Toshiba refreshes its detachable touchscreen laptops

SAN FRANCISCO - Toshiba on Tuesday announced new Windows 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids aimed at the back-to-school season, including an updated design on its sub-$600 model.

The Satellite Click 2 arrives in late June at a suggested retail price of $587, exclusive to Best Buy and Toshiba's own web site.

The 13.3-inch machine is less than an inch thick with the keyboard, though at 4.84 pounds in laptop mode it weighs about the same as before and is not the lightest machine you'll find. It packs a quad core Intel Pentium N3530 processor, compared to the dual-core AMD chip of its predecessor. Like before, the base model has 4GB of RAM, 500GB of hard drive space, and a 13.3-inch detachable touchscreen.

The new design attempts to address some issues that cropped up in reviews of the original, including fixing what had been a less than responsive keyboard. The company has teamed up with Skull Candy on the branded audio.

When you detach the keyboard, tablet mode weight is 2.8 pounds.

The Click 2 is part of Toshiba's aim to make the market for laptop/tablet combos more enticing to mainstream buyers.

The Click 2 Pro.(Photo: Toshiba)

A 'Pro' version with a 128GB solid state drive, an Intel Core i5 processor and Harmon Kardon sound starts at $1,028 (also exclusive to Best Buy). At $1,279 you get a i7 processor AND an extra battery built into the keyboard.

The last few years has brought great pressure on PC makers. Consumers struggled with initial versions of Microsoft's Window 8 operating system and flocked to tablets for on-the-go web surfing and entertainment.

But as people become more comfortable with updates to Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system and the market for tablets becomes saturated, PC makers are banking on the idea that people still need to 'get things done' on a full-featured laptop.

Jeff Barney, Toshiba America's executive in charge of the PC and TV business, stopped by USA TODAY's San Francisco bureau to demo the new Click 2. He said he believes the notebook market is 'poised to have a great comeback' as touchscreens and flexible designs take hold at lower price points. We'll see about that, of course.

The Satellite Radius(Photo: Toshiba)

Barney also showed off a new premium 'multi-mode' 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop with a 360-degree hinge that is coming to Best Buy in early July starting at $925. The company says the Satellite Radius is 'spec'd just like a performance-driven laptop' in a sleek design that enables viewing modes for group meetings or shared movie-watching.

Also new from Toshiba:

The Encore 2 is Toshiba's refreshed Windows tablet, coming in early July at much lower prices than the original. The 8-inch version starts at $199 with 1GB of RAM and 32GB storage and goes up to $279 for 2GB/64GB. Toshiba says it's 13 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the original (which started at about $329). It comes with a one-year subscription to Office 365.

A 10-inch version starts at $269 for 1GB/32GB.

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