I was recently lucky enough to test-drive a Toshiba Qosmio G40 Laptop.
The first thing that you notice about the Qosmio G40 is its size. Its a monster! at 44×23x4.5cm and weighing in at hefty 4.5kg; this is one big laptop.
For size comparisons, the pictures below show the Qosmio stacked with an Apple Macbook and ASUS EEE PC:
On opening the Qosmio, you are presented with a massive shiny white keyboard base and contrasting black lid with a massive 17 inch display. The keyboard is huge, although strangely it feels small compared to the rest of the laptop base. Usually you expect the keyboard to take up most of the real estate, but there is so much surrounding white plastic that initially it seems a little lost.
To the sides of the keyboard, you will find 4 large circles, the back two are speakers, and the front two are volume control and navigational dial. Not immediately pleasing on the eye, but you kinda get used to them. In-front of the keyboard is a large track-pad with left/right buttons separated by a fingerprint scanner.
Big is one word that describes the Qosmio, not only in physical size, but when it comes to features. One obvious feature is the inclusion of a harman/kardon sound system. The two speakers sat near the keyboard are supported by a sub-woofer that resides on the underside of the laptop. The sound is just stunning, I have never heard such quality audio come from a laptop, and everybody that heard it was just blown away by the quality.
The volume is easily controlled via the large jog-wheel, although quality is outstanding, I didn’t think that it it could go as loud as I’d have liked it to have.
The harman/kardon speakers are just one element that changes the Qosmio from just being a laptop into an entertainment powerhouse.
Another feature you can fail but notice is the gorgeous 17 inch screen that can display 1080P Full HD. Of course to make full use of 1080P, the Qosmio comes with a (now defunct) HD-DVD drive. Unfortunately I didn’t have any HD-DVD’s to hand, but I was able to download some HD movie trailers to test it out. The quality is amazing, and in combination with the harman/kardon speakers, you very easily go “WOW!”.
The G40 comes with an in-built analogue and digital TV tuner, all driven by Windows Media Center, and with two 200GB drives, there is plenty of room to record your favourite TV Shows.
The Qosmio does light up like a Christmas tree with blue lights around the controls on the keyboard, a row of indicators below the screen and at the front of the laptop. I found no way to turn off the blue glow, and I would imagine that it could annoy some people, especially if watching movies.
The G40 is a connectivity dream with:
WiFi
Bluetooth
1 x DC-in
1 x line-in
1 x external monitor
1 x RJ-11
1 x RJ-45
1 x TV-out (S-video)
1 x i.LINK® (IEEE 1394)
1 x external microphone
1 x TV-antenna
2 x headphone (stereo)
1 x AV-in (Composite/S-Video/Line-in)
1 x Video-in (S-Video)
1 x 5-in-1 Bridge Media slot (supports SD™ Cards, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick Pro™, MultiMedia Card™, xD-Picture Card™)
1 x S/PDIF-out (optical) shared with headphone socket
2 x IR Blaster
1 x integrated 2 Megapixels Video Camera
5 x USB 2.0
1 x HDMI-out (supporting 1080p/1080i signal format)
The processing power of the laptop is also really beefy, although I was surprised to find that Vista did seem to hiccup a couple of times, but to be honest I think that is down to the bloat that is Vista and not a reflection on the hardware.
Conclusion
It may not be the best looking of laptops, but feature-wise, that really doesn’t matter, as it wipes the floor with everything I have previously seen. The weight is a big issue, I really struggled carrying this back and forth on a 15 minute walk to my car. It may be a laptop, it certainly isn’t a portable!
For a dedicated home/office machine then this is great.. If you only have a small flat, why waste space on a TV / sound system and traditional PC when you can have it all in a very well rounded package. With its TV Tuner, HD screen, unbeatable sound system, stacks of disk space, what more could you need.
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It does look like a monster its so big! I have a question about heat. How hot does the G40 get? is it possible to have it sitting on your lap?
Alfred – The G40 did give out a lot of heat, not recommended for using on your lap.