Toshiba Announces New Entertainment Laptops

Toshiba America today launched new notebook PCs in eight different categories, including a new version of its Qosmio multimedia notebook and a 14-inch widescreen consumer notebook that was previously unavailable from the company. The new PCs will hit the market in time for the third quarter, which is considered the second-busiest PC buying period of the year.

Qosmio is Toshiba's "halo" brand, designed to draw the interest of potential customers who will probably wind up buying a less expensive notebook, said Nicole D'Onofrio, an analyst with Current Analysis in San Diego, California. However, Toshiba now has two versions of its Qosmio notebook, a less-capable system priced more attractively at $1999 and the high-end Qosmio at $2999.

The Qosmio is also Toshiba's attempt at getting a foothold in the emerging entertainment PC market. PC vendors have been pushing modified desktops that could serve as the hub of a home entertainment network, as the market for normal office-productivity desktop PCs stagnates. So-called entertainment PCs have been released by several companies with designs that resemble consumer electronic equipment, like stereo receivers or DVD players.

Toshiba doesn't make desktops for the U.S. market, so it is building those features into the Qosmio systems. Both systems have feet on the bottom for stability and a large volume dial on the outside of the case. Users can watch TV shows, movies, or play CDs on the notebooks without having to boot Microsoft's Windows XP operating system.

It will be difficult to find a Qosmio user toting his or her notebook around an airport or campus, D'Onofrio said. The $2999 notebook weighs a whopping 9.47 pounds, and the $1,999 version is only a little lighter at 7.9 pounds. However, these systems will still offer more portability than desktop-style entertainment PCs, which could be an advantage for Toshiba, she said.

The $2999 Qosmio G25-AV513 features Intel's Pentium M 760 processor, 1024MB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 120GB hard drive, a multiformat DVD burner, a 17-inch widescreen display, and NVidia's GeForce6 Go 6600 graphics card with 128MB of video memory. The $1,999 Qosmio F25-AV205 comes with a slower Pentium M processor, a smaller hard drive, and a 15.4-inch widescreen display.

Widescreen Notebook

Another significant product launched was Toshiba's first 14-inch widescreen consumer notebook for U.S. retail customers, D'Onofrio said. Other retail PC companies like Hewlett-Packard and Gateway have had a great deal of success with their 14-inch widescreen notebooks over the last few months, forcing Toshiba to enter the category as well with the Satellite M55 series, she said.

The M55 notebooks feature either Intel's Celeron M or Pentium M processors, and weigh just under 5.3 pounds, Toshiba said in a release. These notebooks are more suitable for travelers or students at that weight, D'Onofrio said, and allow users to play CDs or DVDs without having to boot the operating system.

The Satellite M55-S325 notebook uses the Pentium M 740 processor, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, a 100GB hard drive, a multiformat DVD burner, and Intel's integrated graphics chip. It costs $1399, while a less expensive version with a Celeron M processor costs $1049.

In addition to the Qosmio and Satellite M55 notebooks, Toshiba launched new desktop-replacement notebooks for consumers as well as an inexpensive widescreen notebook for business customers. All of the new notebooks are available in multiple channels, including Toshiba's online store and major retail outlets across the United States.

HP also unveiled on Tuesday a series of new notebooks in time for the third quarter, which coincides with the return of students in certain parts of the world to schools and universities.