator away from being the Next Nontendo DS!
@DaHarder
They're having a laugh with that there price
@DaHarder
that's what she said
(though i like your mindset... i want it too =D)
@SLINC
XD nontendo
@inestine
It also seems to to have two seperate screens.... one larger than the other. This thing is definitely has the components to be $1000 but it just feels wrong to have a tablet that price. This is probably the reason why microsoft killed off the courier project. Just can't justify seeing people buy these at $1000+
@ChimpTheSquirrel In form factor yeah, so why is this a laptop and the courier (concept) was considered a tablet.
@deliteguy
*not two different sized screens... I meant two seperate batterys
It seems pricey but if there was a Courier Concept based interface whipped up on Linux that you could load on it would you take the plunge?
Especially if it were only a few months aware from being reality?
@deliteguy
You hit the nail on the head. I'm sure Courier had both technical issues as well as price issues.
What if the hardware really does cost $800 or so. People would have freaked out calling the Courier a giant fail if it retailed for $1000.
@DaHarder
If you think about it the price isn't that bad compared to the Ipad. It's more HW for your money then the $850 Ipad, though it does seem to lack 3G.
@SLINC That's a Good Idea man
@SLINC You could probably run a current NDS emulator full screen on that thing to great effect.
@bjsguess
The 'real' Courier won't cost much more than the iPad.
Retail with 3G/4G would come up for about 600-800$.
I think it's worth the price.
This one here is nice, but it needs a more mobile energy saving chipset and another mobile OS. Let's be honest: Win7 is great, but not mobile!
@inestine
Actually, both of the screens are capacitive multi-touch. Not just one of them.
Looks like and supersized overpriced Nintendo DS..he he
@DaHarder
what most people tend to forget (or don't know) about is this is not your everyday cheapo TN screen. a tablet/ipad cost much more because their screen has to be IPS (or PVA) to minimize color distortion.
take a look of your laptop, there is a very good chance it is using the cheapest component they can find. tile the screen backward by 60 degree, can you still see your image?
most manufactures cut corner when it comes to screen. a great screen cost a lot of money and definitely doesn't sound as impressive as i7.... 8GB....SSD....GTX.... and most of those company fools you into thinking a higher resolution=better. they don't provide any contract ratio, brightness, view angle or color gourmet.
case in point. the hp dreamcolor option is 375 dollar on the top of their same resolution normal screen. 375 dollar, that is more than enough to update this computer from i5-520 to i7-620, FX880 to FX1880, and addition 2 G of ram, and, you will still have some left over in your pocket.
my X201 Tablet's 400 nit anti-glare outdoor screen is a 325 dollar option on the top of base X201 tablet (both are IPS screen with the same resolution, just trying to show there price can be dramatic even if you use the same technology), and it easily blow my other notebook away. you could save 325 dollar and buy another notebook, but the choice is yours.
bottom line, those two IPS screens can easily cost you 400 dollars, if they are high brightness anti-glare outdoor screen, they will cost close to 600 dollars. when it comes to tablet, the first thing is the view angle. so don't try to use your cheapo TN screen to justify the price of a tablet.
@SLINC And a damn impressive one!
@zuogolpon "The 'real' Courier won't cost much more than the iPad."
What makes you think that. A real courier would also need two active digitizers further driving up the price.
A real courier would likely cost more than the W100.
@DaHarder i agree like it but about $300 more than my mind will say what the hell buy it especially considering i just bought a new laptop 2 weeks ago ..
@DaHarder I would buy the Courier for a grand... not this.
@DaHarder It's a concept.... rich people buy enough, normal people lust enough, maybe we'll get some kind of production model.
Certainly looks shiny in the picture.
Hmm Toshiba...
Price Fail. Sad too, cuz the Tosh MIGHT have had something there
@216 - the ssd add a hdd so it'll be 700-800 and its more appealing for mass market
@patp as an ssd of that size (62gb) costs around 150$ in stores, and a small (1.8" laptop hdd) can not be buyed for much less, no, the ssd sure doesn't add much to the actual cost of the device.
@davepermen
OH COME ON, IT'S "BOUGHT" NOT "BUYED"
people make grammatical errors but that the kind of mistake a 5 year old makes. puhlease.
@dedparrot
"that's" not "that"
...............how ironic
@dedparrot
Troll much? Did you ever consider that some people do not speak English as a first language?
Puuuuuhhhhhhllllllleeeeeeeeez
@216
yep if it was $700 I would of bought it.
@dedparrot
Oh man I'm still laughing for "buyed."
@ZetsubouJinrui
his name's Dave Permen, I'm safe to assume he speaks english fine.
Certainly a very interesting device. Any idea what the screen resolution is on this?
@ashwinkn
Never mind (referring to resolution question), standard 10 x 6.
its like the connected two touchscreen phones together. Please cut that in half, give a 4.3 inch amoled screen, 1.2Ghz hummingbird cpu and call it EVO 2.
@One Love
Excuse me? This is running full Windows 7 on a dual core Pentium processor, adding up to 2.4ghz.
And the Evo is made by HTC, not Toshiba....
@One Love so essentially make it nothing like the product they are selling. you changed the concept (dual screens), screen size (7 to 4.3), change the processor (intel to hummingbird), and company (toshiba to HTC)...or am i missing something
OK, maybe I should have said ..."A single screen design like that would make a really cool phone" :|
sooooo...please cut that in half, give a 4.3 inch amoled screen, 1.2Ghz hummingbird cpu and call it EVO 2! :)
Windows 7....
@metafor
Exactly. Nice device but the device is only half of the equation. The OS has to fit the form factor and Win 7 isn't it for this device imo.
@metafor
Exactly! I'm so glad it has Windows 7. It's perfect for a touch screen. My 2 touch screens on my desktop have been working great for months.
@bigcow05
Windows 7 is meant for this device! If you actually watch the videos or look at the review and unboxing videos on the net, Toshiba did an excellent job with their skin which can be turned on and off.
That price? For that CPU? Not a chance. If it were 2.0 duo then sure, especially if someone developed a Courier-like interface for the device.
@Ploogle
at least it's not an atom
@Ploogle
Well its a ULV Dual Core Pentium.... obviously not as good but better than an Atom.
Hopefully someone will create a Courier like skin and/or Linux distro to throw ontop of this.