CES 2009

Toshiba continues its lineup with a couple of new notebooks from its Satellite series.

(Credit: Toshiba)

First up is the 15-inch Toshiba Satellite L305-S5921, an average, entry-level notebook that will suffice for the student on a budget. Don't expect to find a FireWire port, Bluetooth, or a Webcam on this unit, but do expect to see the usual row of media-control keys for pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward and two programmable keys defaulted to mute and open Windows Media Player. Also on this notebook are three USB ports, a 4-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, and an Express Card slot. It comes packed with 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM--upgradeable to 4GB--a 160GB HDD, and 128MB of Intel integrated graphics. Running on the T3400 Pentium processor, this system is available now for $549.

(Credit: Toshiba)

Second on the list is a Best Buy Blue Label exclusive retailing for $1,199. The 14-inch Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 is a thin and light laptop and weighs less than five pounds. It features a built-in Webcam with face recognition, Bluetooth, 5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, two USB ports, including one e-SATA/USB combo port with sleep and charge capability. It also comes installed with 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 and comes packed with a hefty 320GB HDD, 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, and 128MB dedicated Intel integrated graphics, all on a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor.

Also, for those wanting to personalize their laptop experiences, Toshiba Direct is offering customized color lids for its Toshiba Portege A600-ST2230, A600-ST2231, and A600-ST2232 in Liquid White, Satin Pink and Liquid Black, as well as for the Toshiba Satellite M300-ST3402 and M300-ST3403 in Ruby Red and Frost White. These models are available now on Toshiba's Web site and start at $879.

(Credit: Toshiba)

One of the many laptops being announced at CES this week is the Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725. It will offer the same bells and whistles of recent X305s, except that its primary drive will consist of a 64GB solid state drive, while the secondary drive will be the standard spindle-based 320GB SATA hard disk drive. This hybrid solution will not only boost performance on an already beast of a machine but will also help with its typically lackluster battery life--as with most gaming laptops--not by much, but it's something.

Here's a quick look at the specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2GHz
• 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Primary drive: 64GB Serial ATA SSD
• Secondary drive: 320GB (7200 RPM) SATA HDD
• Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX, 1GB GDDR3 discrete graphics
• Data: USB v2.0--four ports with USB Sleep and Charge (1 x eSATA/USB combo port)

The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725 will be available at launch on January 6 and will retail for $2,699 at Toshiba's Web site.