14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like things might finally be picking up on the IT market now that new products are at last getting introduced more often, and Toshiba is one of the most recent companies to deliver a machine, in this instance a fairly sturdy mobile computer.
One could safely say that the worldwide market has already seen a nice share of mobile PCs based on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor platform.
Of course, there was also the problem with the chipset, which led to all mainboards and laptops based on the 6-Series platform being recalled.
With product makers only now restoring their flow of machines, sales of previously-announced motherboards and notebooks should get back to normal by the end of April.
That said, Toshiba just sent a Sandy Bridge mobile personal computer to the US, one that has the benefit of physical endurance and is name Portege R835.
Among other things, there is a spill-resistant keyboard, a honeycomb rib structure and a crafted magnesium casing, implying shock absorption and overall high durability.
Of course, such a package would be wasted on just any hardware configuration, so Toshiba used an Intel Core i3-2310M CPU as the heart. Said chip is backed up by 4 GB of RAM and has its own built-in graphics.
Meanwhile, the Portege has a hard disk drive of 640 GB and the full list of connectivity and I/O options (Bluetooth 3.0, webcam, Gigabit Ethernet, media card reader).
Toshiba even threw in a DVD drive, an USB 3.0 connector and a battery that can keep everything running for up to 9 hours. Finally, the display is a 13.3-inch panel with a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels.
Priced at $899, the newcomer is loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and will be followed by a sibling using the Core i5-2410M CPU ($929.99). Orders can be set here.