Toshiba Announces First HD DVD-R Notebook

Toshiba will put on sale in Japan in late February the first laptop PC in the world with support for the write-once HD DVD-R optical disc format.

The G30/97A will be an upgrade of existing models of Toshiba's hefty Qosmio G30 entertainment laptop. Some of those models already contain an HD DVD reader and are on sale in major markets worldwide.

The computer is based on an Intel 2-GHz Core 2 Duo processor and has a 17-inch wide-screen display with 1920 by 1280 pixel resolution, which means it can show high-definition images from HD DVD movie discs. The 10.6-pound machine also features a 320GB hard drive, digital TV tuner, and HDMI output.

Toshiba hasn't announced a price for the computer, which will run the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. International launch plans have also not been announced.

To coincide with Toshiba's launch of the Qosmio computer, Hitachi Maxell will begin selling HD DVD-R media. A single-side 15GB disc will be available from January 25 for around $12.

NEC Plans Blu-ray Laptops

Another rival PC maker is also offering blue laser disc compatibility in a new machine running Vista.

NEC, which has been straddling the format battle fence, will put out in February two laptops with Blu-ray Disc support. The LaVie C will come out February 9 for about $2570 and the LaVie L will come out February 23 and cost around $2487. Both will be based on Windows Vista Home Premium.

The drives will be read-only models suitable for playing back Blu-ray Disc movies and other prerecorded content but not in full high-definition resolution. The computers have 15.4-inch widescreen displays that only offer 800 pixels of horizontal resolution. Full HD images have 1080 picture lines.