Toshiba has recently released the Tecra A8 notebook computer. Toshiba is stating that the Tecra A8 is a notebook that is more reliable and of good quality. They used quality assurance and design assurance to acheive this “higher quality notebook”.Toshiba also added wireless and security features to the notebook.

Some of the features of the Tecra A8 relating to realiability are:

  • Strong Hinge: Toshiba won’t say how, but it claims that the hinge will last years of opening and closing.
  • Thicker Notebook: The notebook actually got 13% thicker, but Toshiba states that this helped to protected the relocation of the motherboard, ensuring that components inside didn’t break down under shock.
  • Added Screen Protection: The notebook has a more protective LCD screen that will protect it from being damaged.
  • Hard Drive Protection: The hard drive of the Tecra A8 has another layer of protection using a thicker Vibration Dome which prevents data loss or damage if the shock occurs to the notebook.

What I thought was kind of neat in terms of the fact that the Tecra A8 uses a 3D accelerometer to detect when there is sudden and quick movement in one direction. Once it detects this it “locks” the hard drive and stops the hard drive head from moving. Once it is ok to continue the hard drive resumes its normal activities.

The Tecra A8 was also tested at different stages of the design to eliminate errors and allow a tough notebook to be produced.

The Tecra A8’s security features are also pretty impressive. The notebook has a seperate chip that stores all passwords, encryption keys and other important data. This protects you a little more against hacker and virus attacks. As with other notebooks the Tecra A8 also includes a fingerprint reader.

The Tecra A8 can connect to Bluetooth networks, 802.11 a/b/g networks, and Gigabyte Ethernet networks.

Tech Specs

I’m just going to quickly summarize the technical specs of each model of the Tecra A8 as I realize this is a rather lengthy post.

Toshiba A8-EZ8311 (lowest)

  • 1.60 Ghz Intel Celeron M processor
  • Windows XP as operating system but Windows Vista Compatible
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 60GB hard drive
  • Cost: $699 (US)

Toshiba A8-EZ8312 (middle)

  • 1.66 Ghz Intel Duo Core processor
  • Windows XP as operating system but Windows Vista Compatible
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 60GB hard drive
  • Cost: $899 (US)

Toshiba A8-EZ8313 (highest)

  • 1.66 Ghz Intel Duo Core processor
  • Windows XP as operating system but Windows Vista Compatible
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 80GB hard drive
  • Cost: $1099 (US)

For more information visit Toshiba’s product page.