Toshiba preps new Satellite notebooks for Vista debut

Irvine (CA) - With the creeping Vista launch next week, Toshiba today announced a pair of new notebooks in its Satellite line that will be available beginning with Windows Vista when Microsoft lifts the curtain on the operating system in seven days.

The Satellite P105 is a Windows Media Center PC and has a 17" widescreen display with a built-in 10-key number pad. Baseline features include a 160 GB hard drive and over 2 GB of DDR2 memory, with a T5200 Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The other offering, the Satellite U205, is a more portable device with a 12.1" widescreen display and shock absorbent casing. It has 1024 MB of SDRAM and a 160 GB hard drive. Pricing starts at around $1300 for the U205 and $1600 for the P105.

Both models offer a dual-layer DVD burning drive and a 5-in-1 media adapter for viewing content from flash memory cards. The P105 will be available for purchase on January 30, the same day as the retail debut of Vista. The U205 will come to market one week later, on February 6.