Toshiba introduces five new business laptops, introducing its first mobile workstation
With consumer laptops taking a hit from the popularity of tablets, Toshiba may have made a wise decision to turn its attention to business notebooks.
On Monday, the company has announced five new portables designed to appeal to enterprise buyers, including its first mobile workstation.
The Tecra W50 (shown above) joins other new mobile workstations like the HP ZBook 14 and 15 and the Dell Precision M3800. However, it's not an ultrabook, like the ZBook 14, or offering a super-high-resolution display option, like the ZBook 15 and Precision M3800. It does include an Intel Haswell Core i7 processor, Nvidia Quadro graphics, and color-calibrated 1,920 x 1,080 15.6-inch screen.
It's also fairly portable, weighing in at under six pounds, and won't totally break the bank at its starting price of $1,999 when it becomes available on October 18.
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If you want a business-class Ultrabook, the 13.3-inch Portégé Z30 tips the scales at a mere 2.6 pounds, while being just 0.7 inches thick. It uses Haswell ultra-low-voltage processors and comes with either a 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive. It likewise will go on sale on the 18th, with a starting price of $1,279.
Though it doesn't qualify as an Ultrabook, the Portege R30 sure resembles one: one-inch thin, 3.2 pounds, magnesium alloy chassis. But the R30 uses full-voltage Haswell processors and comes with an increasing rarity in PCs: an optical drive. It can also handle up to 16GB of RAM and either a 750GB hard drive or 512GB solid-state drive.
The R30 is due next month, but Toshiba has not yet disclosed pricing for the laptop.
Finally, Toshiba has added the mainstream 14-inch Tecra Z40 and 15.6-inch Z50 to its lineup. Like the R30 (and Z30), they are crafted from magnesium alloy and make use of AirFlow II cooling technology. And like the Z30, they make use of Haswell ultra-low-voltage Core i5 and i7 processors, but offer hard drive options along with solid-state storage.
They can be equipped with optional Nvidia GeForce 730M graphics, yet remain fairly light at 3.2 pounds (Z40) and 3.9 pounds (Z50), respectively. Both systems have a starting price of $1,229, though the Z40 will be ready to order on October 18 and the Z50 will not be available until November.