Toshiba has extended its Portégé R500 sub-notebook family with a pair of new models that both pack in 128GB of solid-state storage.

Toshiba’s Japan-only new Dynabook SS RX1 is the first ever notebook to offer a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), matching the storage capacity of conventional hard-disk drives with the speeds associated with flash drives. The model will be available about nine months after Toshiba also unveiled the first laptop with a 64GB SSD drive. In North America, the RX1’s equivalent is the Portégé R500, already a holder of many “world’s first” accolades.

The newest RX1 sports Intel’s Core 2 Duo 1.20GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM, Intel’s 945GMS Express chipset with integrated video as well as a DVD optical drive. The operating system is Windows Vista Business Edition. It also features KDDI’s CDMA 1X WIN high-speed 3G service capable of up to 2.4Mbps that carries a monthly subscription rate of about $60. The RX1 and R500 have a 12.1-inch WXGA widescreen LCD. Bluetooth 2.0 support is built-in.

The RX1 with the 128GB SSD drive should be available in Japan in mid-April, with other models launching later this month. No official pricing has been announced, but the 128GB SSD-equipped version is expected to cost 400,000 yen, or close to $4,000. A version with an 80GB HDD is 290,000 yen or $2,900. In the U.S., the R500 with the 64GB SSD starts at $2,700. SSDs fetch a premium as they are more shock-resistant, energy-efficient and quieter than traditional HDDs. Toshiba has not yet announced a similar option for its North American R500.

The 11Z and 121 both use 160GB hard drives for storage. Their other specs match those of the SSD models.
Their prices won’t be comparable, of course, though we can’t say for sure because Toshiba has yet to say what it’s going to charge for the new models. The current R500-10U has a 64GB SSD and a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U7600 processor and retails for around £1750.