Toshiba Unleashes Notebook Horde Onto Unsuspecting Tech World

Today is a day of big launches. Toshiba has thrown its hat into the ring with the likes of Apple, Fujitsu, and Samsung with new additions to the company’s Portégé, Satellite, and Tecra lines. Let’s take a gander at the new models. The Portégé A600 is a 12.1-inch ultraportable that features an Intel Centrino 2 processor, integrated optical drive, Toshiba’s 4th generation EasyGuard technology with PC Health Monitor,  Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, and an eSATA combo port. This series starts at $1,399. Its brother, the 2.4-pound Portégé R600, is the successor to the R500. Despite being only 0.7 inches thin, it sports a DVD Super-Multi Drive, Toshiba’s 4th generation EasyGuard technology with PC Health Monitor,  Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, LED backlit transreflective display for enhanced outdoor viewing, and a 128GB SSD on select models. The ultraportable starts at $2,099. In addition, the Satellite A305 (starting at $949), Satellite A355, Satellite M305 (pricing TBD), Satellite M305D (starting at $849), and Satellite U405 (starting at $849) have been refreshed in one fell swoop to include speedier ATI and Intel CPUs, Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, and Toshiba Facial Recognition. ATI Hybrid CrossFireX graphics, built-in FM tuners, and eSATA Combo ports are available on select models. Finally, the Tecra R10 is a thin-and-light business machine with the amenities that mobile professionals crave. The 4.4 pound systems sports a 14.1-inch LED backlit display,  Intel’s Centrino 2 platform (with vPRO),  Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, an ExpressCard/54 slot, a 7,200-rpm 160GB HDD, and Nvidia Quadro NVS graphics (with 128MB of memory).  It starts at $1,549.