Toshiba's trinity for mobile computing

THREE VERY DIFFERENT markets are being tackled by Toshiba with its launch of the Portégé R700 laptop, the Libretto W100 dual-screen clamshell and the AC100 that the company classes as a mobile Internet device.

Proclaimed by Toshiba as the "world's first" dual-screen laptop, the Libretto W100's 7-inch screens within a 123mm wide form factor and 840g weight makes it seem more like a large Nintendo DS but you will be able to buy it for about £799 including VAT. It will be available in July and the games had better be absolutely brilliant at that price. Using an Intel Pentium ULV5400 chip with 62GB of SSD storage, 2GB of DDR3 RAM and WiFi and Bluetooth, it runs Windows 7 but 3G is optional. The W100's g sensor enables vertical and horizontal modes and both displays can be employed for "full screen" mode, where a webpage or document is shown across both.

Toshiba's other "laptop" is the latest in the Portégé range. The R700, expected to be priced at about £700, is 20mm thick with a 13.3-inch 720p capable display. It comes with a choice of Intel Core i7, i5 or i3 processors running Windows 7 with up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Customers can choose between a 320GB HDD or a 128GB SSD but 3G, all the usual wireless connectivity, a webcam, a fingerprint reader and an ODD all come as standard for the 1.3kg computer. The R700 offers laptop capability in a weight class that other companies call a netbook. If only it was dual-screen. It will be available in July and Toshiba says a "consumer version", the satellite R630, will be available in August.

Arriving a month later and sitting between the other two, Toshiba's AC100 "mobile Internet device" runs Android 2.1 and has an Nvidia Tegra 250 processor with 512MB of RAM. Boasting 7-day standby with split second bootup to "full use", which Toshiba says includes Internet access, the AC100 will last for 8 hours. With only one 1024 x 600 screen it is expected to be less than half the cost of the W100 at around £249. µ