Upside
Toshiba's Qosmio G30 is being pitched as a "four-in-one
entertainment unit", which symbolises its four main functions --
television, stereo audio player, DVD player and notebook PC.
As expected from such a high-end multimedia device, the notebook's features serve the aforementioned functions well. First off, there's a high-definition DVB-T TV tuner for watching and recording digital television. On the off chance that your area lacks digital coverage, there's also an analog tuner. Only one tuner type can be used at a time, however.
A notebook PC isn't always ideal for watching TV and DVDs, especially if you're with a group of people. With that in mind, Toshiba has fitted the unit with a slew of connectivity options for hooking it up to a big screen TV, including HDMI, S-Video, D-Sub and even Component using the bundled adapter. It's the first notebook we've seen that includes a HDMI connector -- very impressive! Don't worry if you don't have a huge TV, the 17.1-inch widescreen display (featuring two lamps for increased colour saturation) should be superb for solo viewing. Additionally, if you'd like to hook up any external devices, composite inputs with left and right audio jacks are also included.
The G30's audio hardware is equally impressive. It uses the Intel High Definition Audio integrated chipset (with Dolby certification), boasts a 1-Bit digital amp -- a world first, according to Toshiba -- and finally, it also includes a pair of Harman/Kardon integrated stereo speakers.
All of the notebook's entertainment features can be accessed from the comfort of your couch using a seamless interface, thanks to Toshiba's choice of operating system -- Windows Media Center Edition 2005 -- and its inclusion of a handy remote control.
The notebook is based on Intel's Centrino Duo platform. Under the hood lies a 2GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 processor, 1GB of DDR2-533 memory, two 100GB hard drives and an Nvidia GeForce 7600 graphics chip. Suffice it to say, it should handle most tasks valiantly, including gaming. All of the major wireless standards are supported, including 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) LAN, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.
The G30 is also one of the first notebooks to be fully compatible with Windows Vista.
Downside
Weighing in at 4.5kg and with dimensions of 406 x 295 x 44.7
(50.5 with feet) mm, the G30 is undoubtedly one of the bulkiest
notebooks currently on the market. It's also got a below-average
battery life, which Toshiba rates at two hours. This won't phase
most users within the product's target market, however.
It's also quite expensive at AU$4299, but we think it offers great value for money given the plethora of features on offer.
Outlook
The Toshiba Qosmio G30 is the most feature-rich home
entertainment notebook we've seen to date, bar none. We can't
wait to cart one back to the labs for a thorough thrashing --
stay tuned for our findings.
Toshiba Qosmio G30
Company: Toshiba
Price: AU$4,299
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