Toshiba refreshes Tecra business laptops

This week is a busy one for Toshiba; along with a trio of Porteges and a boatload of Satellites, the company also introduced two new Tecras. (Can a partridge in a pear tree be far behind?)

The 14.1-inch Tecra M10 and 15.4-inch Tecra A10 are a refresh of the company's M9 and A9 models. The new systems add Centrino 2 components with vPro as well as 7,200rpm hard drives. They also rely on Nvidia's business-oriented discrete graphics, the Quadro NVS 150M (one step down from the card in the Dell Latitude E6400).

The Tecra M10 and A10 both include facial recognition software that lets you log onto the computer without a password; the built-in 1.3-megapixel Webcam also doubles as a business card reader. As with the Portege line, Tecras come with Toshiba's EasyGuard technology, a marketing term that encompasses security measures both hard (hard-drive protection, fingerprint reader, Trusted Platform Module) and soft (a program that tracks the status of components). The Tecra lineup also incorporates sleep-and-charge USB ports that let you charge your cell phone or iPod when the laptop is powered down (but connected to an outlet) or in sleep mode.

Of interest to businesses looking to deploy a fleet of different-size Tecras, the M10 and A10 use a common motherboard and image. They're also backed by a three-year warranty, which is becoming increasingly rare, even for corporate laptops.

Starting price for the Tecra M10 is $1,299, while the Tecra A10 starts at $1,499. Both are available at ToshibaDirect.com and at resellers.