Toshiba Unwraps New Business Laptops with Extended Battery Life

Aiming to serve the appetite of business professionals, Japan’s leading computer maker Toshiba (News - Alert) has unwrapped new high-performance laptops that offer extended battery life without sacrificing performance.

The company’s Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., has revealed a new line of business laptops, Tecra and Portégé that have been reengineered from the ground up with thin, light and highly durable designs.

Offering full performance and long battery life ratings in three form factors, as well as a standard three-year limited warranty, Tecra and Portégé laptops redefine mobility for business professional, said Toshiba.

While Portégé R830 is redefining ultra-portability, Tecra R840 is 25 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its predecessor Tecra M11. Similarly, Tecra R850 is equally slim, Toshiba said.

“Our new business laptops build on the success of our award-winning Portégé R700 ultraportable laptop, providing professionals what they need and want – the performance needed to handle demanding business tasks in lightweight and durable designs,” said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division, in a statement. “We focused on delivering what our customers asked for by reducing weight, increasing battery life and without sacrificing performance,” noted Pinto.

To meet the demanding needs of the mobile business professionals, new Tecra and Portégé laptops feature the latest mobile technologies, including second generation Intel Core processors, high-speed 7200 RPM hard drives or 128 GB solid-state drive and optional AMD (News - Alert) Radeon discrete graphics with 1 GB of dedicated graphics memory.

In addition, the laptops also include a broad range of standard ports including USB 3.0, eSATA/USB Combo with Toshiba’s USB sleep & charge technology, DisplayPort or HDMI, ExpressCard, Gigabit Ethernet and docking connectors. Other connectivity options include Intel (News - Alert) AMT 7.0, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR, and Intel 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi.

For increased durability and strength without adding excess weight, the new Tecra laptops are built using a unique fiberglass-reinforced casing with a honeycomb rib structure. Likewise, the new Portégé features a Toshiba exclusive Magnesium Alloy casing with a honeycomb structure. Plus, they incorporate Toshiba’s EasyGuard technology for protection against accidental spills and bumps.

The new laptops also offer a suite of security features, including multiple level passwords, a fingerprint reader and optional SmartCard reader to help thwart unwanted access. A Trusted Platform Module offers high-level data encryption and available Computrace aids recovery in case of theft.

Claiming to be the thinnest 14-inch diagonal HD LED-backlit widescreen display, the Tecra R840 can be configured with Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and features a battery life rating of up to 11 hours when configured with a solid-state drive.

Likewise, Tecra R850 features a 15.6-inch diagonal HD LED-backlit widescreen display with built-in 10-key numeric pad. At about an inch thin and weighing 5.3 pounds, the R850 is about 19 percent thinner and 6 percent lighter than its predecessor, the Tecra A11. Available with Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, the R850 series laptops feature a battery life rating of up to seven hours when configured with a solid-state drive.

In the ultra-portable Portégé family, the Portégé R830 continues to be the world’s lightest 13.3-inch full-performance laptop featuring an integrated DVD drive. With a starting weight of just 3.1 pounds and about one inch thin, the Portégé R830 can be configured with second generation Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 full performance processors as a result of airflow cooling technology. The Portégé R830 series laptops also feature a USB 3.0 port and Bluetooth 3.0 and can be configured with standard hard drives or solid state drives.

The Tecra R840 series ($899.00 to $1,479.00 MSRP), Tecra R850 Series ($879.00 to $1,399.00 MSRP) and Portégé R830 Series ($1,049.00 to $1,649.00 MSRP) will be available on April 12, 2011 through select Toshiba Preferred Partner Program resellers, e-retailers and directly at toshibadirect.com.