[August 11, 2011] Great service, innovation, keep customers coming back Tweet Aug 11, 2011 (Arab News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Toshiba, which has become known for its consumer laptops, has begun to make a big play for the corporate segment in the Kingdom, with high investment and new products. "We are very strong on the consumer side and have a great reputation among Saudi consumers with our notebooks and netbooks. For the last few years we have been working to make sure the reach of Toshiba is nearly one hundred percent across the Kingdom," said John Maliakal, Saudi Arabia country manager, Computer Systems Division, Toshiba Gulf. "Today with three distributors we have achieved that milestone. If you go to any corner of Saudi Arabia you can find PC shops selling Toshiba computers. Now that we have such a strong presence and such a well developed support network, the time has come to seriously promote our notebooks to companies in the Kingdom. Businesses are moving away from traditional workstations and are looking for reliable mobility PCs. Toshiba excels in creating such products. The defect ratio on Toshiba corporate notebooks is .1 percent. We invite corporate customers to see our new R800 series thin and light laptops, which we are rolling out now." The Toshiba R800 series includes three different form factors. The R830 comes with a display size of 13.3", the R840 with a diagonal of 14.0'' and the R850 with 15.6''. All are powered by the latest Intel full-performance CPUs. "The R800 series laptops with their high specifications are ideal for IT managers who want to anticipate the ongoing trend towards staff mobilization and are now looking for a consistent mobile computing platform that is able to cover a broad range of usage scenarios," said Santosh Varghese, regional GM, Computer Systems Division, Toshiba Gulf. "Our engineers succeeded in including a wide range of applications and features in a small, slim and lightweight form factor without compromising quality and price." Toshiba has put particular focus on two areas in the R800 series: smart, efficient cooling solutions and chassis construction. An 'Airflow Cooling' system, co-developed by Intel and Toshiba, in the R830 allows Toshiba to integrate the latest Intel Core family processors in the device's slim casing, while keeping the fan's noise to a minimum. A ventilation duct in combination with a cleverly arranged circuit board layout optimizes heat removal. The thin and lightweight design doesn't compromise on durability. The casing's honeycomb structure in some of the casing's areas, together with chassis pillars on the 14.0'' and 15.6'' devices embedded into the laptop's interior, makes the R800 series devices resist flexing, thereby considerably prolonging the products' lifetimes. Protection of the electronic and mechanical components is supported by either a highly resistant magnesium alloy casing (R830) or a new High Stiffness Resin casing (R840 and R850). The R800 series spans various Toshiba laptop ranges depending on their specific configuration. The 13'' version will be available as the Portege R830. The 14'' and 15'' models will be added to the Tecra and Satellite Pro range as the Tecra R840/R850 and the Satellite Pro R850. Maliakal advised that Toshiba will be strengthening its corporate support network over the remainder of 2011, enhancing its channel training with a focus on corporate customers and even appointing new regional team leaders to target corporate concerns. Toshiba's new strategy to serve the business community doesn't mean it will be taking the Kingdom's consumers for granted. At the end of 2010, according to research from Gfk Retail and Technology, Toshiba was the leader in the notebook segment in Saudi Arabia and placed second in the Kingdom in the larger mobility computing segment. In September, the company will be introducing to Saudi consumers products based on new AMD chips which offer attractive entertainment features. Then in October, Toshiba will be bringing to the Kingdom its Android tablet computer, which has been Arabized. "Saudi consumers are interested in premium quality products," said Maliakal. "Our new P-series laptop, the Satellite P755 3D is already a hot seller. This laptop features a 17.3 inch display, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 750GB of HDD storage or an SSD option. The screen resolution is Full HD and it comes with a Blu-ray player, essential for 3D movies and games, as well as Hamon Kardon speakers for great audio. " Toshiba is also making a refreshed Satellite L-Series laptop range available through Saudi retailers. The L-Series portfolio features models with three different screen sizes and a broad selection of central processing units. These laptops offer Resolution+, which means that they are able to support 3D movies via HDMI on an external 3D TV. Even more amusing, to overcome the current limited availability of 3D content, some L-Series models provide 2D to 3D conversion to add the depth to 2D pictures that is needed to enjoy the 3D experience when connected to a 3D-TV. "Toshiba continues to be a market leader in terms of product sales and innovation," said Maliakal. "To continue to deliver customer satisfaction, we must find new ways to improve our service and offer our customers great technology to keep them coming back to our brand." To see more of the Arab News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.arabnews.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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