Toshiba Launches 512GB SSD Laptop

Toshiba’s Digital Products Division has unveiled the world’s first laptop with more than a half-terabyte of solid-state storage capacity, but at this point, it isn’t exactly cheap.

The Portege R600-ST4203, which becomes available for general release in early June, features a second-generation 512GB eSATA SSD from Toshiba’s own fabrication plant. Initial US price tag: $3,500 (£2300).

In only two years, Toshiba has increased its SSD capacities on laptops from 32GB to 512GB. The new laptop weighs in at 2.4 pounds, is about three-quarters of an inch thick, and has a LED backlit indoor/outdoor transreflective 12.1-inch diagonal widescreen display.

Toshiba’s own second-generation SSD uses multilevel cell NAND flash memory which increases the density of the disk to allow more storage space. This new, denser processor enables faster boot time, application loading and up to three times faster access times, compared to a conventional 128GB solid state drive (SSD), Toshiba said.

SSDs in general feature up to 100 times faster data access times than regular spinning hard disks.

As in all SSDs, the lack of moving parts reduces noise and the risk of mechanical failure. Toshiba claims that the Portege R600 is impact resistant and designed to withstand higher impacts than a conventional HDD.

The new laptop is powered by an Intel Ultra-Low Voltage Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor, features an eSATA/USB Combo Sleep and Charge port, and has the Windows Vista Business operating system pre-installed.

“Toshiba invests more in research and development than any other laptop company,” said Carl Pinto, Toshiba’s vice president of digital product development.

“We recognise that the market for SSD technology is growing, and to meet that market need, we produced a high performance laptop with the largest solid-state storage capacity available today.”