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Today, Toshiba is announcing the Satellite U845W ultrabook with a surprising 21:9, 1792 x 768 display. The U845W's LCD is 14 inches when measured diagonally, and its wide and shallow dimensions give it a compact footprint. Toshiba is touting this unusual screen as being the first laptop display to play widescreen movies without black bars, plus that extra-wide aspect ratio should make fine use of Windows 8's ability to run apps side by side.
The U845W — known outside the US as the U840W — is an ultrabook, which means that it's supposed to be thin, fast, light, and have better-than-average battery life. At just under four pounds and 0.81 inches thick, the U845W is a tad chunkier than other laptops in the ultrabook category, but that might be forgivable if Toshiba's claims of an "all day battery" are accurate. It will be powered by an Intel Ivy Bridge processor, can support up to 10GB of RAM, and comes with an interesting combination of a 500GB hard drive and a 32GB SSD for caching frequently accessed files. There are a few other nice touches to the U845W as well, like a textured metal body, USB 3.0 ports, WiDi support, and a backlit keyboard. The Satellite U845W will be released on July 15th for $999.99, and will be available in the UK sometime in Q3 for £899 (just under $1,400).
Earlier this year, Toshiba announced the Satellite U845, a laptop with a more traditionally proportioned 14-inch screen. Toshiba is releasing it internationally (it's called the U840 in the UK) with an updated Ivy Bridge processor and the same 32GB SDD and 500GB HDD combination as the U845W. The U845 also supports WiDi, 802.11n Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, and is furnished with the same metal body as the U845W. Toshiba's U845 will be available June 24, starting at a more affordable $749.99, and our friends in the UK will be able to buy it in Q3 for £599 (around $921).
Vlad Savov contributed to this report.
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