Toshiba tablet ships minus 480Mbit wireless

The Portege R400 featured in Bill Gates's CES keynote this week is shipping here in March – but without the revolutionary ultra-fast wireless link for its port replicator that caused some excitement at the show.

The Toshiba site is vague about the technology it uses but according to web reports it is Wireless USB 2.0, which effectively replaces the usual cable with an Ultrawide (UWB) radio link capable of 480Mbits/sec.

But the Wireless USB specification has yet to be approved and it is not even clear whether the replicator is available in the US – the device is not mentioned on the site.

There is an added problem in Europe in that there is no regulatory approval for the use of the spectrum for which the technology is designed. The spectrum is already in use but one of the claimed advantages of UWB is that it operates below the noise floor, and so can share bandwidth – receiving it is like picking out a whisper among a lot of shouting.

A Toshiba spokesman said the first R400s in the UK will not have the technology but you will be able retrofit it.

The machine looks interesting enough even without the technology. It is a smart tablet with a 12.1in display that swivels to reveal a keyboard to transforms it into a standard notebook; and it is one of the first machines to support Vista's active notification, which uses a tiny one-line supplementary display to alert you of incoming emails. US prices start at $2,599 (£1,345)

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