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]

Toshiba just launched a pair of updated Qosmio media laptops in Japan. A new G40/97D configuration sports a 17-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) display; 2GHz, T7300 Core 2 Duo proc; 256MB of NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, 2GB (up to 4GB supported) memory, 320GB of disk (2x 160GB); Gigabit Ethernet; HDMI out; a 2 megapixel webcam; and an HD DVD-R drive. It also brings plenty of expansion with 5x USB, Firewire, multiple memory card support, and a PCMCIA and ExpressCard/54 slot. Pretty much what we've seen before. Now, however, we're looking at a pair of digital tuners so that you can record and watch that sweet, sweet TeeVee at the same time. It's also pre-loaded with CyberLink SoftDMA allowing it to pull your HD recordings off your VARDIA series of recorders wrapped in a DRM-ladden, DTCP-IP hard candy shell. Want more Tosh integration? Great, 'cause it also supports HDMI-CEC allowing the G40 to control your new HDMI connected REGZA series of TVs. All that for ¥400,000 or about $3,470. Too much? Then check the new Qosmio F40 which does much the same only on a 15.4-inch screen for about $850 less.

[Via Impress]