Toshiba ships Tecra A11, Core i7-packin' Qosmio X500 and more
By Darren Murph 
posted January 21st 2010 9:46AM
posted January 21st 2010 9:46AM
These didn't quite make it off the boat before CES, but if it's a new Toshiba laptop you've been searching for, you can still get some satisfaction before the end of this month. The outfit has just announced that four of its machines are available in the US starting right this very moment, including the 15.6-inch Tecra A11 (starts at $879). This one packs an integrated numpad, NVIDIA GPU, an undisclosed new Intel CPU and a charcoal black chassis. Moving on, that Qosmio X500 workhorse that we first heard about late last year finally has its shipping papers (and a $1,549 starting point), bringing with it a Core i7-720QM processor, a GeForce GTS 360M GPU, 8GB of memory, an 18.4-inch display, 500GB (7200RPM) hard drive, a Blu-ray drive and a vivacious color scheme that's guaranteed to polarize. The Satellite Pro L450 and Satellite Pro L500 are also slipping out to the suits in attendance, but with price tags starting at $529, the spec hounds probably won't be drooling much here.
Sorry for OT, anyone could explain why I'm showing as "Unverified" in the new comment system? I've been member for years... :(
@(Unverified)
Log out and log back in again.
@kris120890
Thanks it did the trick :)
Just a wee bit of legwork from the Toshiba site:
Tecra A11 @ $879 sports a Core i3-330M processor, but you can get an A11 with an i5 or i7 as well.
It also looks like L450 is a typo; that should be the Satellite Pro L500 and L550.
the qosmio is a good machine, but I can get a well spec'd desktop and low end laptop for the same price. Give me that laptop with a 15.6" screen and you have me sold.
For the specs, and quality that toshiba's notebooks are known for, these prices look delicious~
The Qosmio X500 has been available for months. What's new is the upgrade from a GTS250M to a GTS360M.
But be careful since some models ship with a 1680x945 display and some with a 1920x1080 version.
And running Linux on those monsters is still a matter of trial&error (currently no driver for the fingerprint reader, mic doesn't work, GFX driver support still has major flaws, ...).
Do the new models still ship with a Blu-ray writer like the existing ones?
@MikeZ
Main question is if those displays are LED backlit. I've read about the problems with their CCFL backlights which were especially bad in the lower resolution models (one overpowered CCFL made it bright on one side and dark on another). Even the FHD model had lighting problems with the LCD panel. Switch to LED backlit screens already!
One minor thing worth mention on the detailed spec from Toshi is that the new Tecra A11 has a mini DisplayPort together with VGA for video output.
Ok why would anyone pay for this crappy computer when they could get the new Asus G73JH next month for the same price?