14 DAY TRIAL // With all the hype surrounding 3D and the new mobile CPUs from Advanced Micro Devices, PC suppliers have been quite relentless in their efforts to outdo their competitors. Of course, Intel's partners have not been idle and have also refreshed their portfolios. This led to the introduction of 3D notebooks, new ultra-thin laptops and, of course, multimedia notebooks. Toshiba itself is preparing not just an NVIDIA 3D Vision-ready laptop, but even a pair of ULV models, all bound for a July release. Meanwhile, the company has also put together a number of additions for the dynabook series.
The three newcomers bear the names of EX/66M, EX/56M and EX/46M. They all boast the Intel Calpella platform and similar display, graphics and storage options, as well as identical connectivity and I/O capabilities, though their CPUs and amount of memory differ.
All three make use of the same 15.6-inch LED-backlit LCD with a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels. Secondly, they integrate Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 802.11b/g/n WiFi. They also come with HDMI outputs.
The EX/46M is unique through its 2.20GHz Intel Celeron 900 central processing unit, coupled with 2GB of RAM, a DVD writer and a hard disk drive with 500GB of storage. Likewise, the EX/56M is different from its siblings through its Core i3-350M CPU (2.26GHz) and 4GB of RAM. Finally, the EX/66M, as the more powerful of the lot, features an Intel Core i5-450M (2.4GHz) chip, 4GB of RAM and a Blu-ray drive.
Toshiba has made sure that its machines are equipped with the software capabilities expected of such electronics by pre-loading the dynabooks with Microsoft Windows 7. Prices start at roughly $1,522 and shipments, in Japan at least, are slated to commence by the end of the month. Currently, it is unknown when, if ever, Toshiba will extend availability to other regions.