Toshiba today brought out its rugged Portege M780 tablet PC in Europe, complete with a 12.1-inch multi-touch screen. Powered by Windows 7, the convertible notebook gets Intel’s recent Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs, though exactly which hasn’t been detailed. The Portégé range in North America does not yet include plans for the M780.
The M780’s starting weight is 4.4lbs, and the device is certified to withstand drops from up to 3 feet. Its keyboard is also resistant to spills. The PC doesn’t ship with a solid state drive, but does have support for it. Instead, buyers get a 2.5-inch hard drive of unknown capacity, which is protected from damage thanks to a 3D accelerometer that detects a fall and moves the write pin away from the drive’s recording surface. A dual-layer DVD writer is standard fare.
Up to 8GB of RAM can be optioned, though the standard spec is unknown. Also onboard are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a fingerprint reader, a webcam and two USB Sleep and Charge ports.
The Portege M780 will ship this spring to European, Middle Eastern and African markets, though prices haven’t been announced. A US release is likely, but has not been mentioned
