Toshiba eyes the living room with new Qosmios

SAN FRANCISCO – Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. is now offering U.S. customers new choices in virtually every category of notebook PC, from massive multimedia powerhouses to low-cost portable systems.

The U.S. subsidiary of Toshiba Corp. launched new notebook PCs in eight different categories on Tuesday, including a new version of its Qosmio multimedia notebook and a 14-inch widescreen consumer notebook that was previously unavailable from the company. The new PCs will hit the market in time for the third quarter, which is considered the second-busiest PC buying period of the year.

Qosmio is Toshiba’s “halo” brand, designed to draw the interest of potential customers who will probably wind up buying a less expensive notebook, said Nicole D’Onofrio, an analyst with Current Analysis Inc. in San Diego, California. However, Toshiba now has two versions of its Qosmio notebook, a less-capable system priced more attractively at US$1,999 and the high-end Qosmio at $2,999.

The Qosmio is also Toshiba’s attempt at getting a foothold in the emerging entertainment PC market. PC vendors have been pushing modified desktops that could serve as the hub of a home entertainment network, as the market for normal office-productivity desktop PCs stagnates. So-called entertainment PCs have been released by several companies with designs that resemble consumer electronic equipment, like stereo receivers or DVD players.

Toshiba doesn’t make desktops for the U.S. market, so it is building those features into the Qosmio systems. Both systems have feet on the bottom for stability and a large volume dial on the outside of the case. Users can watch TV shows, movies, or play CDs on the notebooks without having to boot Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP operating system.

It will be difficult to find a Qosmio user toting his or her notebook around an airport or campus, D’Onofrio said. The $2,999 notebook weighs a whopping 9.47 pounds (4.3 kilograms), and the $1,999 version is only a little lighter at 7.9 pounds. However, these systems will still offer more portability than desktop-style entertainment PCs, which could be an advantage for Toshiba, she said.

The $2,999 Qosmio G25-AV513 features Intel Corp.’s Pentium M 760 processor, 1024M bytes of DDR2 (double data rate 2) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 120G-byte hard drive, a multiformat DVD burner, a 17-inch widescreen display, and Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce6 Go 6600 graphics card with 128M bytes of video memory. The $1,999 Qosmio F25-AV205 comes with a slower Pentium M processor, a smaller hard drive, and a 15.4-inch widescreen display.

Another significant product launched Tuesday was Toshiba’s first 14-inch widescreen consumer notebook for U.S. retail customers, D’Onofrio said. Other retail PC companies like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc. have had a great deal of success with their 14-inch widescreen notebooks over the last few months, forcing Toshiba to enter the category as well with the Satellite M55 series, she said.

The M55 notebooks feature either Intel’s Celeron M or Pentium M processors, and weigh just under 5.3 pounds, Toshiba said in a release. These notebooks are more suitable for travelers or students at that weight, D’Onofrio said, and they still allow users to play CDs or DVDs without having to boot the operating system.

The Satellite M55-S325 notebook uses the Pentium M 740 processor, 512M bytes of DDR SDRAM, a 100G-byte hard drive, a multiformat DVD burner, and Intel’s integrated graphics chip. It costs $1,399, while a less expensive version with a Celeron M processor costs $1,049.

In addition to the Qosmio and Satellite M55 notebooks, Toshiba launched new desktop-replacement notebooks for consumers as well as an inexpensive widescreen notebook for business customers. All of the new notebooks are available in multiple channels, including Toshiba’s online store and major retail outlets across the U.S.

HP also unveiled on Tuesday a series of new notebooks in time for the third quarter, which coincides with the return of students in certain parts of the world to schools and universities.

REFERENCES: HP rolls Turion into updated notebook product line, Jun. 14, 2005