Toshiba’s Tecra range strikes a fine balance between consumer and company laptops. The Tecra R840-11E delivers tons of company capabilities and fantastic performance in a light and slim body, but at a price that is not out of grasp for the typical consumer.

The first of the organization features is a built-in fingerprint scanner wedged among the mouse buttons. You can use this to log on to your laptop, which saves the hassle of remembering complicated passwords.

An ExpressCard slot allows you to add peripherals, such as graphics cards, Television Tuner cards and additional storage, even though an eSATA port can be employed to back up your files to an external tough drive.

DisplayPort and VGA ports mean you can hook up an external monitor or projector. You can even connect wirelessly with compatible televisions.

Your data will be protected from theft by the aforementioned fingerprint scanner, but it is also protected against accidental harm by the challenging drive. If the drive detects an unexpected motion (for example, the laptop plummeting off a desk), it will reset itself. This lowers the risk of failure on impact.

Although 320GB of storage space isn’t a lot, it should nonetheless suit most users who just want to carry their crucial files around, as nicely as a modest collection of songs and photos.

More impressive is the reality that Toshiba has squeezed in a DVD drive. Not a bad effort, contemplating the slender body measures just 31mm at its thickest point and weighs a modest 2.1kg. With its compact chassis, it fits with ease into most bags.

You can discover a lot more portable enterprise machines out there, such as the Samsung 9000 Series and Sony’s VAIO Z-Series, but they tend to cost much more than the Tecra R840′s cost tag.

However, even though the Tecra might be slim and light, we weren’t precisely excited by the plain black style. The frame and lid have a bevelled plastic texture, which does a fantastic job of hiding fingerprints and scuff marks, but isn’t visually appealing. Thankfully there isn’t much flex, and the lid is particularly solid.

One of Intel’s newest Sandy Bridge Core i5 2520M 2.5GHz processors is the brains behind this laptop. Combined with 4GB of memory, overall performance is even greater than we expected. Not only can you run all of your company software program, you can frequently run them together at the identical time, with no kind of slowdown evident.

Fundamental integrated graphics mean you can’t run the most recent games, but then you would rather be working on a spreadsheet, correct? We still discovered some down-time to watch a high-definition (HD) movie, which played perfectly, and you can even edit pictures from your collection and movies.

TechRadar Labs

Battery Eater ’05: 239 minutes
Cinebench: 10,650
3DMark 2006: 3741

Of course, with its matt TFT finish, the 14-inch screen was not developed for enjoying films. Images are crisp, but the finest component of this display is the lack of reflections when used outside or in bright offices. If you’re constantly on the move and need a machine for staying productive, then think about this laptop.

Portability is further improved by the outstanding battery life. We watched movies for 4 hours before the Tecra died, although less power-sapping activities such as browsing the internet stretches battery life out to five or six hours.

Sleep-and-charge technology indicates you can connect your portable devices via USB, such as smartphones and MP3 players, and charge them even when the laptop is hibernating.

Usability is an additional essential consideration and even though the keyboard looks and feels rather plasticky, it is well-sized with covered gaps between the keys. The keys have a shallow travel when you hit them, which we weren’t massive fans of, but it did not stop us touch-typing at our usual pace. You also have an ‘eco mode’ shortcut key which lets you fiddle with energy settings.

The touchpad is a generous size and perfectly smooth. The mouse buttons are firmly mounted, but are strangely sunken into the palmrest, which makes them awkward to push at times. Toshiba has included a pointing stick alternative to making use of the touchpad, which is a tiny nubbin mounted in the middle of the keyboard. Pushing it about moves the on-screen cursor, but we personally prefer the touchpad.

Managing to cram impressive overall performance and a mass of exceptional business capabilities into a slim and light body, Toshiba has impressed with the Tecra R840. The design is fundamental and there are some slight usability concerns, but if you want a portable enterprise remedy on a limited spending budget, you could do a lot worse.

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Things are moving fast in mobile gaming right now. For the traditional laptop to stay relevant in these tablet-filled times, it has to offer something special to offset the decreased mobility compared to its touchscreen foe. The easiest area to exploit is raw power, specifically graphics. Fruit Ninja is all well and good on an Apple iPad 2, but what if you want to play the latest DirectX 11 games on the go?

Enter Toshiba’s Satellite P775-113. Under the bonnet, an Nvidia GT 540M handles the pixel pushing, which spells playable frame rates in graphically demanding DX11 titles. It’s the latest in a new breed of vaguely affordable gaming PCs making the most out of rapidly advancing mobile technology. And at this price point, things are starting to get crowded.

Medion’s Erazer X6811 has impressively powerful CPU and GPU chops at just £899, but suffers in the build quality stakes. The Alienware M11x offers similarly impressive gaming performance coupled with Alienware’s trademark excellent build quality, but corner cutting in storage and a lack of optical drive tarnishes the M11x’s appeal.

For the same money again, the HP Envy 14 packs AMD’s Radeon HD 5650 GPU but gets some laptop fundamentals such as screen quality and trackpad wrong. The Toshiba Satellite P755-113, then, enters a price point that’s certainly busy, but far from sewn up.

With that Nvidia GT 540M on board, the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 is one of the quickest gaming laptops available, but it doesn’t share that loud visual aesthetic with the Alienware M11x and many (too many?) gaming rigs out there. Visual design is reserved and sophisticated throughout the P755.

But make no mistake, Toshiba’s Satellite P755-113 is all about gaming. If you need further proof than the muscle-bound GPU and CPU, just check out Nvidia’s 3D Vision kit, integrated into the machine.

Handling processing duties inside the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 is an Intel Core i5 2410M. The second generation Intel Core chips have been causing quite a stir in the desktop world lately, and the processing chops that the new Sandy Bridge architecture is capable of is impressive in mobile computing too.

The Core i5 2410m runs at a rather weak 2.3GHz, however, over just two cores and two threads. The absence of Turbo Boost from the lower end CPUs such as this compounds the underwhelming performance from a £999 laptop.

The Toshiba Satellite P755-113 sports a formidable 6GB of RAM. That’s more than the Medion Erazer X6811, Alienware M11x or HP Envy 14 offer.

That might appear to show value for money, but when you consider that Medion’s X6811 packs an Intel Core i5 480M CPU running at 2.66GHz over 4 threads – for £100 less – it seems the specs have been wrongly prioritised. We’d rather see the CPU fighting fit with the bog standard 4GB of RAM than the Satellite P755-113′s configuration.

On the plus side, the extra memory will help in image manipulation and music production scenarios, or simply if you’re a heavy multitasker, affording the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 some versatility. As far as workstation duties go, the laptop’s more than qualified. A low end Sandy Bridge CPU is still more than capable of chewing through Office apps.

Let’s not beat around the bush. The Toshiba Satellite P755-113 isn’t a workstation machine. It’s about gaming. And boy does it handle this side of things with gusto. The Nvidia GT 540M is DirectX 11 capable and boasts a 1GB frame buffer. That means it won’t just play the latest games, it’ll play them at high detail settings and still manage perfectly playable frame rates.

It helps that the native resolution of the Toshiba Satellite P755-113′s 15.6-inch screen is a fairly small 1366 x 768. Smaller resolution means fewer pixels to render, and so faster frame rates. It’s not all good news though – 1080p high definition is off the menu, so games and videos won’t dazzle with crispness as they would on a 1920 x 1080 screen.

To be fair, though, the competition don’t outdo it at this price point. Alienware’s M11x [LINK], Medion’s Erazer X6811 and HP’s Envy 14 all run at 1366 x 768 natively as well. Such is the way with laptops of this size. The graphics card does offer an edge over those rivals, however. It’s the most powerful GPU of the lot, and that’s surely an enticing prospect for gamers.

3D Vision

The Nvidia bleeding edge tech doesn’t end there with Toshiba’s Satellite P755-113. Included in the price is the Nvidia 3D Vision kit. This breaks down as a set of hugely uncomfortable glasses and a built-in IR receiver above the screen which, used together, will enable you to enjoy games, films and photos in three glorious dimensions.

OK, there’s still an element of scepticism around 3D among tech enthusiasts, but if you want to buy into it, this is a handy package. Desktop systems require an external IR receiver, and that means one occupied USB slot, an extra device Windows needs drivers for, more cable clutter and so on. But with the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 it’s easy to jump straight into 3D. The glasses need to charge via a USB cable, but other than that it’s mess-free 3D. That inclusion makes the price tag look more reasonable too – none of the other circa-£999 laptops mentioned have 3D capability.

The Toshiba Satellite P755-113 has some glamorous features you wouldn’t expect from a laptop, but how does it deal with the fundamentals? HP’s Envy 14 fell foul with a poor trackpad, Medion’s Erazer X6811 feels flimsy and breakable, and while Alienware’s M11x offered solid battery life, a teeny HDD and lack of optical drive let it down.

Here in laptop 101 is where the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 loses its sheen too. For starters, battery life weighs in at a restrictive 2.5 hours. Running a game or resource-heavy app, expect that to drop down below 2 hours. That’s limiting to the P755-113′s mobility, so your dreams of playing WoW on four-hour train rides won’t come true with this laptop.

In the storage department too, an SSD would have been nice for this money, but the reality of a 750GB hard drive isn’t a disaster.

The weak Intel Core i5 2410M processing speed mentioned on the Specifications page is noticeable when using the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 in general desktop use, and reflected in a pedestrian CineBench score. Applications can be unresponsive, and when you examine the other rather beefy components inside the P755, the low-end CPU is both surprising and disappointing.

The keyboard’s nice and spacious and we can’t complain about the trackpad’s responsiveness, but the feel will divide users. Glossy is the word. If you have the money and you’re looking for a mobile games machine, the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 will do the job admirably. Just bear the short battery life in mind.

Benchmarks

Cinebench R11.5: 2.25 pts
3D Mark 03: 20656 3DMarks
Battery life: 150 minutes

There’s some great mobile technology being released by Intel, AMD and Nvidia right now. Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPU architecture suits the energy efficiency needs of mobile devices and brings serious processing chops to the table.

AMD and Nvidia have locked horns, as always, to produce the best mobile graphics solution, whether that’s integrated or off-die. It makes the £1,000 price point more competitive as ever. That’s exactly where Toshiba’s Satellite P755-113 falls. There’s stiff competition from Medion’s Erazer X6811, Alienware’s M11x and HP’s Envy 14. None of these laptops prove a no-brainer, however.

With some seriously powerful components under the bonnet, and Nvidia’s 3D vision thrown in and integrated to minimise fuss, the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 looks an attractive proposition.

We liked

The big selling point under the bonnet of the Toshiba Satellite P755-113 is the GPU – Nvidia’s GT 540M. It’s a DirectX 11-capable card with 1GB of memory, able to render any current game at high detail settings over the Satellite P755-113′s 15.6-inch screen.

Picking up some of the slack that the CPU leaves is the 6GB of RAM. Running music software or Photoshop will see the benefit of this wealth of memory.

Like 3D? Want to enjoy 3D on the go? Really? Well, you’ll probably be interested in the Nvidia 3D Vision kit included with the Toshiba Satellite P755-113. Unlike the desktop version of Nvidia’s headache-inducing, dimension-multiplying goggles, the IR receiver is integrated into the laptop itself, above the screen. That’s great for saving on sable clutter and minimises driver issues. For £999, it’s a nice inclusion.

We disliked

There are drawbacks to the Toshiba Satellite P755-113. The biggie is battery life – at just two and a half hours, it’s restrictive to your mobility. Running games, it’s below two hours. An SSD drive can really boost system performance so we’re a bit disappointed to find only old-fashioned hard drive storage here, 750GB of it to be exact.

Beneath the keyboard, an Intel Core i5 2410M occupies the CPU slot. Part of the Sandy Bridge family, it’s architecturally impressive but a bit of a letdown performance-wise, operating at 2.3GHz with just two cores and two threads and no Turbo Boost available.

The Toshiba Satellite P755-113 may boast relatively quick frame rates, but the 1366 x 768 resolution’s prohibitive for HD content. That’s the compromise for its portability.

Verdict

At £999, this Toshiba laptop has a lot going for it, but there still isn’t an obvious champion of this price point.

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While the Acer Timeline X 4820T brings lightweight portability and the HP Pavilion dv6-3112sa unrivalled power, the Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-16N aims at a much more modest target.

Its sub-£400 price tag makes it a low-cost option and, for such a bargain price, you get a surprisingly good deal.

At the heart of the C600-16N is a Core 2 Duo T6670 processor which, although dated, is still a solid performer. It predates the Core i3 found in the HP and Acer, but it’s still capable of running most programs and dealing with multiple programs such as Word, Internet Explorer and photo viewers.

The capable processor is also backed up with a healthy 4GB of RAM, which helps speed up the day-to-day running of your machine. This makes it perfectly adept at basic home computing, but this is where the Toshiba’s limits lie.

Sadly, the Toshiba only features an onboard graphics chip. Our lab tests showed woeful graphics power, which makes it unsuitable for anyone looking to edit video, play games, use Photoshop or watch HD content.

Benchmarks

Battery life: 250
MobileMark 2007: 190
3DMark 2003: 1877

The unassuming hardware inside the Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-16N, which puts the focus on basic tasks rather than entertainment, is also echoed in the laptop’s drab looks. The whole machine is a charcoal colour with an attractive texture on the lid.

Lift the lid, however, and the flat featureless keyboard is revealed, which blends seamlessly into the flat black plastic palmrest and matt-finished bezel. It’s a desert of black plastic and is certainly not for the fashion conscious.

Durable chassis

While it may look unexciting, the build quality is great, as you would expect from Toshiba. It feels solid, strong and durable, while remaining relatively lightweight at 2.4kg. You could carry it with you easily and not worry about placing it into a bag, but if you’re looking to turn heads while sitting in the park or your favourite café, then look elsewhere.

The four-hour battery life is only beaten by the Acer, which is designed to be a true portable, and the Toshiba’s processing power surpassed the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 in our lab tests. Unsurprisingly, the Toshiba is in turn outclassed by the powerful Core i3 Acer and HP.

For this reason, it’s hard to recommend the Toshiba. Yes, the Toshiba represents a huge saving and if you want a laptop for basic email and web surfing it’s a great buy. However, if you’re looking for a laptop for entertainment purposes, then the C660-16N is totally unsuitable.

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Toshiba’s output never seems to slow and its Satellite range incorporates everything from entry-level laptops to powerful multimedia machines. The Satellite L650-1GD is a mid-range laptop with strong performance, but it struggles to stand out.

The chassis is one of the bulkiest with a thickness of 40mm, although the 2.5kg weight means it can be comfortably carried in a case.

We liked the all-black design featuring a subtle wavy pattern, although we noticed some flex along the right edge and also in the centre of the lid, which could potentially harm the display.

A glossy coating has been used for the 15.6-inch screen and we found reflections to be a hindrance to outdoor use, as with the other laptops in this group. Images are well reproduced and colourful, however.

With an Intel Core i5 460M processor and 3072MB of DDR3 memory running the show, this laptop produced a solid performance in our benchmarking tests, on a par with the Dell XPS 15 and Packard Bell EasyNote TX86. You can happily run a number of applications at once with no slowdown, and should easily be able to for some time to come.

Unfortunately, graphical power is lacking. Unlike the Dell and Samsung, there’s no dedicated graphics card, so multimedia potential is limited. You will have no problem watching films and browsing your holiday snaps, but frequent photo and video editing is beyond its abilities.

Benchmarks

Battery life: 211 minutes
MobileMark 2007: 258
3DMark 2003: 3174

The flat keyboard is pleasingly firm and well sized, despite featuring a separate numeric keypad. The wide touchpad matches the widescreen display and sits level with the palmrests, with a textured surface to set it apart. We liked the firm mouse buttons and there’s a switch just above to disable the pad if desired.

Limited battery

A drab 211 minutes of battery life gives you enough charge for commutes, but falls well behind many of the other laptops at this price.

The 320GB of hard drive storage is average for this price group but should provide more than enough space for all of your important files and folders. A 2-in-1 memory card reader can be used to boost storage or to directly access your media from portable devices such as cameras.

VGA and HDMI ports allow external monitors to be connected. Wireless networking is taken care of by 802.11n Wi-Fi, while 10/100 Ethernet is available for wired connections when back at home.

Although the Satellite L650-1GD has few flaws and its performance cannot be faulted, it isn’t quite as desirable as the likes of the Dell and the Packard Bell. Nevertheless, this is a highly usable mid-range laptop that won’t disappoint.

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The United States might be the land of the free, but we’ve yet to earn freedom for many of the smartphones and Android phones in Asia and Europe that we would otherwise Desire (see what I did there?). It only takes a few specs to quickly put the Toshiba Regza near the top of that list:

The Regza only runs Android 2.1 but with a 12MP camera, NFC chip, and waterproof conditioning it immediately seems like a pretty sweet phone. In my limited time toying with the Regza I was pleasantly surprised. I’m still dying for the day that we get an Android phone with optical zoom, but the pictures on the Regza – at least in the viewfinder – looked quite gorgeous. I tried to share/E-mail them to myself but they have yet to come through… if they do, we’ll be sure to post them here.

A quick look at some of the specs:

• Android 2.1
• 12MP camera (plus a front facing camera)
• Waterproof
• 4-inch screen
• 854 x 480 pixel resolution
• 14.7mm thick
• 149 grams
• Near Field Communications equipped

Now Toshiba needs to bring their Android Phones to the American market (please). I’ve owned two Toshiba laptops and have loved them both. Actually, this very post is being written lovingly from a Toshiba laptop.

If the Toshiba Regza was available in your area, would it make your short list of Android Phones to consider buying?

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Remember that snazzy Toshiba tablet prototype that we were speculating about early last month? Well, Toshiba has finally launched the official Toshiba Tablet website, with a confirmation that the Honeycomb device will be available this spring.

The website itself is pretty sleek and pleasing to the eye, which is hopefully a sign that the Toshiba Tablet will be just as great. The Android section of the website confirms that the tablet will be running Honeycomb and allow custom desktops, apps, and the like.

Take a look at TheToshibaTablet.com by clicking the source link. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the upcoming Toshiba Tablet in the comments.

TheToshibaTablet.com goes live, Toshiba Honeycomb tablet coming this spring

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While Toshiba’s Satellite range comprises its consumer laptops, the Satellite R630-141 (£764 inc. VAT) takes its design entirely from Toshiba’s corporate Portégé R700 line. Offering high-powered mobility, it is an absolutely fantastic choice for the frequent traveller.

Weighing just 1.4kg, this 13.3-inch this laptop is one of the smallest and lightest machines in this category. The sleek chassis is eminently portable and easy to carry during the day, while the 398-minute battery life vastly beats its rivals here to keep you working for nearly seven hours.

Finished in brushed magnesium alloy, the chassis combines black and gun-metal colour schemes that add an eye-catching yet understated look. The tough plastics prove suitably resilient to scratches and general damage, although we found they quickly attract smudges.

Despite its small dimensions, a large and comfortable isolation-style keyboard is in place. The keys move smoothly and quietly, making long-term use comfortable.

Although the 13.3-inch screen is the smallest in this group, it uses the same resolution as the larger Asus U53Jc Bamboo and HP Envy 14 to deliver a very detailed image. The bright panel provides strong colour and contrast and even the glossy Super-TFT coating hides reflections surprisingly well.

Impressively for such a small laptop, the Toshiba uses the same Intel Core i5 processor as the huge Sony Vaio VPCEC3S0E/WI in this group test. Even more impressively, it manages to outperform the Asus U53Jc Bamboo, HP Envy 14 and the Sony Vaio VPCEC3S0E/WI, speeding through our benchmark tests with unexpected speed and ease.

Graphics are inevitably less powerful, but remain capable enough for basic use. Due to the confines of the small chassis, an integrated Intel graphics card is in place, and it delivers enough power to run high-definition (HD) video and even allow a bit of light media-editing work.

DVD rewriter

Unusually for such a small laptop at this comparatively low price, an integrated DVD rewriter has been fitted for creating your own discs as you travel. Complimenting the suitably capacious 320GB hard drive, it provides the laptop with ample storage capabilities for a busy life on the move.

Adding final value to this machine is its software package. While there is no office software included, you get market-leading tools for internet security, data backup and disc creation, among others.

While the Satellite R630-141 is beaten by the stronger specification and graphics of the Asus U53Jc Bamboo and Sony Vaio VPCEC3S0E/WI, this is still one of the best ultra-portables you can buy. Offering stunning power and mobility at a fairly low price, we would be more than happy to have one in our bag next time we hit the road.

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The Toshiba Satellite T110-121 is a compact and well-specified laptop that is a highly portable choice that offers surprising versatility.

The sleek black chassis weighs just 1.5kg and is ideal for frequent travel and use around the house. The slightly tapered design makes it easy to hold. It also fits comfortably into even the smallest bag, while the excellent 399-minute battery can keep you working during the day.

Despite the compact dimensions, the keyboard is spacious and comfortable. Spanning almost the full width of the chassis, all the keys are large enough to allow smooth speed-typing. The keys rattle slightly, however, so this is not the quietest laptop for firm typists to use.

Built around an 11.6-inch display, screen space is at a minimum. The sharp resolution lets you view a decent amount of content, but text can appear quite small as a result. If you plan on regularly working from home, you may prefer to use a larger external screen.

Screen quality is excellent, however. The backlit LED panel delivers striking brightness and contrast and images are sharp and natural. Colours can look a little washed out at times due to the high brightness, but this is easily configured.

Low-voltage processor

To deliver suitable performance within such a tiny chassis, a low voltage Intel processor has been used. Matching the power of its rivals, you can browse the internet and perform basic home office tasks, but complex multitasking is out of the question.

The same can be said of its graphics. High-definition videos run comfortably and simple photo and video editing can be undertaken, but 3D gaming is not possible.

A camera built into the screen panel can be used to take photos and record video.

Storage is excellent for such a slim laptop and the 250GB hard drive betters all but the ViewSonic ViewBook 130. Inevitably, the thin chassis does not house an optical drive, so you cannot access CDs or DVDs.

Toshiba bundles an excellent software package with the T110. Market-leading tools for basic home office use and internet security are provided, as well as a range of proprietary software applications for easy system management.

By combining slim mobility with a strong specification and features, the Satellite T110 is a real bargain at this low price. While the small screen could potentially hinder family use, the fact you can work in equal comfort at home or on the move makes this a versatile and affordable choice that is very easy to like.

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It’s no secret that practically every manufacturer of Android devices is looking for solid tablet that can genuinely challenge the iPad. Well Toshiba just announced a tablet that could be a real contender. Running a Tegra 2 CPU, this 10.1-inch tablet is going to pack a real punch. It has a capacitive, high 1280 x 800-resolution display with an ambient light sensor. In terms of hardware, it has an accelerometer built in, a 5 megapixel camera as well as a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, and full-sized USB and HDMI ports. It weighs in at 1.7 pounds and is just slightly more than a half-inch thick. The backing is rubberized and removable, which not only allows you to change the battery, but will available in different colors allowing you more customization. As this tablet will run Honeycomb, which hasn’t even been made official by Google yet, we aren’t likely to see a working model REAL soon. Still, Toshiba hopes to have the device available within the first half of the year, and we will be watching eagerly for more information. Hit the source link if you want more pictures.

Toshiba Announces Tegra 2-Powered Tablet, Will Run Honeycomb

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Are you after frankly ludicrous storage capacity in a teeny-weeny form-factor? You want the new Toshiba 1TB 2.5-inch laptop drive then, don’t you?

When politicians come out with that hackneyed old saying “you’ve never had it so good”, they usually get slated from pillar to post and then resign, but when it comes to the cost and capacity of standard mechanical hard drives there’s really no arguing against it.

Could you have ever imagined a 1TB notebook hard drive and it costing less than a hundred quid? Less than a couple of years ago that was the price of a 320GB drive.

Fresh from launching a couple of 750GB notebook drives recently, Toshiba has upped the ante once again with the MK1059GSM, a 1TB 2.5-inch drive.

You might well wonder what the need is for such large capacity drives in a notebook. The answer lies in the amount of multimedia notebooks on the market. You only have to start downloading and storing large amounts of HD media and even a 1TB drive begins to look a little inadequate.

Benchmarks

HD Tach Burst Speed (MB/s: Bigger is better)

Toshiba MK7559GSXP: 202
WD WD3200 Scorpio Black: 130
Toshiba MK1059GSM: 129

HD Tach Random Access (Milliseconds: Lower is better)

WD WD3200 Scorpio Black: 14.7
Toshiba MK7559GSXP: 17.2
Toshiba MK1059GSM: 18.5

Both the MK7559GSXP and the MK1059GSM share the same latest disk drive technologies, rather than the previous generation that the WD drive uses, but the twin-platter MK7559GSXP outperforms the MK1059GSM because the larger drive uses a three-disc design.

Toshiba’s MK1059GSM and MK7559GSXP both lose out to WD’s Scorpio Black in the random access results due to their slower 5,400rpm spin speed’s. WD’s drive spins at a much faster 7,200rpm and has a massive16MB buffer.

As with the 750GB MK7559GSXP we looked at recently, the 1TB MK1059GSM uses the latest Advanced Sector Formatting (ASF) technology to make the most of any available storage space.

ASF technology uses a 4K byte per sector which results in the removal of the Sync/DAM blocks of the legacy 512 byte per sector format and as a result closes the gaps between sectors therefore giving a greater storage capacity for a given platter size through increased areal density.

ASF also brings with it improved ECC (Error Correcting Code), leading to better formatting efficiency and data integrity.

The MK1059GSM also comes with Toshiba’s Silent Seek technology which aims to keep the drive as quiet as it is in idle when it performs seek operations – handy if you’re watching a film on your notebook and don’t want to suffer from the noise of a chattering hard drive during the quieter moments.

As with the MK7559GSXP, Toshiba has given the MK1059GSM a relatively slow spindle speed of 5,400rpm and a small 8MB cache (buffer), but since it’s aimed at the mainstream, rather than performance, market this is perfectly understandable.

A quick word of warning before you rush out to get one of these drives, though, because of the three platter (disc) design, the drive is a 12.5mm high design, not the more common 9.5mm design, so it’s not one for your nice thin and light notebooks – it’s more for your chunkier desktop replacement/mobile workstations. Always check to see how much drive bay room you have before you buy.

We liked

Huge capacity combined with a ridiculously low price tag make the MK1059GSM a very desirable upgrade for a multimedia notebook or a mobile workstation.

It would also make an interesting choice for a low-profile media centre, or you could connect two or more in a mini RAID array in a standard desktop PC.

We disliked

It would have been good to see a faster spin speed or even a larger cache, but since it’s aimed at the mainstream market, it’s understandable. Regrettable but understandable.

It’s not really a dislike, but because of its higher profile you need to make sure you have room in your notebook drive bay to fit it in.

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Toshiba’s AC100-10U is a netbook-like device powered by Nvidia’s Tegra technology and running Google’s smartphone OS – Android 2.1.

Aimed at those after a very portable internet experience, we have mixed feelings about the device.

At only 870g, the laptop isn’t a device you’re going to have any problems carrying around, while the fanless system has allowed Toshiba to cram the device’s components into a tiny chassis measuring only 21mm at its thickest point.

Battery life is also a selling point for this machine and the 377 minutes of video playback we obtained is impressive, without being exceptional.

The tough, matt-black plastic employed in building the chassis – with an inoffensive crosshatch pattern – makes the device almost impervious to scratches.

Bright screen

The 10.1-inch screen features a detailed 1024 x 600-pixel resolution and is very bright and a pleasure to view photos and videos on. The inclusion of a shiny screen finish means there are irritating reflections to contend with in bright light, however.

The keyboard, although a little cramped, is more than usable – but there’s no delete key to accompany the backspace key, which regular typists may miss. 802.11n Wi-Fi is on board for speedy wireless networking, as is a 3G module. This means that, having purchased a tariff and SIM card from a network provider, you’ll be able to surf the web or browse your email away from Wi-Fi hotspots.

We’ve long been fans of Google’s ultra-intuitive Android OS, but it doesn’t make a smooth transition on to the AC100. There’s no touchscreen and the numerous hotkeys substituting for the swipes and scrolls normally executed on a smartphone are confusing.

Similarly, the Toshiba-tweaked interface is unattractive and clumsy, and selecting applications or links, for example, is a frustrating affair. Finally, instead of Google’s own apps market, Camangi Market software is included.

There are some decent apps available, but their quality is questionable. Nevertheless, Nvidia’s 1GHz Tegra 250 chipset provides decent processing power, and runs the operating system smoothly. Its low power means there’s no need for a fan system.

The graphics card is part of the main chipset, and produces decent video. There’s no room for an optical drive, and you’ll find the 8GB of SSD storage fairly limiting if you have a lot of data to carry around.

It’s hard not to see the AC100 as a bit of a missed opportunity. Both design and portability are great, but usability and the implementation of Android disappoint.

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Remember the WinMo-powered Toshiba TG01? Me neither, but if you can dig deep in the memory crevices of your brain, it was the first production phone to ever use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon silicon. With a 4.1 inch screen and a Snapdragon processor clocked at 1Ghz, it was the phone of its time, with specs previously unheard of. Unfortunately, the TG01 ran WinMo 6.5, which soon became outdated and stagnant, and the TG01 faded away into the back of users’ closets.

Today the Toshiba TG01 can be dug out and have life breathed back into it thanks to XDA member Markinus, who has modded the TG01 to run Android! Right now, the first build isn’t usable for a daily driver, but can be downloaded from the XDA thread just in case you have to be up on the latest and greatest.

So far, the working features and progress made by Markinus are as follows:

Edit6:
Added touchscreen buttons
Added first Test Build! Extract to sd and run haret! Look to Post 2.

Edit5:
Touchscreen is working now. I had to recalculate the calibration values. Later we have to look to better calib values, maybe a calib app for users.

Edit4:
We have now a official mach id 3197. This have to be changed in the default.txt for haret.

Edit3:
So some new stuff is checked in:
– panelfile with basic support for mdp and lcdc
– sd card works
– usb works
– rpc, pcom, works

So if you have a Toshiba TG01 and want to run the world’s latest and greatest mobile operating system, Android, make sure to hit up the source link and let us know how it went in the comments!

Source: XDA-Developers via Engadget

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Vizio Google TV Concept

Google TV has been released for a couple of months now and there has been lots of speculation about the future of the product and how it will affect our viewing experience.  The biggest issues around the platform is the backlash from the TV networks who fail to see how IPTV products can fit into their revenue stream and their fear of allowing pirated media to be easily found and displayed.

Until we see applications for Google TV that give the experience you get on your desktop, like those experienced through Hulu, it may be a slow uphill climb.  Hulu and other online content is supported by advertising built into the broadcasts and enhanced subscriptions required to get the latest and greatest content.  The only step now is to work out how to get this revenue stream into the hands and pockets of the major networks.

While more and more networks decide to block their content from being viewed through Google TV products, including Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, CBS Corp. and NBC, it doesn’t sound like it’s stopping manufacturers from considering products based on the Google TV technology.

A report released on the Business Week site yesterday insinuates that Toshiba, Vizio and Samsung are working on products we will hopefully see at CES in January.  Apparently, people close to the subject stated that two of the companies will announce products at CES but declined to be identified.

The more manufacturers Google can get on board the Google TV bandwagon, the more support we should see from the networks and the more solutions will get devised to make sure that everyone gets their revenue streams in order.

All three of these manufacturers currently make Internet enabled TVs and embedding the Google TV platform into their future products just seems like a natural choice.  Having a single platform that everyone can use will only benefit everyone and means that application developers only need to develop a single application that can be distributed to all the manufacturers. Sounds ideal, doesn’t it!

Jeff Barney, General Manager of Digital Products at Toshiba, was quoted as saying:

“Google certainly is a key partner for us on the PC side and will likely be key for us on the TV side as well.”

Samsung and Vizio have been very quiet about the products and have declined to comment on multiple occasions or they have indicated that they are considering products but no decisions have been made yet.

Source BusinessWeek via ThedroidGuy

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Toshiba has launched a huge 750GB capacity 2.5-inch drive in the shape of the MK7559GSXP which you can snap up for around £80.

To put the £ per Gigabyte argument into some sort of perspective, for the same amount of money you might just be able to buy an 80GB SSD if you shop around. Even just a couple of years ago a 750GB 2.5-inch drive would have been nudging the £200+ mark.

With this tiny 750GB drive, Toshiba has a drive that should help address the data capacity needs of today’s multimedia notebook aficionados.

It’s interesting to see how the MK7559GSXP with its latest mechanical drive technologies outperforms the previous generation MK5055GSX.

The MK7559GSXP loses out to WD Scorpio Black in the random access results due to its slower 5,400rpm spin speed, WD’s drive spins at a much faster 7,200rpm and has a massive16MB buffer.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the MK7559GSXP is the technologies Toshiba has used in the platter (disc) design. While many people see SSD’s as the future, traditional hard disk companies haven’t been hiding their collective heads in the sand, but rather have been looking at ways of increasing capacity in the traditional formats by introducing new disc technologies.

In the MK7559GSXP Toshiba uses something called Advanced Sector Formatting (ASF). Traditionally, hard drives have used the legacy 512 byte per sector format which uses Sync/DAM (lead in) blocks, Error Correcting Code (ECC) blocks and also more importantly leaves gaps between sectors which wastes storage capacity.

ASF is a technology that uses 4K bytes per sector and removes the Sync/DAM blocks and closes the gaps between sectors. The larger sector size also brings improved ECC, leading to better formatting efficiency and data integrity. The closing of the gaps also allows for increased areal density which is the key in getter larger capacities per platter (disc).

Toshiba are not alone in using ASF, but with an areal density of 541.4G bit/in^2 (which Toshiba claim is the industry’s highest) it’s the reason they only needed two platters to give the MK7559GSXP its impressive storage capacity.

Unfortunately Toshiba has matched all the good stuff with a relatively slow spindle speed, 5,400rpm and a small buffer with 8MB cache. Still, that’s pretty standard for a standard notebook drive but it would have been nice to see them push the envelope a little more.

The MK7559GSXP is also pretty quiet in operation thanks to Toshiba’s Silent Seek technology which aims to make every seek operation as quiet as the drive is when in idle mode.

We liked

Huge capacity combined, with a seriously low price tag, makes the MK7559GSXP almost a no brainer for anyone that uses a multimedia notebook to download normal and HD content. It will also appeal to mobile workstation uses that need capacity over performance.

We disliked

A conventional hard drive is never going to be as fast as a SSD but it would have been good to see Toshiba raise the anti in the standard disk market by giving the MK7559GSXP a faster 7,200rpm spindle speed.

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Toshiba’s Satellite range is aimed at consumers and covers everything from entry-level laptops to multimedia machines. The Satellite L630-13M sits in the middle, with decent performance and a great range of features packed into a sleek and portable chassis.

An attractive and subtle pattern graces the black lid and interior, although the glossy surface does attract dust and smudges. The chassis is as compact as the Samsung Q330, and just a little bigger than the Dell Inspiron M101z, and can easily slip into a bag.

The 2.1kg weight makes this one of the lightest laptops. Its 240-minute battery life is average for this price and enough to last you on lengthy commutes.

Good usability

The touchpad is a decent size, despite the laptop’s reduced frame, and is complemented by two firm mouse buttons. Another button disables the touchpad when needed, although we never accidentally brushed the pad as we did with the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13” and HP Pavilion dv6-3040sa.

Multi-touch gesturing is supported and running your finger up and down the right edge lets you easily scroll through documents. The full-sized keyboard is similar to the Fujitsu’s, with flat keys that are firmly set and quiet when pressed, although the travel distance is shallow. There’s no room for a dedicated numeric keypad.

Power is provided by an Intel Pentium P6000 processor and we were impressed by the performance on offer. You can run several applications at once without conflict, even fairly memory-intensive software, although the Intel Core i3 powered laptops proved more powerful.

Graphics are integrated, as with most of the laptops here, and fi ne for basic multimedia tasks. The 13.3-inch screen is very crisp, thanks to the 1366×768-pixel resolution, with sharp contrast levels provided. It’s a suitably bright and vibrant screen too.

Toshiba has included some excellent features for such a small laptop. At 500GB, there’s ample storage for your files and media, and there is also built-in vibration detection to protect the hard drive from damage should the laptop take a tumble.

Three USB ports are included, one of which doubles as an eSATA port, while HDMI and VGA ports can be used to hook up to monitors or projectors. Wired and wireless networking matches all the other laptops in this group test, while Bluetooth is also on hand for wirelessly connecting to compatible devices.

Overall, the Toshiba Satellite L630-13M is a great all-round machine. The solid chassis looks good and is easy to transport, while the Pentium processor offers decent performance. Plenty of features add to the overall package, with almost no flaws in evidence.

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With the resurgence of 3D technology continuing unabated, we’ve seen a range of 3D-capable laptops released over the past few months. From the polarised screen of the Acer Aspire 5738DZG to the Nvidia 3D Vision technology of the Asus G51JX, the effect has been stunning, with 3D looking stronger than ever before.

Despite 3D’s growing popularity, however, surprisingly few of the big names in the laptop market have so far stepped into the 3D laptop arena. While both Sony and HP have 3D screen machines coming in the very near future, Toshiba has beaten both to the punch with the release of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z – a 15.6-inch machine that packs an Nvidia 3D Vision-powered screen, active 3D glasses and a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor.

As with all current 3D laptops, it lacks the screen size of big-screen media centres such as Toshiba’s own Qosmio X500 range, but the Satellite A665-11Z more than compensates with power, style and features.

However, the Toshiba is not without its flaws and while the interactive entertainment it delivers is excellent, this is not the best 3D-capable laptop we’ve seen, with some strong competition close on its heels.

At first glance the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s chassis looks much like any other in Toshiba’s consumer Satellite range, but that’s not a bad thing by any means. The combination of glossy black and textured gun-metal plastics creates a stylish, yet understated, high-end look, and the chassis feel extremely well-made throughout.

With its resilient lid and firmly-fixed panels, this is a laptop more than up to the challenge of surviving busy use by the whole family.

While the 15.6-inch screen of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is not as large as we’d have liked – an 18.4-inch screen would have been preferable for more immersive 3D entertainment – it provides a good combination of size and mobility.

At 2.8kg, the chassis can be comfortably carried during the day. The 114-minute battery life we recorded is awful, however, and falls to just 75 minutes when watching a DVD – one of the worst results we’ve seen from any laptop.

The wide keyboard of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is built using the isolated – or chiclet – style, popularised by the Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro. With each key cut through an individual hole in the chassis’ top panel, ample spacing is provided between each key. This makes it easy to touch type for long periods of time.

Another benefit of this design is that dust cannot easily fall beneath the keys, making it less necessary to have to clean the keyboard on a regular basis.

While the large keys feature an entirely flat profile – reducing tactility somewhat – we found the board consistently smooth and accurate to respond. The entire board is also backlit, making it easy to keep working on the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z in low light conditions – ideal when gaming or watching a movie with the lights off.

One major flaw we noticed, however, was that the spacebar was frustratingly sluggish to respond. Requiring a very firm strike to register, this hinders tough-typing slightly.

The large touchpad is more pleasing. Measuring 93 x 52mm it perfectly matches the 16:9 aspect ratio of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s 15.6-inch screen and its slightly textured finish makes it very tactile to use.

A small button above the touchpad lets you instantly disable the pad – when using an external mouse, for example – and a backlit strip indicates when the pad is active or disabled. The touchpad’s accompanying mouse buttons are equally well-sized and their gun-metal finish matches the rest of the chassis.

All ports are located on the left and right-hand sides of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s chassis, other than a 3-in-1 card reader fitted at the front. The right-hand side features two USB 2.0 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, alongside the Toshiba’s Blu-ray optical drive.

The left-hand side features HDMI and VGA-out ports, for connecting to external monitors and projectors, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port for high-speed fixed network connections. A third USB 2.0 port is also in place, fitted below a compact 34mm ExpressCard expansion slot.

Also fitted on the left-hand side of the Satellite A665-11Z’s chassis is an eSATA port, allowing high-speed data transfers to compatible external hard drives. The connection also doubles as a USB 2.0 port, bringing the total of available USB ports to four, and features Toshiba’s Sleep and Charge technology.

This charged port allows you to connect a USB-powered peripheral, such as an MP3 player, and recharge the battery even when the laptop is switched off.

Adding to the multimedia potential of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is a set of stereo speakers from audio specialist Harman Kardon. Seen on many Toshiba laptops, including last year’s Toshiba Qosmio G50 range, the speakers deliver an impressively warm and capable sound.

While audio quality of course cannot match a dedicated set of external speakers, they add an impressive depth of sound for games, movies and music.

Of course the key selling point of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is its 3D screen, and this is where it truly excels. Using the same Nvidia 3D Vision technology used by the Asus G51JX and the Rock Xtreme 680, the Toshiba employs a set of active shutter glasses to create its 3D effect. Far more effective and far less nausea-inducing than the polarised screen of the Acer Aspire 5738DZG, the 3D effect it creates is nothing less than stunning.

Setting up the Nvidia 3D Vision system is easy, and is achieved by following a simple step-by-step wizard. You begin by connecting the compact infrared receiver to an available USB port on the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s chassis.

You then put on the battery-powered, active shutter 3D glasses and use the wizard to walk you through the process of testing that both devices are comfortably synchronizing with one another to create the necessary 3D effect.

Nvidia’s active shutter glasses work by lightening and darkening the lens covering each eye, in time with the refresh rate of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s 15.6-inch screen. Synchronising via the accompanying infrared receiver, the screen shows two different images in quick succession – far too fast for the naked eye to see – and by letting each eye see each image in turn, your brain is tricked into seeing a three-dimensional image that does not exist.

A simple concept on paper, the technology itself is extremely complex and works very well.

When viewing 3D photos and movies, the appearance of depth is so effective that images literally leap out of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s screen. Where the technology is most effective, however, is when gaming.

With a huge range of fantastic 3D Vision capable games currently available, including Batman: Arkham Asylum and Resident Evil 5, games have never been more immersive, with enemies popping out of the screen and scenery whizzing by with dizzying depth. The effect is stunning, but one minor flaw detracts from the overall experience.

With the active shutter glasses providing a barrier between your eyes and the screen, the vibrancy of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s screen is greatly reduced. This renders the screen disappointingly flat and colourless, reducing the overall impact of the 3D experience. This is a known flaw of Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology, however, and not a flaw of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z itself. Nvidia is aware of this limitation of its technology and assures us that it is working hard to rectify the situation for future iterations.

Thankfully, when the glasses come off, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s 15.6-inch screen is stunning. Combining impressive brightness and colour reproduction with striking contrast and deep black levels, photos, videos and games look fantastic.

While we’re a little disappointed about the 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and would have preferred a Full HD screen, images are rendered sharply enough for enjoying 720p high-definition content. Viewing angles are a little limited, however, so you have to view the screen head-on to get the best quality images.

The lack of a Full HD resolution is exacerbated by Toshiba’s inclusion of a Blu-ray compatible optical drive. While high-definition movies look great on the Satellite A665-11Z’s screen, much of the impact of the HD video is lost by its lack of 1080p support. The Blu-ray drive impresses, however, as it doubles as a Blu-ray rewriter, letting you burn as much as 50GB of data to compatible dual-layer discs. Accessing and burning DVDs and CDs is also possible.

Not that you’ll need to back up data to disc on a regular basis, as the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z features a capacious 500GB hard drive as standard. While not quite as impressive as the 1.2TB of storage offered by more expensive rivals such as the Acer Aspire Ethos it will provide ample storage for most people and let you store large collections of photos, music, videos and games with ease.

The drive is also shock-protected, parking the disk heads when the laptop is bumped to prevent damage to your data.

Where the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z again impresses is its staggering performance. Powered by a quad-core Intel Core i7-740QM processor and 4096MB of high-speed DDR3 memory – upgradeable to 8192MB – the Toshiba makes light work of even the most demanding software. With the processor running at 1.73GHz, but able to ramp up to 2.93GHz when necessary, applications are dispatched with ease, and Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology ensures that multi-tasking is equally smooth with no discernable slowdown.

Graphics are similarly capable and roughly in line with Toshiba’s own Qosmio X500 range. The Nvidia GeForce GTS 350M graphics card lets you edit photos and videos with ease and even runs the latest games with suitable aplomb. High-definition video is also processed smoothly, backing up the Blu-ray drive nicely.

This is not a gaming laptop in the truest sense of the word, however, as it lacks the graphics performance of such cutting-edge rivals as the Alienware M17x.

By combining its immersive 3D screen and strong graphics performance with staggering Intel Core i7 power and comprehensive features, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is a great, mid-sized home media centre. Its slightly flawed usability and lack of full 1080p support is unfortunate, as are its low battery life and the inherent limitations of its Nvidia 3D Vision technology, but they do little to restrict the enjoyment of this otherwise stylish and well-made multimedia machine.

While the best 3D laptop you can currently buy remains the Asus G51JX, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is a more than worthy rival and is very easy to recommend.

We liked

Nvidia’s 3D Vision is still the vanguard of current 3D technology and the immersive 3D entertainment of the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is stunning. Whether gaming or watching movies, it adds a new depth to your enjoyment that is truly hard to beat.

Offering staggering power and features, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z is a great laptop to future-proof yourself against the years ahead. Packed with cutting-edge technology, this is a machine that delivers fantastic performance and will continue to do so for years to come.

When viewed without the 3D glasses, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s vibrant 15.6-inch screen is stunning. Strong brightness combines with striking contrast and natural colours to bring photos and videos to vivid life, making this an extremely capable home media centre.

We disliked

For a machine so clearly marketed for gaming and enjoying high-definition content, the low 720p screen resolution is unfortunate. This is exacerbated by the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive, as the Satellite A665-11Z’s screen doesn’t have the pixels to enjoy the full benefits of HD.

While the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s keyboard is generally great to use, the temperamental spacebar can sometimes make touch-typing a chore. While it may only have been a quirk of our review sample, we’d recommend you be sure to try the keyboard in-store before buying.

Running for less than two hours, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s battery performance is truly awful. Dropping to an inexcusable 75 minutes when watching a DVD, you’d be lucky to get an hour’s use when watching a Blu-ray movie, making this a laptop intended solely for home use.

Verdict

Despite various flaws in usability and mobility, the Toshiba Satellite A665-11Z’s impressive combination of power and features makes it a great choice as a semi-portable home media centre. Whether you want to enjoy the latest 3D games and movies, enjoy cutting-edge, quad-core performance, or future-proof yourself for the years ahead, there is something for everyone here, making the Satellite A665-11Z a laptop that’s very easy to like.

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There’s no denying that over the last couple of years we’ve witnessed a shift in the tech landscape. There’s been the rise of the iPhone, the birth of the netbook, introduction of Android and, most recently, the coming of the tablet.

All have contributed to creating a world in which our devices are increasingly portable but, in the confusion of manufacturers scrabbling to keep up with the trailblazers, some pretty odd devices have been chucked up.

In our opinion the AC100 is such as device. It’s neither a netbook, tablet or smartphone but tries to be a little of all – and doesn’t quite pull it off.

Tohsiba designed the AC100 to be a mobile internet device (MID) for those after a portable web browsing experience but, while there’s no doubt fundamentally the AC100 succeeds on this front, there are some issues.

Most noticeably for us is the poor implementation of Android 2.1 – which the AC100 runs. We love Google’s Android operating system on a smartphone, but without touch functionality it feels like a fish out of water, with poor usability being the outcome.

But it’s not all bad, and great build quality and portability make the AC100 a device that will certainly appeal to some.

In appearance the AC100 resembles a netbook in pretty much every way.

The 10.1-inch screen features a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution that’s more than detailed enough for browsing the web, reading spreadsheets and even watching movies.

It’s also particularly bright, and although you wouldn’t describe colour reproduction as vivid, the AC100 is great for viewing your photos and films on.

Unfortunately, unlike netbooks such as the Samsung N230 (among many others), the AC100 features a shiny screen coating. This is in a bid to add greater vibrancy to onscreen colours, but has the unfortunate secondary effect of creating irritating reflections in bright light, and means you’ll be ducking and weaving your head to get a comfortable viewing angle.

As with the screen, the AC100′s keyboard is great to use. It doesn’t quite compete with the excellent MSI Wind U160‘s typing experience, but the large keys make mis-hitting a key a rare event.

The shallow travel of the AC100′s keys takes a little getting used to, but caused us no problems in the long run, and we were quickly typing at full speed with next to no errors.

One quick point worth noting is that the AC100′s board doesn’t feature a delete key. It’s not a massive deal, but it’s funny how you miss it when it’s not there.

The AC100 features a spacious touchpad, and two responsive click buttons. There’s not multi-touch functionality (more on that later) but there is a scroll bar, meaning running your finger down the side of the touchpad will scroll up and down documents and web pages alike.

The AC100′s chassis is built from tough black plastics that provide great protection for the device on the road. Both the lid and the chassis feature an inoffensive crosshatch pattern that looks great, and also makes the AC100 easy to grip.

To spice up the look, Toshiba has painted the keyboard’s characters, the border of the touchpad and also the chassis trimmings an aggressive yellow. It may not appeal to your Nan, but we like the look of it.

Also differentiating the AC100 from its netbook siblings is the fact that it features an HDMI port. Sitting down the left side of the chassis this makes it possible for you to hook up to an external digital monitor or high definition TV and share photos and movies with friends and family.

Also down the left side is the media card reader (5-in-1). This is useful for expanding the AC100′s slightly limiting 8GB SSD by 32GB (via a SDHC card). It also makes it easy to import your photos from your digital camera without messing around with cables.

Down the right side of the AC100′s chassis sit two USB ports (one a mini), the power socket and a Kensington lock.

While nearly all netbooks feature Windows XP or 7, with the AC100 Toshiba has implemented Google’s Android operating system (OS), hoping to harness the usability and web-friendliness of the platform.

For the uninitiated Android is usually found on smartphones, such as the HTC Desire. It’s designed specifically to be used with touchscreen devices, which is why many manufacturers, such as Samsung with the Galaxy Tab, are implementing them on tablet devices, and is widely considered to be one of the most intuitive operating systems around.

Unfortunately Toshiba hasn’t been that successful in porting Android over to the AC100, and the end result is dodgy usability with a very half-baked feel about it.

As mentioned above, Android is one of the most intuitive operating systems around thanks to its touchscreen capabilities. Take that away and navigating around the AC100 is like trying to steer a car with a series of ill-placed buttons on the dashboard rather than a steering wheel.

To take one example, instead of using the Backspace key for travelling back through web pages when browsing the internet, you have to use the escape key – which is used in another capacity to close applications down.

It’s not like it’s impossible to use, and we were eventually competent at making our way around the AC100, but there is a lack of cohesion that makes this a disappointingly unintuitive device to use.

Toshiba has tweaked Android’s UI for the AC100, and there are problems here too. The clean and customisable interface we’re used to with Android-powered smartphones remains more or less intact, but scrolling sideways between the five available desktops just seems wrong without a touchscreen.

We assumed you’d be able to use the arrow keys to quickly flip between Home screens, but you can’t. Instead the arrow keys flick from link to link of the various widgets on each particular page, be it from a Facebook logout link to the play button of the media player. Only once you’ve been through all the links on each page will you progress to the next.

Click a tab at the bottom of the Home screen page and up pops a kind of secondary homepage. Here, under four titles, sit your Applications, Widgets, Bookmarks and Settings.

It’s a functional, rather than attractive, approach but ultimately gets the job done – albeit in a slightly confusing way because, among other quirks, some of the bundled programs appear under both Applications and Widgets tabs.

Another gripe we have with the AC100 is that it doesn’t support Google’s own Market app store, instead plumping for one called Camangi Market – a store especially designed for Android tablets.

Frankly it’s lacking both the quantity and app quality of Google’s own Market, and aside from a few useful applications, such as augmented reality app Layar, there was nothing to keep our attention for too long.

It’s also worth mentioning that Android 2.1 – which the AC100 runs – doesn’t support Flash, making watching most video content on the web (including the likes of the BBC website) pretty much impossible.

Unlike most netbooks, which are powered by Intel’s Atom processors, the AC100 is run by Nvidia’s 1GHz Tegra 250 chipset. Performance was smooth throughout, even when we had multiple applications open, and we were also impressed with the way the AC100 handled video – thanks to the integrated Nvidia graphics processor employed.

The Tegra platform is resource-light enough to not require any fan system for cooling, and we were impressed by the way the AC100 remained utterly silent and maintained a low temperature even after hours of work – making it a comfortable proposition.

As mentioned above the 8GB SSD provides limited storage for work documents and files, let alone multimedia libraries, and you’ll want to upgrade the memory with an SDHC card soon.

802.11n Wi-Fi is included for the fastest wireless networking currently available when you’re near a hot spot, or alternatively a 3G module is fitted. This enables you to browse the web when out of range of Wi-Fi, but obviously requires a tariff and SIM card from a network provider, which can prove costly.

Portability is further enhanced by the AC100′s tiny form factor. Because there’s no space-hungry cooling system Toshiba has managed to cram all the devices components into a chassis that’s only 21mm at its thickest point – a great achievement.

On top of that the AC100 recorded a battery life of just under six and a half hours. This may not be as exceptional as the Asus UL30‘s 13-hour effort, but will keep you productive on the road for quite some time.

It’s never easy to guess which direction the tech industry will take next. Currently it’s looking like tablets and 3D are the next big things, but in such a period of transition it’s very hard to tell.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that manufactures take the odd stab in the dark, hoping to strike gold with a device such as the AC100. This is how, after all, Asus kick-started the netbook market with the Eee PC a few years back.

For all its failings the AC100 succeeds in that you can carry around the internet with you, and access it whenever and wherever you are.

Unfortunately it fails because the execution of Android 2.1 on the AC100 is awkward and clumsy. This makes the experience equally awkward and clumsy, and it’s not one we’d pay £329 to repeat.

We liked

The AC100 offers excellent portability. The impressive battery life, tiny form factor and durability of the build make this a device ready for the road.

The inclusion of a 3G module is also great, meaning you can browse the web whenever you’re in suitable coverage, giving you plenty of flexibility to carry out your work wherever you are.

The Nvidia Tegra platform works great, and provides enough power for the AC100 to work fluidly at all times – very impressive.

The AC100′s screen is also decent, and typing on the keyboard is largely a pleasure.

We disliked

The implementation of Android isn’t the best we’ve seen. The operating system loses it’s intuitiveness and fluidity without touch inputs, and the AC100 admirably demonstrates this.

Things aren’t helped by the number of different keys and buttons the AC100 employs to control the OS, and it just goes to show there’s a good reason why tablets tend to run Android (and similarly tailored software) while netbooks stick to Windows 7.

We also missed Android’s Market apps store.

Verdict

If you want a device for carrying the web around with you, and you don’t want a tablet and can’t be bothered with a Windows 7 powered netbok, then the AC100 may be for you.

There’s no denying it works and that you can browse the internet on it, but it’s how it goes about doing this that most disappoints.

Especially as the AC100 could have been great, it still has lots going for it – the most crucial being excellent portability.

For us, however, the poor implementation of Android 2.1 remains a deal breaker.

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Product: Portege R705-P25

Manufacturer: Toshiba

Wired Rating: 4

What on earth is Toshiba thinking with this rendition of the Portege series, the R705-P25?

Incredibly flimsy construction. An atrocious, nearly unusable keyboard. No graphics processor. Average performance.

For this, Toshiba wants $890, a price tag which, for this feature set, is downright silly.

The R705′s 2.27-GHz Core i3 and 500-GB hard drive are the only specs of note that warm the heart on this machine. Everything else is either mundane or simply bad. Let’s start, though, with the build quality. Sure, Toshiba has done a great job at keeping the weight down (3.1 pounds) and the machine slim — just an inch thick. These are, after all, the hallmarks of the Portege line. For a 13.3-inch laptop (screen resolution is 1366 x 768) with an optical drive, those are impressive feats, but sadly the tradeoffs just aren’t worth it.

In an effort to keep weight and thickness down, Toshiba has trimmed design to the bone, giving the R705 a largely plastic chassis (with modest bits of magnesium alloy) that flexes liberally under strain — not good for a laptop designed for travel. Considerably worse, though, is the keyboard. The island-style chiclet keys are too small and have too much distance between them, and their rubbery action is more reminiscent of dialing a telephone than pleasantly touch-typing on a real keyboard.

Performance on the machine, while acceptable, is uninspired. Its benchmark scores are fine for a latest-generation Core i3-based computer, but naturally graphics (integrated here) are a no-show. Battery life of 3.5 hours is also about average for a 13-inch machine, and far from the promised 8.5 hours.

The net results of Toshiba’s efforts are a computer designed for busy travelers but which neither looks particularly good nor works particularly well in day-to-day use because of its keyboard issues. Repackage it as a $500 executive netbook, and maybe we have a deal.

WIRED Slim and extremely lightweight. USB-eSATA combo port is handy. Touchpad responds well.

TIRED Keyboard is tragically designed. Chassis feels cheap and looks unappealing. Overpriced for its feature set, despite slim profile.

View full post on Wired Product Reviews

Toshiba’s Satellite series comprises its consumer laptops and offers a range of high-quality laptops at varying price points. The Satellite A660-18N is a powerful home media centre, designed to combine basic entertainment features with mid-level mobility.

At just 2.6kg, this is a laptop you can comfortably carry around the home. Despite its large 16-inch screen, the chassis’ surprisingly slim dimensions let it slip easily into a carry case.

Unfortunately, the 129-minute battery life is truly awful, so you won’t be able to travel very far.

Resilient textured plastics have been used throughout this machine, making it more than tough enough for the whole family to use. The matt finish keeps scratches and smudges to a minimum, adding another layer of protection.

The 16-inch Super-TFT screen has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and is ideal for home entertainment. Its widescreen aspect ratio allows movies to be shown in their native format and also allows two or more windows to be viewed side by side. Image quality is also excellent, with the panel proving bright and vibrant.

The keyboard employs the same isolation-style design as the Advent Sienna 700 and Sony VAIO VPC-Z12V9E/X and is comfortable and responsive to type on. A numeric keypad is in place on the board’s right side, making it easy to quickly input data while typing.

On paper the Toshiba should be a powerful laptop, thanks to its use of a quad-core Intel Core i7 740QM processor, but in testing we found the Sony to provide greater performance. That said, this is certainly not a low-powered machine.

With a base clock-speed of 1.73GHz, the quad-core CPU ramps up to an impressive 2.93GHz when required. Outperforming all but the Sony VAIO VPC-Z12V9E/X, software opens and runs far faster than any Intel Core i3 and i5-based machines, making it a great choice for frequent and demanding use.

Adequate graphics

Graphics are not quite as powerful, but will be suitable for most home use. The Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics card will run many games with adequate speed, but the HP Pavilion dv8-1250ea and Sony VAIO VPC-Z12V9E/X are significantly faster, so bear this in mind.

Adding to this laptop’s consumer appeal is its excellent software package. Tools for home office use, internet security and CD/DVD creation are all included, among others, so you can get straight to work without having to add to your budget.

While the Satellite A660-18N is narrowly bettered in terms of features and performance by the HP and Sony, it is still an excellent consumer laptop with a huge amount to offer.

If you’re after a high-powered machine at a good price, there’s a lot to like.

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Toshiba’s corporate Satellite Pro range covers a wide range of business requirements at truly affordable prices. The Satellite Pro C650-197 is an entry-level portable that performs well overall, but is sadly lacking in standout features against its rivals.

The Intel Core i3 350M processor provides impressive performance. Even though it uses 4096MB of memory, compared to the 3072MB of the other laptops at this price, we noticed no improvement in our benchmarking tests, with performance matching all but the Acer Aspire 5741-333G32Mn.

An integrated Intel graphics card provides basic multimedia performance, with enough power for basic photo and video editing.

A real highlight is the 15.6-inch widescreen display, which is identical in size to the Acer and HP G62-a45SA, but marginally brighter. Colours look natural and contrast levels are deep, although the screen is as reflective as others with a glossy screen coating.

The Toshiba’s black chassis stands out from the faux-metal builds that populate this price point. However, it’s similar to the HP in its resistance to fingerprints and the slight flex around the optical drive.

While the 2.4kg weight is marginally heavier than the Packard Bell EasyNote NM86, and the 230-minute battery life is lower than some of the competiton, this is still a laptop that can easily be taken on the road. However, the battery life plummets to just 98 minutes when watching a DVD.

As with the HP, usability is mixed. The slightly spongy keyboard is well sized, despite the inclusion of a separate numeric keypad. Touch-typing is a breeze, even with the lack of key definition.

However, even though the touchpad is rather cramped, we still found our palms brushed it occasionally when typing.

Limited features

Features are rather basic, even at this price point, especially when compared to the HP. A meagre two USB ports are available for connecting peripherals, while there’s no HDMI port for hooking up to a high-definition (HD) display, something which is present on all the other laptops here.

Networking capabilities are standard, with fast 802.11n Wi-Fi for wireless connections and basic 10/100 Ethernet for wired connections. A 4-in-1 card reader provides less flexibility than the multicard readers, although the 320GB hard drive matches the ample storage of the Acer.

Features may be lacking and usability mixed, but the Satellite Pro C650-197 is still a decent machine. Performance is assured, thanks to the Intel Core i3 processor, while the widescreen display is bright, vibrant and perfect for working – or playing – well into the night.

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The Toshiba Folio 100 was just officially unveiled at IFA, unfortunately it has made quite the impression the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab has. While this machine does boast some pretty impressive specs, it is also lacking in some areas. Most notably the lack of Android Marketplace. The 10.1-inch screen has a resolution of 1024×600, this larger screen size and resolution apparently doesn’t play nice with Google’s Apps and therefore Google won’t allow them on the device. This is sure to be a deal-breaker for many, even though Toshiba is launching their own marketplace with the Folio. As of right now there are no plans to release the Folio 100 here in the states. Check out the hands-on vid below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

While Phandroid wasn’t able to make an appearance at IFA and personally shmooze with device manufacturer’s as we fondled their goods, plenty of pals from around the Android community made their way to Berlin for the event and did a bang-up job of covering the many releases. Tablets seemed to be the hot topic at the event, specifically those running Android. Two slabs announced were the Toshiba Folio 100 and the Huawei Ideos S7, both of which seem to be getting shaky verdicts on the overall presentation of Android.

First up, the device with arguably less potential is the Huawei S7. SlashGear was on hand to take a spin with the thing, and took away an impression that the device may have been a stand-out tablet had it been released earlier in the year, but in the face of future tablets it probably doesn’t stack up.

And one of the tablets that will create a bit of a harder time for the S7 would be the Toshiba Folio 100, which boasts the sort of specs that could make you drool, though initial feedback has seen a version of Android not quite optimized or the 10.1-inch widescreen display. There is hope that may change as release draws near however. The tablet runs on the bigger side and lacks the portability of something like the Samsung Galaxy Tab. You can check out Android Central’s full preview for more info on that.

And finally we will bring it back to Huawei for impressions of their entry-level Ideos handset also announced yesterday. This one provides a cheap and dirty pathway to Android 2.2 with surprsingly decent internals including a 2.8-inch QVGA display. 3.2MP camera, and the ability to act as a mobile hotspot. It should go for right around $150 off contract when it launches to numerous markets around the globe.

Bonus: Hands-on action with the recently announced line of ARCHOS Android tablets.

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Today Samsung unveiled its new 7″ tablet, called the Galaxy Tab. It will be available in Europe in October, and later this year it will go on sale in the U.S. Currently it uses the GSM standard (used by AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States). No word yet on how much it’ll cost. You might expect a relatively low price with a contract obligation from a cellular carrier. No word on whether a 3G-less version will be available.

The 7″ Galaxy Tab is powered by a Cortex A8 1.0GHz processor, runs Android 2.2. The seven-inch TFT-LCD screen has 1024 x 600 pixels, compared to the iPad’s 9.7 inches, with 1024 x 768 pixels. The Tab includes 16 GB or 32GB of internal storage and 32 GB MicroSD expansion, with various hubs for media and music, plus an e-reader for downloaded books and other content.

It can use both the Android Market and Samsung App Store. Engadget has a preview of the Galaxy Tab.

The Tab is well connected with 3G, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It includes a 3 megapixel camera on the back with a flash and auto-focus, and a 1.3 megapixel user-facing camera. It can shoot HD video at 720p and has a full HD video player with DivX HD video playback. It comes with a beefy 4,000 mAh battery, good for up to 7 hours of video playback.

Surprisingly, Samsung isn’t using the same home-grown Hummingbird 1GHz processor that it is using in its Galaxy Android phones, says Information Week.

Google’s Tablet-friendly version of Android, 3.0 “Gingerbread,” isn’t ready yet, so the Tab runs a version of Android 2.2 Froyo that Samsung has customized for the device’s larger screen and 1040 by 600 resolution.

According to Samsung’s head of planning, “depending on our international partners, we’ll be working to upgrade from Froyo to Gingerbread.”

Meanwhile, the Toshiba Folio is now official. Here are the official details from Gizmodo:

Toshiba’s Android-powered Folio 100 runs Android 2.2, powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2, with a 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 multitouch display and the usual networking options: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, wireless 802.11 b/g/n and, like the iPad, 3G connectivity in some of its models. Unlike the iPad—the inevitable standard reference—the Toshiba Folio has already a webcam, a mini HDMI port, USB 2.0 (it can be both client and host) and SD/MMC card reader built-in.

Its battery life is 7 hours with 65% of web, 10% video playback and 25% stand-by, compared to the typical 11 to 12 hours of video playback you can get on the iPad. At 760 grams, and 281mm x 181mm x 14mm, it’s also heavier and larger than Apple’s tablet.

The Folio 100 is due to roll out across Europe, Middle East and Africa during the fourth quarter of this year, with a suggested retail price of €399 ($512).

Digitimes reports that Motorola, Verizon, and Google are working on a deal to create an Android tablet with a 10.1-inch screen, and based on the Tegra 2 platform from Nvidia. The panel will be thinner than the iPad’s, but not as bright, says Digitimes.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Toshiba’s Satellite range is hugely varied, covering everything from entry-level budget laptops to multimedia powerhouses. The Satellite L670-12J is a sturdy mid-range desktop replacement machine that makes up in power what it lacks in portability.

The 2.8kg chassis is one of the heaviest and bulkiest in its class, beaten only by the HP Pavilion dv7-2045ea. It has a solid build that can take a few knocks if you venture out on the road, but the battery life of just 208 minutes means you’ll need to take the charger on longer trips.

The lightly patterned design is more subtle than the HP’s, although the shiny surface is just as bad at picking up dust and fingerprints.

The 17.3-inch display is also near identical to HP’s widescreen offering and just as good for watching movies, as well as working on your documents side by side. Images are sharp, thanks to the 1600 x 900 pixel resolution, and the glossy Super-TFT coating brings colours to life, creating a vibrant picture.

The full-sized keyboard, complete with dedicated numeric keypad, is one of the benefits of the large chassis, and usability is excellent. The keys are a joy to type on and firmly set in place, as are the two mouse buttons beneath the touchpad.

The touchpad itself is a little cramped, but the textured surface is responsive and it can be turned off using a button on the chassis, just like the HP.

Assured performance

With an Intel Core i5 processor on board, performance was excellent. Only the Core i3 Acer and Hi-Grade came close, but this laptop comfortably beat them in our benchmarking tests and proved itself capable of multi-tasking with even the most intensive applications. Anyone who needs a solid amount of power should look no further.

Unfortunately, while the Acer comes fitted with a dedicated Nvidia graphics card, this laptop makes do with an integrated GPU. The resulting 3D power still beats the Sony VAIO VPC-Y21S1E/SI and even the Mesh Discovery 16-RV, which also features an Nvidia graphics card, but only the most basic games will run and multimedia tasks are limited to editing photos and watching movies.

Features are standard at this price, with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet available for networking and the usual three USB ports for adding peripherals, one of which doubles as an eSATA port. VGA and HDMI outputs and a memory card reader round off the features.

Portability may be limited and a dedicated GPU sorely missed, but the Satellite L670-12J is a strong performer and a highly usable laptop – easily recommended as a desktop replacement machine.

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