TOKYO -- Toshiba Corporation today announced a major upgrade of its line-up of personal computers, introducing a new sub-notebook and three notebook computers for the world market, and strengthening its domestic line-up through the introduction of new desktop computers for the home and the office, and a new mini-notebook PC.

Among the highlights of the seven product lines launched today are the BREZZA series, which bring to the Japanese market the same innovative home computers Toshiba introduced to the U.S. market last September; the DynaBookPORTÉGÉ 660, the first sub-notebook PC to incorporate a CD-ROM drive; and the Libretto 30, which adds new capabilities to the world's smallest computer running Microsoft Windows95.

Market-leading innovation in portable PCs

Toshiba announced new computers in each of its four portable PC lines for the world market (including Japan).

DynaBookPORTÉGÉ 660 is the world's first sub-notebook PC to incorporate a CD-ROM drive and brings new capabilities to a fast-growing product category. Compact size does not come at the expense of performance: the ten-time rotational speed of the CD-ROM matches that in many desktop PCs, as does the 150MHz Pentium processor, the fastest CPU yet incorporated in a sub-notebook PC. The new PORTÉGÉ is finished with an 11.3-inch SVGA color TFT LCD and two PC card slots support for CardBus and a Zoomed Video (ZV) port.

DynaBookTECRA 510, the latest addition to Toshiba's top-of-the-line Tecra series, incorporates a low-power consumption, high-speed 133MHz Pentium processor; 16MB of high-speed EDO DRAM main memory, expandable to 64MB; and a pipeline burst 256KB SRAM. Toshiba's PCI chip sets supports 32-bit bus data transfers and hot docking to an optional desk station that surpasses most desktops in terms of connectivity. Other features includes two PC card slots support for CardBus and a ZV port, and a 12.1-inch TFT color LCD. The computer's 2.1GB HDD supports the enhanced IDE standard.

DynaBookSatellite Pro 430, Toshiba's newest mid-range multimedia PC, runs a Pentium 120MHz CPU and has 16MB of EDO main memory. Multimedia functions are supported by the PC's 10-time CD-ROM drive; a 64-bit high-speed graphic accelerator, CT65550; and two PC card slots supporting ZV technology. The 11.3-inch color LCD, an 800 x 600 dot SVGA display, is available in both TFT and DSTN versions.

DynaBookSatellite 200 continues Toshiba tradition of offering unsurpassed value- performance. It incorporates a 100MHz Pentium processor and 8MB of EDO DRAM, expandable to 40MB of main memory. The DSTN SVGA display supports 800 x 600 dot resolution.

Strengthening the Japanese product line-up

In its domestic market, Toshiba is introducing three new lines, including Japanese versions of the home PCs the company successfully launched in the U.S. last September.

BREZZA, are the Japanese versions of Infinia, which met a enthusiastic welcome from the U.S. market last in September, including an Editors' Choice from PC Magazine, the U.S.'s leading computer magazine.

The new Brezzas combine a powerful home computer with a range of essential functions -- including telephony, TV and FM radio, and a CD -- and an interface that makes all operations simple and intuitive. One-touch access to all functions is offered by the InTouch, an easy-to-use LCD control panel. The top-of-the-range version runs on a high-performance 200MHz Pentium processor, while its Universal Serial Bus (USB), provides an improved interface for connection with PC peripherals. A 17-inch microfilter monitor offers approximately 30% higher contrast and brightness than other displays, and stereo speakers and sub-woofer assure dynamic sound. The new PCs' high-speed 28,800bps (fax: 14,400bps) modem supports telephony, paperless faxing and connection to on-line services. A distinctive design, a sleek midnight gray mini-tower with silver accents, adds to any room.

The company will start to offer an up-grade service for installation of a DVD- ROM drive into the new Brezza from December 20, 1996.

Libretto 30, Toshiba latest mini-notebook PC, has a CPU equivalent to a DX4 at 100MHz and incorporates a 500MB slim-size HDD. Performance is enhanced by a new pointing device LibPoint, and 8MB of main memory, expandable to 20MB. The 6.1-inch TFT color LCD display is supported by a high-speed graphic accelerator, CL-GD7548, and realizes 640 x 480 dot resolution. The PC's lithium-ion battery allow 2 -3 hours operation life without external power supply, while an optional large-volume battery-pack pushes operation from a single charge to up to 6 hours. The mini-notebook PC incorporates a 500MB HDD and a version is available with pre-installed software: Windows95 and useful application software, including Microsoft Works for Windows95, Lotus Organizer 97, Microsoft Internet Explorer V3.0 and dictionaries. Libretto 30 will be marketed only in Japan.

PV5000 5200, mini-tower PC for the business market. PV5000 5200 incorporate a 200MHz Pentium processor, supported by Intel's high-performance chip-set 82430FX (Triton); a 256KB pipeline burst SRAM as secondary cache memory; and a graphic card from Canopus Ltd. that uses S3 Ltd.'s high-speed 3D/2D graphic control chip, ViRGE. The pre-installed 100BASE-TX LAN card supports data transfers at up to 100Mbps. The main memory is 16MB of high-speed EDO DRAM, expandable to 128MB.

The worldwide PC market is expected to grow 19% this year to 59.5 million units. In Japan alone, sales are expected to reach 7.5 million units, a 32% increase over last year. Growing interest in multimedia is fueling demand in the home PC market, where a spurt in growth is anticipated; IDC Japan puts home penetration of PCs at 14.7% of all homes in 1996, and expects it to surpass 20% in 1997. Toshiba is meeting this demand with a range of portable PCs for every user, and with versatile home computers that support a wide range of functions. The company is confident it can retain its number one position in the portable PC market and establish itself as a strong presence in the desktop market. According to the latest figures from Dataquest, Toshiba ranked number 5 in the world PC market in the 3rd quarter of 1996, up from number 8 in the company's last survey.

Note:

1. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
2. MS-DOS, Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
3. The official name of Windows is the Microsoft Windows Operating System.
4. EDO is Extended Data Out, a method allowing continuous high-speed data transfers between main memories and CPU.

Outline of the New Products