Toshiba Qosmio G45

Full review of Toshiba Qosmio G45

With Blu-ray winning HD format war, Toshiba attempted to release an HD solution in the Qosmio G45 laptop. The laptop comes with a HD-DVD burner as well as a plethora of features to support a theater-like experience starting from the powerful speakers to the razor sharp 17-inch widescreen display Large and in charge, the Qosmio G45 comes with a black-piano finish lid that contrasts the white keyboard. Although the aesthetic design is quite impressive, picking up the laptop isn�t quite impressive. The laptop weighs in at a massive 10 pounds, which will either break your back or enlarge your biceps.

Features

The Toshiba Qosmio G45 comes with everything youd expect in a multimedia machine. HDMI-in and HDMI-out, ExpressCard slot, Memory Card slot Firewire, USB 2.0, audio ports (line-in, microphone, headphone, and S/P DIF out), LAN, S-Video, DVI, power and ports for infrared remote controls. It also comes with Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11 a/g/n. Phew! The most distinctive feature is the vibrant 1080p 17-inch Widescreen display capable of 1920x1200 resolution. What does this mean? HD quality video. Powered by GeForce 8600M graphics card, it supports for HDCP (HDMI output) and integrated HDTV encoder for 1080i/1080p TV content. Of course, having great video won�t be a complete entertainment experience with great sound. Built with 4 Harman/kardon speakers coupled with 1 Bass Reflex sub-woofer, this surround sound setup produces great sound when watching movies or digital cable.

Whether you�ll be gaming or watching HD-DVD movies, the G45 performed effectively with only a few minor slowdowns, which didn�t deter from the overall movie experience. In everyday tasks, from word processing, surfing the internet and the photo-editing, the G45 will do everything pretty well, thanks in part to the abundant 3GB RAM, which is the only upgradeable component of this laptop. The battery performance when watching a movie was dismal - lasting only half of Batman Begins on HD-DVD. The battery depleted after 1:14 into the movie with full brightness and sound on. Be sure to keep a spare battery or be near an outlet when watching movies. Otherwise, the battery performance was around 2 hours under normal, everyday use. If you need a power laptop capable of HD entertainment, Photoshop, or gaming, this unit is for you. If you plan on traveling, you probably want to opt for another system as its mediocre battery life and weight is made for the desk (or living room) and no where else.

Toshiba Qosmio G45 Technical Specifications

• Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz
• Memory 3GB DDR2 RAM
• Harddrive 320GB
• OS Windows Vista Ultimate
• Weight 10.6 pounds
• Screen 17-inch
• Screen resolution 1920x1200
• Graphic Card Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT 512MB
• Battery Life 2 hours

Pros

• Great everyday performance
• Good gaming performance
• HD-capable laptop
• Good sound for a laptop
• Lots of connectivity options
• Black piano chassis
• Giant 17-inch 1080p display
• HD-DVD burner

Cons

• Short battery lif
• HD
• Not for travel
• Included digital cable tuner requires CableCard