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Toshiba unveils 21:9 Satellite Ultrabook and a revamped Portege z900 series

Teaser
The 14.4-inch Satellite U845W will include a 1792x768 resolution display in an Ultrabook package alongside a Portege Z935 refresh and a new mainstream Satellite U845 Ultrabook

Riding off from their first Ultrabook outing with the Portege Z830 series, Toshiba this month has announced three additional Ivy Bridge-powered Ultrabooks for a release this year covering both the high-end “executive” market as well as the more mainstream sector. What makes the announcement much more interesting is how Toshiba will be differentiating its lineup from other Ultrabooks – by stretching the aspect ratio even thinner.

Enter the Satellite U845W Ultrabook, a 14.4-inch, 21:9 notebook with a screen resolution of 1972x768 pixels. This “world’s first entertainment Ultrabook” is expected to be a full-on multimedia notebook due its native support for 21x9 movies and built-in 2.5W Harman Kardon speakers. Although concrete specs are still up in the air, the notebook will be shipping with at least Core i3 options. Toshiba has also confirmed that legacy ports such as USB 2.0 and VGA will be completely abandoned, likely to save space for the 3x USB 3.0 and the full-size HDMI port.

Otherwise, the other features of the U845W will be standard Ultrabook fare. The 4-cell 54Wh battery will power the brushed aluminum notebook for up to 7.5 hours and the Chiclet backlit keyboard will mirror that of Toshiba’s more recent Satellite notebooks. Interestingly, Toshiba has stressed that the notebook will be “Windows 8 ready” because its unique aspect ratio is expected to be more compatible and optimized for Windows 8 than with Windows 7. The ultrawide Ultrabook will be shipping with Windows 7 for now, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see models shipping with Windows 8 as the OS becomes available.

Not everyone will want a 21x9 Ultrabook, of course, so Toshiba will be preparing a more typical 14.0-inch Satellite U845 Ultrabook variant with hardware features similar to that of its wider brother, including the brushed aluminum finish, Chiclet backlit keyboard and hybrid SSD/HDD storage solution.

Finally, the Portege Z930/Z935 Ultrabooks will succeed the current Z830 series, although physical dimensions and weight will remain essentially unchanged. Instead, improvements will come in the form of a more reinforced and “less flimsy” display panel, faster resume/boot speeds, higher resolution webcam and support for screen resolutions greater than 1366x768 pixels. Battery is not user-removable due to the slim form factor and design.

The Satellite U845W, U845 will be released later this month or early July at the latest starting at $999 and $749, respectively. The Portege Z935 will launch at around the same time as well, although its official starting price is not yet known.

As always, expect our full review on the new releases in the next coming months.

Portege Z930/Z935 Series:

  • 13.3-inch, 1366x768 or 1600x900 pixel resolution
  • Core i3/i5/i7 Ivy Bridge
  • 15.9mm thick, 2.5 pounds (1.13kg), Magnesium alloy
  • Up to 256GB SSD
  • 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ-45, multi-card reader
  • 8-cell, 47Wh non-removable Li-Ion, up to 8 hours and 21 minutes

Satellite U845 Series:

  • 14.0-inch, 1366x768 pixel resolution only
  • Core i3/i5/i7 Ivy Bridge
  • 19.9mm thick, 3.9 pounds (1.77kg), Brushed aluminum
  • Hybrid HDD/SSD storage
  • 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ-45, multi-card reader
  • 6-cell, 54Wh Li Polymer, up to 7 hours

Satellite U845W Series:

  • 14.4-inch, 1792x768 pixel resolution
  • Core i3 Ivy Bridge
  • 21mm thick, 3.5 pounds (1.58kg), Brushed aluminum
  • Hybrid HDD/SSD storage
  • 3x USB 3.0, HDMI, RJ-45, multi-card reader
  • 4-cell 54Wh Li Polymer, up to 7.5 hours
Satellite U845W
Satellite U845
Portege Z930/Z935

Source(s)

www.Toshiba.com

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2012 06 > Toshiba unveils 21:9 Satellite Ultrabook and a revamped Portege z900 series
Allen Ngo, 2012-06- 5 (Update: 2012-06- 5)