Every time I write something about the line of Toshiba Portégé notebooks, I keep picturing my middle school French teacher up at the board for five minutes tapping various versions of the letter E with slanted lines on top and making us all say, “L’accent aigu… l’accent grave… l’accent aigu… l’accent grave…” Those of you who took French may identify with me. Those of you who didn’t take French have either removed the CrunchGear RSS feed from your feed reader or are frantically trying to figure out how to unsubscribe. No matter which camp you fall into, we can all agree that I’ve gotten way off track already.
So Toshiba has announced official availability of the Portégé (l’accent aigu) A605 notebook, which is “based upon the award-winning business-oriented Portégé R500.” The R500, you’ll recall, has a 12.1-inch screen and weighs under two pounds. It’s a nice rig, to say the least. While the R500 starts at around two grand, the A605 is meant to be a somewhat more affordable option, starting at $1,399.
Lest you think the A605 is gonna break the two-pound barrier at that price point, it won’t. It does manage a pretty-portable 3.3 pounds, though. It’s got a 12.1-inch screen, is 1.18 inches thin, and Toshiba boasts a battery life of almost seven hours. Other features include an ultra-low voltage Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of RAM, 250GB SATA hard drive, DVD burner, built-in webcam, and Vista Ultimate.
Here’s the full press release:
Ultraportable Toshiba Portege A605 Laptop Now Available Within Consumer Market
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Toshiba’s Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Portégé A605 notebook, a sleek and innovatively designed 12.1-inch laptop PC based upon the award-winning business-oriented Portégé R500 ultraportable laptop PC computer.
The Portégé A605 was uniquely designed, engineered and manufactured by Toshiba, and includes many of the high-end technologies found in the Portégé R500 with a starting price of $1,399.99(1).
Developed to appeal to mainstream consumers with its sleek silver aluminum enclosure, the 12.1-inch Portégé A605 includes several innovative design qualities such as starting at a mere 3.3 pounds(2), measuring just 1.18 inches thin, an impressive 6.9 hours of battery life(3) and USB Sleep-and-Charge ports(4). The Portégé A605 is an ideal lightweight laptop for consumers who value mobility without sacrificing useful features and computing performance, such as a built-in optical drive.
The Portégé A605 laptop PC comes with a collection of solid standard components such as the latest Intel® Centrino® 2 Duo Processor(5) technology, 3GB of RAM(6) and a large 250GB hard drive(7). The Portégé A605 is a perfect choice for mobile users who require strong computing performance while on-the-go.
The Portégé A605 laptop PC provides mobile users with a highly dependable eco-friendly laptop that is ENERGY STAR® 4.0 compliant.
The Toshiba Portégé A605 notebook is constructed from high-quality, lightweight components and space-saving technologies such as Toshiba’s unique High Density Mounting Technology process. This innovative process efficiently manages the system’s internal real estate by utilizing a dual-sided motherboard component mounting technique, which provides enough space for the Portégé A605 laptop PC to support its built-in optical drive.
Toshiba also incorporated its popular EasyGuard® Technology(8) business line feature within the Portégé A605. EasyGuard is a comprehensive series of hardware and software enhancements designed to better protect and secure one’s laptop during everyday computing. Components include HDD Protection, a spill-resistant keyboard(9) and fingerprint reader.
The new Portégé A605 is available at a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide or directly from Toshiba at www.toshibadirect.com. Detailed product information is available at www.explore.toshiba.com/A605. The Portégé A605 is available with a one-year standard limited warranty(10).
The following configuration demonstrates some of the various specifications and price options available with the Portégé A605 series:
Portege A605-P201 Unique Specifications (ESUP $1,399.99(1))
• Genuine Windows Vista(R) Ultimate (SP1, 32-bit version)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor5 ULV SU9300
• 3072MB DDR2 800 memory(6)
• 250GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disc drive(7)
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash(TM) drive
• Mobile Intel(R) graphics11 Media accelerator 4500MHD
• Built-in webcam and microphone
• eSATA/USB combo port with USB Sleep and Charge(3)
• Intel(R) 802.11 a/g/n wireless-LAN(12)
• One-year standard limited warranty(10)
Multimedia: Portégé A605 series