Quantcast
PCWorld.com is upgrading some back-end systems. Some site features, such as user registration, may be temporarily unavailable.
Subscribe to magazine

Toshiba, Dell Unveil Hefty Notebooks

Models A20/A25-S207, Precision M60 join desktop-replacement lineups.

Tom Krazit, IDG News Service

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No

Both Toshiba and Dell have released large notebooks that offer desktoplike performance, but Toshiba is targeting home users while Dell courts design engineers and high-end software developers.

Notebook Specs

The Toshiba A20/A25-S207 series notebooks come with Intel's 2.66-GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a 15-inch display, a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, and integrated 802.11b connectivity. The A25-S207 costs $1499 with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, and the A20-S207 costs $1579 with Windows XP Professional Edition.

The A25-S207 notebook is priced at $1899. The unit comes with a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, a 15-inch display, a DVD-R/RW drive, and integrated 802.11b and 802.11a wireless. It is bundled with Windows XP Home Edition.

Dell's new Precision M60 is a workstation-class machine that allows designers and developers to take their work with them. It is priced at $2599. A base configuration offers a 1.4-GHz Pentium M processor, 256MB of PC2100 (266-MHz) DDR SDRAM, a 40GB hard drive, a 15.4-inch widescreen display, and a 128MB Quadro FX Go700 graphics card from NVidia.

Mobile Pentiums

Intel recently released the Mobile Pentium 4 processor designed for this type of notebook, sometimes called desktop replacements. However, Toshiba is sticking with the desktop version of the Pentium 4 for its new notebooks.

Toshiba is currently involved in litigation over its older Satellite 5005 notebooks with desktop Pentium 4 processors that did not run at their advertised clock speeds due to overheating. Chips without power management technology are forced to throttle back their speeds when they reach a certain temperature.

The company will investigate the use of the Mobile Intel Pentium 4 for future desktop-replacement notebooks, a spokesperson says. Toshiba has released several large notebooks with desktop processors since the 5005 series without reports of any significant problems.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No
 
 

Dell Fast Track

People who read this also read:

  • 15 Minutes to a Secure Business Get the Secure in 15 toolkit starting with the "15 Minutes Month-at-a-Glance" calendar. McAfee will send you additional tools and tricks to stay protected around the clock.
  • A Buyer's Guide to Data Protection Implementing data protection products and processes can be daunting. Make the right decisions by exploring what is available and what makes sense for your organization. Use this simple guide to evaluate different vendor offerings.

PC World's How To Buy Laptops Guide

Sponsored Links