Giving the customer more bang for the same amount of buck is usually a recipe for success.
Toshiba proved this theorem true with last year’s introduction of the Satellite 1905-S301 notebook, which was the first to incorporate a full Intel Pentium 4 processor in a mobile platform. The model proved to be one of the best sellers over the past 12 months, said Carl Pinto, Toshiba’s director of product marketing.
Pinto said using a Pentium 4 processor, normally found in a desktop PC, instead of the traditional mobile Pentium or mobile Celeron chip was a watershed moment for Toshiba.
Since the 1905 was designed as a desktop replacement notebook, meaning it would spend more time being plugged into a wall socket and sitting on a desk as opposed to running off battery power in an airport, Toshiba could go with the more powerful processor without worrying about battery life. This enabled a more powerful feature set that customers found very appealing.
“This was a step up model that provided good chip speed with a combo CD-RW/DVD drive and the consumers really accepted those features,” Pinto said.
Pinto said consumers, who have already purchased several PCs or notebooks, are now savvy enough to understand the benefits the Pentium processor gave to the 1905, and this was the reason it sold so well.
The 1905 began shipping in June 2002, just in time for the back to school selling season, with a suggested price in the $1,599 range.
