Toshiba brings Portege R830, faster Tecras to US
updated 08:50 am EDT, Tue April 12, 2011
Toshiba Portege R830, Tecra R840 and R850 official
Toshiba on Tuesday brought three new pro notebooks to the US to take advantage of Intel's 2011 Core (Sandy Bridge) hardware. Leading the group is the Portege R830, the latest refresh of its full-speed ultraportable. The inch-thick system now packs a newer, full-power Core i3, i5, or i7 and the much faster Intel graphics while adding a USB 3.0 port and the option of Bluetooth 3.0.
The 13-inch R830 starts out at $889 for a 2.1GHz Core i3, 4GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive and its signature ultra-thin DVD burner, peaking at $1,649 for a 2.7GHz Core i7 and a 128GB solid-state drive.
More conventional users can opt for the 14-inch Tecra R840 or the 15.6-inch R850. Both are thinner and lighter than the systems they replace (19 percent and 6 percent respectively for the R850) even as they get faster with similar processor choices to the Portege. The R840 is also uncharacteristically long-lived for its size and speed with an 11-hour battery life if configured with a solid-state drive.
Prices start closely for the two, at $879 for the larger notebook and $899 for the smaller model. Both start with a 2.1GHz Core i3, 3GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. Faster stock configurations bring them up to a 2.7GHz Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and dedicated AMD Radeon HD 6450M video.
All three new PCs should be shipping today.
