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Toshiba puts its business laptops on a diet, intros the Portege R830, Tecra R840, and Tecra R850
Toshiba's thin-but-full-powered Portege R700 was such a hit among business types that the company is now designing other machines in its svelte image. Tosh just unveiled the Tecra R840 and R850 -- both of which ape the R700's slim build -- along with the Portege R830, a refresh to the R700 itself. The R830 looks the same, though it has a strip on the edge of the lid that looks like it's made of magnesium alloy, but is actually plastic -- a material that's expected to improve the signals of the the various antennae housed underneath it. And -- surprise, surprise -- this refresh adds a USB 3.0 port and Intel Sandy Bridge processor, which the company says should bump the rated battery life to a max of 11 hours, up from eight. Not the corporate type? The company will also sell an $889 consumer version, the R835, that has a one-, not three-year, warranty, and loses enterprise-grade features -- namely, Intel's vPro technology, a docking connector, and an ExpressCard slot. Meanwhile, the 14-inch R840 and 15.6-inch R850 are also getting Sandy Bridge CPUs, USB 3.0 ports, chiclet keyboards and all-around trimmer silhouettes. These laptops are now made with fiberglass-reinforced casing and the same Honeycomb rib structure that made last year's R700 sturdy enough to grab one-handed. Of the two, the R840's slim-down is more dramatic: it's 25 percent thinner than the last-generation Tecra M11, as you can see in the comparison shots past the break. That's largely thanks to Intel's Airflow Cooling technology, which rearranges all of the heat-generating components in a row and draws in cool air from outside the notebook, instead of within. And Tosh claims the battery can last up to ten hours on a charge (11 with an SSD) -- a vast improvement over the five and a half to six hours it promised the last time around. Moving up in size to the R850 will get you a number pad, but not that cooling technology. But it is about an inch thick at its thinnest, a point the PC maker is pleased as punch about. The R830, R840, and R850 start at $1,049, $899, and $879, respectively, and are available now on Toshiba's site, with the consumer-friendly R835 on sale at Best Buy and through the Microsoft Store. %Gallery-120886% %Gallery-120738%
Toshiba's 13.3-inch Portege R700 gets a pair of WiMAX models
Integrated 3G is so 2009. These days, your laptop just ain't a mobile workhorse without a 4G module embedded under the hood, and Toshiba's making sure it keeps with the times by launching a pair of WiMAX-capable Portégé R700 models. The 13.3-inch ultraportable is relaunching with an integrated DVD drive, WiMAX support, the latest Core 2010 CPUs, an ExpressCard slot, eSATA / USB combo port, 4GB of DDR3 memory, inbuilt webcam and a six-cell battery. The Portégé R700-S1332W in particular ships with a Core i7 CPU and 128GB SSD, while the Portégé R700-S1322W steps down to a Core i5 and a 320GB (7200RPM) hard drive. Both units are shipping now from Tosh's preferred partners, with the high-end option going for $1,699 and the low(er)-end one selling for $1,349. It's on you to activate a Clear plan, though.
Toshiba Portege R705 review
Stuck on the Toshiba Portege R705's magnesium alloy palmrest is a shiny sticker celebrating the company's 25 years of "laptop innovation." Now, we're the first to hate on the plethora of decals that festoon Windows laptops these days -- and this one also deserves to be peeled off and tossed into the garbage -- but the sticker actually happens to speaks volumes about why the $800 R705 is such a big deal. We promise to keep the history lesson short, but for years the Portege series has been Toshiba's top-of-the-line ultraportable brand, featuring the latest CPUs while usually setting the standard for portability, and always been attached to seriously hefty price tags. Take the Portege R500, which was the worlds lightest laptop in 2007, and cost two grand. The Portege R705, which is exclusive to Best Buy for now, changes that formula. And in celebration of the big two-five, Toshiba's put out a 3.2-pound, Core i3-powered stunner that's less than half the price of past Porteges. Oh, and did we mention it has an on-board optical drive, 500GB of storage, Intel's wireless display technology and promises 8.5 hours of battery life? We won't beat around the bush -- it's impressive. But did Toshiba maintain the same Portege standards when creating the R705, or did it cut quality along with the dollar signs? That's been our main question, and we'll answer it and others after the break in our full review. %Gallery-97346%
