Toshiba celebrates with new models and tablet

Anthony Caruana
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 12:50

Your IT - Mobility

With a musical anthem and a video presentation of what Toshiba called "world firsts" launched its 25th Anniversary of laptops with its largest ever single release of new models. But the big surprise was that they will be releasing an all new slate later this year.

Mark Whittard, Managing Director of Toshiba Australia, started the announcement with a reflection of the work of Alan Kay - considered one of the architects of the modern laptop computer. Using the theme of fashion, Whittard said that "style matters" telling us that today the focus on textures, colours and form factors.

With a fashion parade, inspired by the trends of the release years of various Toshiba models, Whittard showed off a number of different retro Toshiba models. While this was interesting, it was the release of new models that really grabbed our attention.

Amongst the 36 new products announced were

Libretto W100 (strictly limited edition) - the world's first dual screen notebook running Windows
Portégé R700 - Toshiba's lightest and thinnest, full-function 13' notebook
AC100 Cloud Companion - an Android-based mobile internet device

Whittard expects that these will put "Toshiba is on target to reach 100 million shipments of notebooks worldwide later this year - a significant achievement for the past 25 years.'

The W100 uses dual 7" displays that work together. It will be in all major retailers for about $1600. We're not sure that many will be sold but it is a great concept device that will continue to push other designers and manufacturers to innovate.