Toshiba has announced a brand new R-Series collection of lightweight business laptops, including three new models – the Tecra R850, Tecra R840 and the Satellite Pro R850.

The new Toshiba R-Series offers business users a choice of laptops designed to combine reliable features, next-generation components such as USB 3.0 connectivity and a portable design that is as reliable on the road as it is in the office.

Available in a choice of 14- and 15.6-inch screen sizes, the range fits the latest full performance Intel CPUs - probably Sandy bridge - so will be able to handle any presentations that you can throw at it. A 500GB HDD with HDD 3D impact sensor and 8GB DDR3 RAM make up the meat of the devices.

As this is primarily a business model each of the laptops comes with Toshiba’s suite of EasyGuard security features ensures sensitive documents and corporate data are kept protected. Furthermore, a biometric fingerprint reader on both Tecra models ensures only permitted users can log on, providing an additional layer of security on top of password log-in and Toshiba’s Face Recognition software.

Connectivity is also a high priority, with the Satellite Pro R850 coming with USB 3.0, eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port with Sleep-and-Charge, Multi-Card Reader, VGA, HDMI or DisplayPort and all three getting WLAN (802.11 b/g/n) Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR and webcams.

The Tecra R850, Tecra R840 and Satellite Pro R850 will be available during the second quarter of 2011.