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Computers

Toshiba’s Libretto W100 dual touch-screen mini-notebook

By Darren Quick
June 22, 2010
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Toshiba's dual touch-screen Libretto W100
Toshiba's dual touch-screen Libretto W100
Toshiba's dual touch-screen Libretto W100
Toshiba's dual touch-screen Libretto W100
Toshiba's dual touch-screen Libretto W100
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Toshiba has gone with the adage that two screens are better than one with its new libretto W100 ultra mobile PC (UMPC). Featuring dual 7-inch diagonal dual-touch LCD screens, the clamshell form factor W100 opens up to provide the equivalent of a 10-inch wide screen display that allows the desktop to be extended over both screens, different applications to be displayed on either screen, or one screen to be used for the virtual keyboard. The device can also be used as a netbook in the horizontal orientation, or flipped on its side for reading ebooks.

Each 7-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen sports WSVGA (1,024 x 600) pixel resolution and LED backlighting to cut down on power usage. This is just as well since the standard battery pack will only provide around 2 hours of operation, while the heavier (819g as opposed to that standard’s 699g) high-capacity battery pack will double that.

Many people hate virtual keyboards but Toshiba is doing its best to please by providing vibration feedback for user input with the W100’s multi-mode virtual keyboard offering the flexibility of full 108 key, simplified (cutting the numbers and symbol keys), thumb and 10-key numeric pad typing modes.

Running Windows 7 Home Premium, the compact device is powered by a 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium U5400 (CULV) processor and comes with 2GB of RAM, integrated Bluetooth v2.1, 802.11n wireless, optional mobile broadband, microSD card slot, USB 2.0 port, 1.02 Megapixel webcam with face recognition and a 62GB SSD.

The W100 measures a very mobile friendly 7.95 x 4.84 x 1.2-inches (L x W x H), weighs in at 1.8 lbs and sports a sexy black, brushed aluminum finish. Although Toshiba calls the Libretto W100 an “ultra mobile concept PC” the company plans to release the device in Japan at the end of August. No word on pricing or whether it will make it to other markets as yet.

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ComputersUMPCToshibaWindows 7Touchscreen
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Darren Quick
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continues as Managing Editor of New Atlas.
9 comments
bio-power jeff
I think some people I know will not like the multi capacitive touch screen, because they are prone to accidental keyboard(?) inputs. But that\'s them. I really like the touch screens. Although I wish that the batteries lasts longer than 2hrs. Maybe they should try hydrogen fuelcells? There were other articles on gizmag about fuelcell packs for laptops.
Harpal Sahota
Concept?... great little number for the E-Book and Share dealing markets. Improve on the battery life, and we have a commuter companion!


Harpal Sahota.
waltinseattle
Dual screening might tempt me to forgo the true keyboard. Since you don\'t give up screen display to gain the ketboard image. Broadband already there so we who are ready to say goodby to \"phone\" companies can do so! so many mini devices can\'t run voip provider downloads.

Hey, drop the windows and maybe the battery life would not be an issue?
Tesh Nick
Gizmag, i like it.
Facebook User
@waltinseattle Drop Windows? Why? You don't even know the actual battery capacity. You are just making an assumption that this would automagically increase battery performance. How about the fact that maybe, just maybe the smaller sized battery just has a very low capacity. I really want this device, Win7 and all. I might also consider the extended battery pack.
Henry Djunaedi
@waltinseattle
i\'m ready to say goodbye to \"phone\". add GSM/CDMA built-in mode, bluetooth, then we have a mini-notebook-phone.
but dropping win7 is not a good idea. i don\'t want to have dual-touch-screen equipped with monochrome text based OS. if this product going to be a hit, i\'m sure google or apple or even microsoft will build special-purpose-OS.
in different angle, someone should find a way to equip gadgets with new better power source. fuel cell maybe..
Kevin Adair
I LOVE THE DUAL SCREEN FORMAT. My wife and I had sketched this concept on a paper plate. Now we can go buy the idea we had dreamed of. Forget the mechanical keyboards. This thing has serious potential. Add solid state drives or an array of Micro SD for storage and ship me a few of them.
Akemai Olivia
\"two 7-inch combines into a 10-inch screen\"? having a big ditch in between the screens makes it not a 10-inch screen. What Toshiba needs to do is removing the annoying DITCH.

Other than that, strengthen the screens, swap the CULV CPU with a laptop CPU like CORE-i3..., wireless charging, infrared finger-position sensing to enhance haptics....
These are the problems we have been facing for years.

TOSHIBA SHOULD THINK BIG AND PIONEER, I think this is miniature.
Gabriel Jones
Nice idea... Should think about a different processor. With smartphones coming with dualcore chips, 1.3 Ghz won\'t be enough on a UMPC running a full Windows or Mac OS... It should do fine on a customized Linux though.
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