Toshiba Qosmio G40-10E review

Tohisba's Qosmio G40-10E is an entertainment notebook that can replace your TV, Freeview recorder, DVD player, games console and stereo system, as well as undertaking most computing duties. It can also play HD DVD movies.

Its 17in widescreen display has a huge native resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels, so HD DVD movies, which have a resolution of 1,920x1,080, can be shown without any downscaling. The results are fantastic, with movies appearing noticeably more detailed when compared to our 720p television. The display also did well in our technical display tests, with a smooth greyscale and vibrant colours. Horizontal viewing angles are poor compared to a proper HD TV, though, so it's not ideal for more than two viewers.

The rest of the notebook is just as striking. Flanking the keyboard is a pair of circular controls. The right-hand one is a four-way directional control that's perfect for navigating Windows Media Center, and it has a touch-sensitive scroll area similar to an iPod. The left-hand one rotates to control the volume. Above these is a pair of stylish speaker ports, with two more hidden either side of the screen, plus a subwoofer on the underside of the chassis. Audio quality is excellent, with well-balanced sound and great clarity. It's a pity it's not a little louder, but there's no distortion at top volume.

The G40 weighs 4.4kg and is 440mm wide, so it's unsuitable for mobile use. The battery lasted for a respectable two hours and 55 minutes in our light-usage test. Don't try and watch a HD DVD away from the mains, though, as the processing power required will drain the battery in just over an hour.

The built-in hybrid tuner will pick up both analogue and Freeview broadcasts. The TV tuner works with Windows Media Center, which is supplied as part of the Windows Vista Ultimate edition installation. The Toshiba HD DVD playback software is integrated into the Media Center interface, which is a nice touch.

If you want to record TV programmes, there's a big 250GB hard disk inside. This will also give you plenty of space for your audio and photo files. The HD DVD-R drive can burn HD DVD writable media; however, this could cost you as a single 15GB disc costs around £7. It's currently an expensive way of making backups, although prices are bound to fall with time. Fortunately, the drive also writes to inexpensive DVDs as well.

There are loads of ports around the chassis' edges. The five USB2 ports should be sufficient for most needs, and there's a memory card reader, two expansion slots for PC cards and a FireWire port. A Gigabit Ethernet port is provided, and the wireless networking card supports the new Draft-N standard.

If you need to use an external display, there's an HDMI output. This can also carry surround-sound audio to a suitably equipped amplifier or HD TV. There's an S-video output for CRT televisions, but unlike previous Qosmio models there's no SCART output.

The Qosmio is fast in applications and can take on tough tasks. Its high-resolution display is particularly handy when it comes to running complex applications. It did respectably in 3D, too, with a playable frame rate in our Call of Duty 2 test. It's not quick enough to run the latest games with high detail settings, though, so hardcore gamers should look elsewhere.

This is a very impressively specified and equipped notebook, but it's expensive, not least because of the HD DVD drive, which doesn't have a guaranteed future. We'd prefer a model that doesn't have this drive, but Toshiba, sadly, doesn't produce one.

Author: Seth Barton