Toshiba unveils Portege M780 tablet, multitouch Satellite Pro U500, T110

Toshiba on Tuesday announced the new Portégé M780 tablet PC and Satellite Pro U500 laptop with multitouch display.

The laptop, which are loaded with Windows 7 Professional, bring a touch interface to educational applications (the U500) and IT professionals (the M780).

Both models include Toshiba's touch-ready ReelTime and Bulletin Board applications, which are information organization applications with a visual bent.

The tablet's particularly interesting for ZDNet readers, as it's made for easy deployment and management in a business environment.

Both models have been succesfully used in educational environments, Toshiba says.

The Portégé M780 comes with Intel Core processors, DDR3 memory, an eSATA/USB combo port with Sleep and Charge and a 12.1-inch LED backlit display. It's downgradable to Windows XP Professional, and has "Easy Guard" in the form of a hard drive impact sensor, spill-resistant keyboard, PC Health Monitor and additional LCD display protection.

The M780 starts at $1,279.

The Satellite Pro U500 also offers Intel Core chips, as well as integrated Intel GMA graphics, an eSATA/USB Combo port with Sleep and Charge, hard drive impact sensor, HDMI port, built-in webcam with face recognition and, of course,  a fingerprint-resistant multi-touch display.

It comes in two configurations: one at $949 with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and an $1,099 version with an Intel Core processor, slot loading DVD super-multi and an LED backlit keyboard.

Toshiba says both the Portege M780 and Satellite Pro U500 are available now, though the web pages for the products don't seem to be live yet.

Finally, Toshiba also announced its 11.6-inch Satellite Pro T110 for SMBs, education and public sector customers. It's basically a full-powered large netbook (no Atom here) that's to be used on-the-go.

The T110 sports a widescreen HD TruBrite LED backlit TFT LCD display, an Intel Celeron chip and Windows 7.

It's available for $479 and $529.

Here's the specification rundown:

Toshiba Satellite Pro T110-EZ1110 ($479):

• 11.6-inch diagonal widescreen HD TruBrite® LED Backlit display
• Windows 7 Home Premium operating system (64-bit)
• Intel Celeron processor 7431
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M with 128MB to 828MB3
• 2GB DDR34
• 250GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive5
• Realtek 802.11 b/g/n wireless6 LAN and 10/100 Ethernet
• Toshiba Hard Drive 3D Impact Sensor
• TouchPad pointing device with Multi-touch Control
• Lightweight at only 3.49 lbs.
• 6-cell battery delivering battery life rating up to 8.35 hours
• One USB Sleep-and-Charge8 and two USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Built-in Webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition, stereo speakers and microphone
• 5-in-1 Memory Card Reader Slot
• Toshiba Media Controller
• Toshiba Bulletin Board
• Toshiba ReelTime
• Toshiba PC Health Monitor
• Toshiba Online Backup

There's also a Satellite Pro T110-EZ1120 model available for $529.