The way of the future, or a machine that will fold into the wake of the iPad? You decide.
Since the world went iPad and touchpad crazy a few months back, every laptop maker has been trying to come up with something to compete.
Toshiba's new concept revives the old Libretto brand but brings it way into the future with a dual-screen, clamshell design.
The obvious advantage for this design is you can have your keyboard on the bottom screen and then have a full page at the top. Jjust like an olde laptop you might say, but with this one you can have different keyboard layouts. The 7" screens run at 1024*600 resolution and while its a little crowded, is still perfectly usable. However, the big benefit is that you can also have app menus on the lower screen, thumbnails, widgets and other stuff while working away on the main screen.
Turn it on its side and you also get a double-paged book reader, which means a fair bit less page turning for your favourite e-book app. Under the hood is a new Intel U5400, 2GB of RAM, a 60GB SSD and n-class wireless. It also comes with a Bluetooth 2.1, webcam, USB port and card reader.
Scheduled for release in August (no word of a price or an Australian launch date), this light and nimble device could do a bit of executive business, while offering access to the full range of Windows 7 features and applications.
We so wish Toshiba had spent a bit of money on a different hand model.