Toshiba's Qosmio G40 now with world's first HD DVD-RW drive

Notice anything special about that laptop up there? No besides it's monstrous footprint. Right, a world's first HD DVD-RW drive in a laptop. Otherwise, it's the same 17-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Qosmio G40 we know and love now topping out with a 2.2GHz T7500 Core 2 Duo, up to 400GB of disk and 4GB of memory, and a pair of terrestrial HDTV tuners with HDMI-out in a 10.6-pound slab of media action. Priced at about ¥400,000 ($3,530) nicely equipped.

[Via Impress]

[mushrooshi @ Dec 17th 2007 4:51AM]

Thats pretty sweet.

I love using [media]-RWs, they are so vesitile.

Sure its not as good as hard drives in some specs, but:

I fyou screw up it isn't a waste
You can use it for trying and experimenting EG Red hat vs Ubuntu
It is great for backup of stuff you don't need right away.

[tsamb @ Dec 17th 2007 4:54AM]

Are HD DVD-R discs even available in Japan?

[Z @ Dec 17th 2007 5:07AM]

Nice specs, but I wish manufacturers would not put optical drives in the front - that is the WORST, most inconvenient location for any optical drive (if you're using a lapdesk with a front lip, or using the laptop on an airplane, etc.

It's a pain in the butt to always have to slide the laptop back and deal with an awkward balancing act in order to access the tray to load discs in and out. These drives should ALWAYS be on the side (most of them are, thankfully).

[Blackster @ Dec 17th 2007 6:06AM]

that thing is so huge that you won't have any space left on the right or left side ;)

[Prashant Pryadarshi @ Dec 17th 2007 5:24AM]

Is this available in India?
How anyone can get it in India?

[chichiflamingo @ Dec 17th 2007 5:37AM]

Is that not the ugliest god damn thing you've ever seen in your entire life?

[Bad Beaver @ Dec 17th 2007 6:25AM]

No, it's not. But close.
I see the conceptual meeting before me:
Designer A: "Let's give the screen a 2" bezel so there is more room for strange gizmos and plenty of blinkenlights on the base"
Designer B: "Rad idea, man!"
Designer C: "That base should also be glossy because that's where people touch it most of the time, to give it a more personal quality, you know..."
Designer A&B: "Goes without saying, man!"
Designer C: "Pass me pipe, will you?"

[Grizz @ Dec 17th 2007 8:14AM]

..And lets chrome out some speakers on it too.

Shiny!

[sam @ Dec 17th 2007 9:52AM]

they shoulda called this thing the Qosmiodo

[Adrian Williams @ Dec 17th 2007 5:45AM]

the G-45 is 3k
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33896

[Steveorevo @ Dec 17th 2007 6:37AM]

I've had nothing but problems with Qosmios from the 1, 2, and 3rd Generation. Harddrives failing, systemboard replacement, overheating, fire (yes fire from their defective power units -not battery). LCD failure, DVD drives, you name it! And tech support is the worst. These were machines that were kept in a cold room too, and never moved about as most laptops. The Satillites never had this, just minor overheating/fan failure (which Qosmio also suffered).

I've worked with so many client laptops and everything from HP, SONY, DELL, etc. have been good to great -but Qosmios? Stay Away....

[Navi Thach @ Dec 17th 2007 2:40PM]

That's because Toshiba doesn't build a good lappy anymore, I remember the old gray Satellites that were made in the 1990s, those things were built like a brick.

[Nihonjintaylor @ Dec 17th 2007 7:58AM]

@steve
add lines down the screen twice and another broken fan to the list.

Don't get me wrong, toshiba is great with support, but once your year is over you're out of luck. (support doesn't come cheap)

They're great when they last, but if you use it daily expect less than a year of solid use^^

[moa @ Dec 17th 2007 8:05AM]

is this ashtray next to the keyboard? ;]

[Ghen @ Dec 17th 2007 8:14AM]

Where's my numpad? I thought any laptop that big was supposed to have one.. I'll hook up my own damn speakers if it matters that much kkthx, but a numpad needs a solid base. the USB ones won't cut it!

[shmengie @ Dec 17th 2007 9:31AM]

"No besides it's monstrous footprint. Right, a world's first HD DVD-RW drive in a laptop."

are these supposed to be sentences?

[Pentium @ Dec 17th 2007 10:08AM]

great news..I like this series from Toshiba...

I'll wait until the price drops a bit :)

[Olivier @ Dec 17th 2007 2:18PM]

That's my computer ! yeah it's great... mmm the numpad is on the keyboard... there is no real one

[SimbaDogg @ Dec 17th 2007 8:19PM]

i've been gone from engadget for a while, but i've done a lot of catching up...and this is still the first hd dvd-rw drive i've seen...too bad you gotta spend that much to get @ it.