Toshiba launches Qosmio multimedia notebook line

Tokyo - Toshiba has launched a trendy new family of notebooks with audio and video enhanced functionality.

In a flurry of announcements of multimedia notebooks, Toshiba has become the latest entry in this growing segment. The company Thursday presented its Qosmio notebook series in Japan, but will make the computers available worldwide later this year.

Audio and video are the core features of the new devices, which names have been derived from the word "cosmos" and "mio", which means "my" in Italian. A unique feature of the notebooks allows users to watch TV without booting Windows. Toshiba has included a separate TV player that runs on Linux - which can be booted in a fraction of the 30 seconds the primary OS, Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition, needs to start up, the firm said.

Audio features include a pair of 30-millimeter Harman/Kardon speakers and a 4watt audio system that supports TruSurround XT and Wow XT systems of SRS Labs.

Noteworthy is a dedicated image processing chip developed by Toshiba to enhance image quality on the screen as well as a second backlight in the LCD which brings flat-panel television-like brightness to the Qosmio screen, according to Toshiba.

The notebooks are available with three different processors. The top-end E10/1KLDEW marks a Centrino Pentium-M Processor 715 (1.5 GHz), the mid-range models (E10/1KCDE und E10/1JCDT) receive the Celeron-M 330clocked at 1.4 GHz. Standard equipment of the computers include 512 MByte memory, a DVD burner and a 80 GByte harddrive.

The screen size is 15 inch (1024 x 768 pixel), with 15.4 inch and 17 inch models following later this year. The higher end E10/1KLDEW und E10/1KCDE models include Nvidia’s Geforce FXGo5200 graphic chip with 64 MByte memories. Graphic details for the low-end model as well expected battery life of the multimedia notebooks were not revealed.

The 7.9 pound notebooks will be available in the US and Europe by late August, Toshiba said. Prices have not been announced.