May 14th, 2009
Toshiba ups solid state drive laptop ante for a price
Toshiba U.S. unit said that it has loaded a Portege laptop with a second-generation 512GB solid state drive (SSD) in what it claims is a first in the notebook market. However, it’ll cost you.
The Portege R600-ST4203 carries the 512GB solid state drive. In the last two years, Toshiba has increased solid state drive capacity from 32 GB to 512 GB. Toshiba announced the R600-ST4203 and two laptops for the Japanese market.
Solid-state drives are appealing because they boot faster, run applications quicker and reduce noise and power consumption.
But there’s a catch. Toshiba said its Portege R600-ST4203 will be available in June and only sold direct. And the real kicker: The laptop will run you $3,499.99. Innovation has its price, but given the rise of the netbook the Portege R600-ST4203 isn’t likely to find a lot of buyers.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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