Toshiba R400 Cuts The Docking Cords But Keeps The Peripheral Benefits

Looks like I may have spoken too soon when I looked to HP to salve our lack of Apple-made Tablet – Toshiba's latest convertible is the R400, which aside from having an apparently glorious LED-backlit 12.1-inch display and SideShow-using status screen (that looks to be OLED to these jaded eyes) has the unique selling point of a wireless docking station.

Looking possibly like a bedside radio, the dock communicates when within 3 or so foot of the Tablet via USB 2.0 wireless capable of 480Mbps.  Plug a keyboard, mouse, external optical drive, even a second display in, and when you're in range the R400 will automatically connect and have access to those peripherals.  No more scrabbling for wires or trying awkwardly to seat your notebook on a delicate connector, it's even fast enough to stream DVD video with no dropped frames.

Kevin Tofel over at jkontherun is pegging it at around mid-$2,000, which although expensive is unsurprising given the specs.  Certainly one I'll be looking to see in action on release, and I can't imagine other manufacturers haven't got similar wireless docks in the pipeline too.

Toshiba R400 and wireless dock [jkontherun]