Toshiba today released four new laptops, the most notable being their Portégé R600, which the company claims is the world’s lightest. The new model manages to undercut the MacBook Air by 0.6lbs, (which is even better than Samsung’s recent X360) despite being a fully-featured notebook equipped with an impressive 9-hour battery, a multi-format DVD writer and a fingerprint reader.

The ultra-portable will be available in two models. The SU9400 will feature a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1GB of 800MHz DDR2 memory plus a 128GB SSD which will go for around US$2,930. The cheaper model will cost around US$2,120 for a slightly slower 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 RAM (yes, 2GB) and a larger 160GB SATA HDD.

Both models with come with 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, four USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and an SD memory slot. Battery life is an incredible 9 hours with a 3 hour recharge when off, plus they’ve squeezed in a 0.3-megapixel web-cam and microphone in the lid to round out the package.

The word around the net is that Toshiba claimed this model is also the world’s thinnest laptop. I don’t know if this was retracted, or if someone misread Toshiba’s product description and it spread, but I can’t find an official mention of it. One look at the specs will show that it is simply not true. Toshiba says the R600’s thickness is 19.5-25.5mm. The MacBook Air is 4.0-19.4mm thick, undercutting the R600 even at the Air’s thickest point.

The R600 is only available from Toshiba Canada’s store for now but should be hitting the US shortly.

Sources:
Toshiba Canada and MacBook Air Specs
Via: Register Hardware