New Toshiba Qosmio Brings The World of TV and Computers Together

The world of TV and laptops has collided. Introducing the new Toshiba Qosmio E15. The Toshiba Qosmio features High-quality TV, enhanced video capabilities, Harmon Kardon speakers, SRS TruSurround XT surround sound, digital playback, TV recording, home networking, and a computer all in one. But if you choose not to use the computer aspect of the Qosmio, you can simply turn it on without having to boot up.

Toshiba Qosmio E10view from above

Qosmio means "my personal universe." And Toshiba is making it clear that what they hope to define here is a new type of consumer product, this is not a regular laptop. Toshiba claims that they have conducted many focus groups and researched what people most want and the Qosmio is the result of this research. According to Toshiba, the following question was asked:

"If you could invent a dream machine, what would it be able to do?" When Toshiba conducted focus groups and survey research to find out the answer to this question, the resounding response from prosumers (technologically savvy consumers) was "everything."

left-side profile of Toshiba Qosmio E10

Besides meaning "my personal universe", Toshiba has also defined "Qosmio" as an acronym with the following meaning:

• Qosmio Core Technologies: QosmioEngine and QosmioPlayer


• Outstanding TV and entertainment on the ultra-bright, Clear Super View LCD


• Superlative audio


• Mobile computing platform


• Intuitive User Interface


• Optical playback/recording and HDD recording capabilities

The "QosmioEngine" is a hybrid hardware and software solution that delivers enhanced video capabilities for overall video performance, TV viewing and monitor-in functionality (i.e. when connecting an external device as a video source, such as a camcorder).
Some of the key enhancements include:

• Digital sharpness - sharpens the image in both horizontal and vertical directions to see the fine details.


• Colour adjustment - tests and makes adjustments of control parameters for gamma, brightness and chroma for lifelike images.


• Edge enhancement - pixel adjustments are made to deliver clearer analog video.


• LCD overdrive - produces high-quality, responsive images for rapidly moving video, so you can "get in on the action" when watching sports or playing games.

The "QosmioPlayer" enables the user to watch TV or DVD movies as well as listen to CDs at the touch of a button, even when the notebook is turned off. AV buttons make it simple to change TV channels, adjust the audio-visual settings, control multimedia playback and even record.

The first in the line of Qosmio products to be released is the Qosmio E10, it will be available in Japan, the U.S. and Europe starting next month. The E10 will feature Intel's Pentium M 735 processor. Following are the precise specs for the Toshiba Qosmio E10:

Toshiba Qosmio E10 Specs

• Processor: Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology including Intel® Pentium® M processor 735, Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG network connection and Intel® 855PM chipset, clock speed : 1.70 GHz, front side bus : 400 MHz, 2nd level cache : 2 MB


• Operating system Windows® XP Media Center Edition


• System memory standard : 512 MB (maximum expandability : 2,048 MB)


• Hard disk capacity : 60 GB


• DVD Super Multi drive compatibility : CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM
  maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 24x CD-R, 12x CD-RW, 8x DVD-ROM, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 3x DVD-RAM / Write: 24x CD-R, 10x CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 3x DVD-RAM


• Display size : 15 "TFT colour display


• QosmioEngine : advanced video experience; video enhancement engine; SVP (Super Video Processor)


• Graphics adapter manufacturer : NVIDIA® , type : GeForce™ FX Go5200 , memory amount : 64 MB, memory type : DDR Video RAM , graphics accelerator : 128 bit, connected bus : 4 x AGP bus ,Internal video modes resolution : 1,024 x 768
  maximum number of colours : 16.7 million


• Battery technology : lithium-ion , maximum life : Up to 2.5 hours


• Ports: 1 x headphone
  1 x DC-in
  1 x external monitor
  1 x RJ-11
  1 x RJ-45
  1 x i.LINK® (IEEE 1394)
  1 x external microphone
  2 x built-in speaker
  4 x USB 2.0
  1 x S/PDIF (Headphone)
  1 x Monitor-in (D-Connector)
  1 x TV-antenna
  1 x S-Video-in (Composite/Line-in)
  1 x S-Video-out


• Expansion 2 x memory slots (1 to configure)
  1 x PC Card slot for 1 Type II card
  1 x Bridge Media Slot (SD card, xD card, Memory Stick)


• TV tuner manufacturer : Toshiba , type : integrated TV tuner , tv standard : PAL, SECAM


• Wireless communication Wireless Technology : Bluetooth™
  Wireless Technology : Wireless LAN (802.11b/g dual-mode integrated network support)


• Wired communication topology : Ethernet LAN
  speed : 10/100 Base-TX
  topology : international V.90 modem (V.92 ready)
  speed : 56 Kbps data and V.92 data fax


• Sound system supported audio format : 16-bit stereo
  speakers : built-in Harman Kardon stereo speakers


• Physical dimensions W x L x H : 338 x 285 x 43 mm
  weight : 3.60 kg


• Pointing device type : Touch Pad
  interface : PS/2


• Warranty 1-year international warranty. Upgrade your standard warranty with Toshiba warranty extension and uplift packs. Contact your nearest Toshiba Authorised Reseller for details.
  

 

This looks like a great lappie, and when I heard about it a week ago I couldn't wait to see some specs, were toshi really going to release a multimedia laptop with the latest and greatest of everything??? well for the most part this looks pretty good and on the money, but to my surprise (actually I'm not surprised) I noticed that there was only a FX5200 GPU. I do hope that they at least offer a FX5700 for a top of the line version, similar to what sony did with their A series. I guess I'm just a bit disappointed that toshi have yet again made a great notebook but then disabled it by sticking an old soon to be very out of date GPU in it. Just remember that this is a notebook that is pitched as having "enhanced video capabilities". With news of PCI-X notebooks already in pre-production it surprises me that toshi hasn't tried to at least keep pace with current standards for these types of notebooks, which have been set by the likes of the sony A series, ASUS W1N, ACER 2020, and HP zd7000. Also note that all of these are now in store , and I'm betting it will be a month or two before tohsi's is widely available.
My question is how long will this notebook stay relevant before it becomes swamped by a sea of notebooks with better features and upgradeable GPUs??

a

p.s I really wanted to like this notebook & I guess I'm just a little disappointed, but I'm sure it will still be a good notebook (theres still a small ray of sunshine in my heart, trying to make me play nice lol

 

but it's Toshiba, wouldn't you have been diappointed if they'd done it any other way than put a somewhat aged graphics processor in there? It's just their way I guess, I still find the notebook intriguing and I don't think they're really intending this much for gaming so maybe that's their excuse.

Oh, and you can make a sure bet that by Christmas Dell and HP will have some type of answer to this multimedia style of notebook. Sony, Toshiba and Averatec are the first three with such machines (VAIO A, Qosmio, Averatec 6200 Mobile Theatre). The Qosmio is the most different and cutting edge machine I'd say, but there will be others of a similar style hitting the market sooner rather than later.

 

look at hte battery life
a centrio with only up to 2.5 hrs!