The press release just hit the wire today and so does the new Toshiba R500 Portege notebook. Toshiba indicates the R500 is the world’s first 12.1-inch widescreen notebook available with an indoor/outdoor display, which sounds right to me. There’s a few few more superlatives in case that’s not enough: it’s the world’s first notebook with a 7mm optical drive and offers the world’s longest battery life in the 12.1-inch widescreen class. The last point is debatable due to the footnote at the bottom of the page which has a laundry list of specifics to this class; still, it’s nice to see the emphasis on battery life.
The order it now price of $1,999 includes all of the above world’s firsts plus:
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Intel U7600 Core 2 Duo: 1.2 GHz, 533 FSB; Intel 950 GMA
- 1 GB of RAM
- 120 GB hard drive, 5,400 RPM
- WXGA resolution with an LED backlit panel
- 802.11 a/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
An additional $150 upgrades your R500 to Vista Business. Between the LED backlight and power-efficient processor, the battery life should be quite good for this form factor which only weighs 2.4 pounds. Toshiba will be offering a 64 GB SSD option later in the year which will increase battery life further and reduce weight to 1.7 pounds. I’d love to see Toshiba then offer this as a Tablet PC with those specs.
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