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JAPANESE ELECTRONICS GIANT Toshiba joined the list of vendors announcing lacklustre financial figures, posting a quarterly loss.

Toshiba announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 third quarter that ended on 31 December 2011. The firm’s revenue was .4bn, nine per cent down from the same quarter of the prior year, posting a loss of 9m.

Toshiba is the world’s second largest flash maker behind Samsung, and its electronics devices suffered a 10 per cent drop in sales. The firm’s television division suffered even worse, with a 27 per cent drop in sales.

Japanese television manufacturers such as Toshiba, Sony and Panasonic have faced considerable sales challenges in the past year. Toshiba was thought to have managed its TV business better than most but even it had to lower sales forecasts.

While Toshiba was facing difficulty in the television market, the flash market was expected to provide some respite for the company, after all it is a supplier to Apple. Nevertheless a 10 per cent drop in sales is concerning during a period when tablets sold well.

Toshiba laid the blame for less than stellar figures on the Thai floods, weaker demand and the rising value of the Japanese Yen.

Sony and Panasonic are expected to announce their financial results later this week. µ

Product Toshiba Satellite Z830 ultrabook
Website www.toshiba-europe.com
Specifications 13.3in LED backlit 1366×768 display, Intel Core i5 2467M dual-core 1.6GHz processor, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD, headphone-out, audio-out, Ethernet, USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, SD card reader, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 15.9mm, 1.1kg.
Price £899

THE ULTRABOOK is the new class of notebook promoted by Intel and Toshiba’s Satellite Z830 is a sturdy first ultrabook from the Japanese firm.

When splashing out the cash on a premium product like an ultrabook we expect the design and look to be top quality, and the Z830 does look attractive. For starters the magnesium alloy casing looks sleek and the laptop is most definitely thin at 15.9mm.

Clever design
A really nice design touch that we like is that you can open the lid of the laptop with one finger. Traditionally you have to hold the bottom half of a laptop down to stop it from lifting up along with the lid, but that’s not the case here. The action is smooth and satisfying.

The inside features the same good looking finish as the outside with a black keyboard. Unfortunately the overall shape of the device is quite square with harsh edges, which means that it doesn’t look as good as rivals like the Asus Zenbook and Apple Macbook Air.

The Satellite Z830′s compact design makes it versatile and a great laptop for taking around with you. Toshiba has managed to get the weight down to an impressive 1.1kg, undercutting the Zenbook at 1.3kg and the Macbook Air at 1.35kg. A laptop this light deserves credit and we found carrying it around to be no problem at all.

Good specifications but no higher option
A high-end laptop should provide a decent set of specifications and the Toshiba is a good example of this despite its slim profile. Our review model came with the capable and reliable Intel Core i5-2467M dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1.6GHz. Using Intel Turbo Boost technology the clock speed can rise to 2.3GHz.

If you want to save a bit of cash then there is a Core i3 version, but it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t opt for an Intel Core i7 for this ultrabook.

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS FIRM Toshiba is closing down three of its six chip factories in Japan as it looks to slash costs.

The reorganisation will concentrate the front and back-end production processes of six discrete semiconductor facilities into three major facilities: Hijimeji Operations-Semiconductor (Ibo-gun, Hyogo prefecture); Kaga Toshiba Electronics Corporation (Nomi, Ishikawa prefecture); and Buzen Toshiba Electronics Corporation (Buzen, Fukuoka prefecture).

Toshiba is also cutting production at some of its semiconductor facilities from late November 2011 to early January 2012 due to “economic slowdown and fall in demand for consumer products, most notably for PCs and TVs in Europe and the US”.

Meanwhile, the company said Buzen Toshiba will assume the new function of “development centre for assembly and packaging technologies for optical semiconductors”. It will increase consignment to overseas pursuing cost competitiveness, and its production will be limited to focused products.

Toshiba said it has been implementing a series of measures to “restructure and strengthen its discrete and analog and imaging IC businesses”, including accelerating the transfer of assembly and test operations to overseas facilities, outsourcing, shifting to larger diameter wafer production lines and halving its product line-up.

The firm said that employees at the affected facilities will, “in principle”, be redeployed within Toshiba Group.

The news comes at a difficult time for chip makers. Earlier this month, we wrote that Infineon has cut its sales forecast for its fiscal year 2012, claiming that customers are holding off on ordering from the firm.

Like all chip makers Infineon has been struggling with sluggish demand in the semiconductor industry during 2011. But when the firm forecasted that its fiscal 2012 sales will decline by a “mid-single-digit percentage”, it was confirmation that things won’t be getting better for the chip industry any time soon. µ

Way back in the dark ages of CES 2011, we were able to lay hands on and play with some interesting new technology from Toshiba. They had a prototype notebook on hand that was capable of glasses-free 3D similar to the Nintendo 3DS, but with a bigger screen and the ability to track head movement and adjust viewing angles accordingly. Yet the release of this 3D notebook has been an unusually quiet one. Is the 15-inch Qosmio F755 a sound design, or is there a reason why it's been unceremoniously dropped into the marketplace? Let's find out.

JAPANESE LAPTOP MAKER Toshiba has announced its Z830 Ultrabook at the IFA show in Berlin.

The Z830 is the firm’s first entry to the Ultrabook class. The laptop will have an Intel Core i processor, will weigh 1.12kg and will be 15.9mm thick. This is a little thicker than Lenovo’s U300s but thinner than Apple’s Macbook Air at its thickest point of 17mm. It will be lighter than both by around 200g.

Toshiba said, “These new systems offer impressive portability, durability and essential features with truly smart styling. The Z830 series devices will be available during the fourth quarter of 2011 in Europe.”

The company claims the Z830 Ultrabook is 20 per cent lighter and 40 per cent thinner than its Portege R830 laptop. There will be a Portege Z830 and Satellite Z830 but Toshiba hasn’t detailed the difference between the three models.

Other than looking thin and pretty the Z830 will have up to 6GB of DDR3 RAM and a 128GB solid state drive. It will have a 13.3in screen, like other Ultrabooks, with 1366×768 resolution.

The Z830 will have a light and durable magnesium alloy casing and will feature WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA, HDMI, USB and support for Intel Wireless Display.

Like its other announcements at IFA Toshiba hasn’t revealed any information on price. However, we do know that the Z830 Ultrabook will have a spill resistant keyboard. µ

Following yesterday's announcement of the Lenovo U300s ultrabook, Acer and Toshiba have thrown their hats into the ring: Acer with its Aspire S3, and Toshiba with its Portege Z830.

Let's start with the similarities: Both feature a 13.3" screen with a 1366×768 resolution, Sandy Bridge ULV processors, DDR3 memory, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, wi-fi, a webcam, and bluetooth. Both also feature SSDs of varying capacities, though the Aspire S3 will offer a higher-capacity but slower mechanical HDD option (sources indicate that HDD models will feature an embedded SSD to retain the fast boot times required by Intel's Ultrabook spec, but specifics are hard to come by). Both will also launch later this year: Toshiba is commiting to November, while Acer declined to be more specific.

And the differences: the Toshiba model also features built-in Ethernet, a VGA port, a backlit keyboard, and a third USB port, while the Acer model is slightly thinner at 0.51 inches but heavier at about 3 pounds (the Toshiba is 0.63 inches high and weighs about 2.5 pounds, though it should be noted that the weight of each model may vary based on component selection). The Toshiba will also be cheaper, starting at around ,000 (compared to the Acer's ,179).

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Looking at these early Ultrabooks, it's becoming clear that these laptops, like netbooks before them, are going to have to fight to differentiate themselves. In these particular models, this is mostly being done with ports: the Acer is the only one to lack a wired Ethernet port, while the Toshiba is the only to offer a VGA out and a third USB port.

This sort of heavy competition can be good, to a point, but I'm hoping we don't see the same thing we already see in the netbook and low-end laptop market: dozens of unexciting computers that are, for most intents and purposes, indistinguishable from one another.

Source: BusinessWire, PCMag

JAPANESE DISPLAY MAKERS Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba have decided to unload their LCD businesses into a government backed fund.

Japanese LCD firms are facing stiff competition from those based in South Korea and Taiwan, such as Samsung and AU Optronics. To defend firms such as Sony and Toshiba, which are seen as national symbols of pride in Japan, from dropping out of the market altogether, the Japanese government has created a fund that should keep some level of LCD manufacturing in Japan.

With Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba all divesting their LCD operations to this government backed fund, it could create the world’s biggest mobile LCD screen manufacturing unit. The idea is that by combining the firms it can better compete on price against its foreign rivals.

Norio Sasaki, president of Toshiba said, “Unless we have a top market share, we can’t cope flexibly with set-makers’ requests. The scale of our business is too small to grow continuously, or to remain competitive.”

The LCD market has been extremely tight in the past few years, and even well known brands such as Sony have struggled to make a go of the business. Sony acquired its LCD manufacturing technology from Seiko Epson only as recently as 2009 and the resources it will free up from the sale will go back into other components such as imaging sensors.

Bloomberg reports that even Samsung, which is the largest maker of flat-panel display screens, is looking to slim down its display division, aiming at “boosting the LCD unit’s competitiveness and stabilizing the organization”.

At this point it is difficult to say what the reduction in the number of LCD manufacturers will mean for consumers. Obviously choice is a good way of keeping end-user prices down, but given that the Japanese firms were all doing badly in the market, it seems that combining these three firms might actually provide better competition with Samsung and AU Optronics, which seem to be setting the market. µ

JAPANESE DISPLAY MAKERS Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba have decided to unload their LCD businesses into a government backed fund.

Japanese LCD firms are facing stiff competition from those based in South Korea and Taiwan, such as Samsung and AU Optronics. To defend firms such as Sony and Toshiba, which are seen as national symbols of pride in Japan, from dropping out of the market altogether, the Japanese government has created a fund that should keep some level of LCD manufacturing in Japan.

With Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba all divesting their LCD operations to this government backed fund, it could create the world’s biggest mobile LCD screen manufacturing unit. The idea is that by combining the firms it can better compete on price against its foreign rivals.

Norio Sasaki, president of Toshiba said, “Unless we have a top market share, we can’t cope flexibly with set-makers’ requests. The scale of our business is too small to grow continuously, or to remain competitive.”

The LCD market has been extremely tight in the past few years, and even well known brands such as Sony have struggled to make a go of the business. Sony acquired its LCD manufacturing technology from Seiko Epson only as recently as 2009 and the resources it will free up from the sale will go back into other components such as imaging sensors.

Bloomberg reports that even Samsung, which is the largest maker of flat-panel display screens, is looking to slim down its display division, aiming at “boosting the LCD unit’s competitiveness and stabilizing the organization”.

At this point it is difficult to say what the reduction in the number of LCD manufacturers will mean for consumers. Obviously choice is a good way of keeping end-user prices down, but given that the Japanese firms were all doing badly in the market, it seems that combining these three firms might actually provide better competition with Samsung and AU Optronics, which seem to be setting the market. µ

In the rush to move everything into the third dimension, Toshiba has announced their latest glasses-free 3D notebook, the Qosmio F755 3D. The laptop is even capable of displaying 2D and 3D content at the same time. So how does it all work?

Toshiba achieves the 3D glasses-free viewing by using the latest in auto-stereoscopic display technology. The 15.6" LCD is a full HD TruBrite panel with Active Lens technology, with double parallax technology that allows it to project two sets of images at the same time, splitting them between the left and right eyes to create the 3D effect. Toshiba’s Face Tracking technology then uses the laptop’s webcam to optimize the projection of the image by reacting to the motion and position of the viewer, delivering a broad viewing zone from which to view 3D content. The end result is the ability to view and enjoy real 3D sans no glasses.

What about simultaneous 2D and 3D content? There's nothing particularly revolutionary here; as one of the first implementations of windowed 3D content (courtesy of NVIDIA's latest drivers), users can watch 3D content in a full-screen or condense it to a smaller window, leaving the rest of the content in standard 2D mode. Like other 3D laptops, Toshiba also includes the ability to convert 2D movies into a faux-3D mode, though I've never felt that looked particularly good.

The Qosmio F755 3D comes with all the other accoutrements you'd expect from a modern high-end notebook, though the GPU is lacking if you're hoping to play games with 3D Vision enabled. The CPU is a Core i7, while graphics come in the form of the GeForce GT 540M. Storage consists of a 750GB hard drive and a Blu-ray/DVDR combo drive, and as usual Toshiba uses harman/kardon speakers to deliver improved sound quality.

The Qosmio F755 3D will be available in mid-August with a 00 MSRP at select e-tailers and ToshibaDirect.com. Pre-rendered images of the laptop are below, showing Toshiba hasn't lost their verve for glossy red exteriors.

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The regular refreshes that come from notebook vendors aren't often the stuff of exciting news. It's generally a processor update, maybe a slight change in shell design. With Toshiba's 2011 refresh that's not entirely untrue, but this year they've timed their update to coincide with the launch of AMD's Llano APU and NVIDIA's launch of the GeForce GTX 560M. Their Fusion finish is also getting a much needed update along with the top-of-the-line Qosmio. Bottom line: there's a lot going on at Toshiba.