Toshiba's added a couple new Satellite laptops into
the mix, with options for both the road warrior and the stay-at-home multimedia
user. First, the A500: this guy sports a 16-inch, 16:9 format display (1366 x
768), a TV-tuner for both analog and digital DVB-T programming, Harman Kardon
speakers and HDMI ports with REGZA LINK technology. Under the hood, this guy
packs an Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB memory, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD GPU (up to 1GB
DDR3 VRAM), and either a 500GB HDD or 64GB SSD. For those of you on the
ultra-portable tip, the U500 is a 13.3-inch (16:10 format, 1280 x 800)
ultraportable that weighs in at just under 4.5 pounds. With an Intel Core 2 Duo
processor, 8 GB memory, a hard disk capacity of up to 500GB, and an ATI Mobility
Radeon HD 4570 GPU, this bad boy is available in Brown Luxe, with either chrome
or silver accents. Claimed battery life is over 3.5 hours. Both lappies feature
a DVD Super Multi drive, wide format HD webcam, multi-touch trackpad, and the
usual host of connectivity options (WLAN, Bluetooth 2.1, 5-in-1 media card
slot). Both will be available in Europe sometime this July for €699 (approx.
$975).