The rumors have been confirmed, Toshiba has announced it will be introducing the Toshiba Qosmio X305, a high-end gaming laptop sporting some unique features that will turn a few heads, if not cause a revolution. Do we even have revolutions anymore?
Now the Qosmio brand was always a top-rated line within Toshiba – very popular with critics and users alike. If you can look beyond all the Toshiba & Third Party software they load these machines up with at the factory, Toshiba makes some half decent laptops.
However, in recent years, Qosmio Jun88 which means “my personal universe” seems to have been slipping into a Black Hole with just one model listed on Toshiba’s main product page. Not only is Toshiba releasing the Qosmio X305 but also the 15.4-inch screen Qosmio F50 and the 18.4-inch Qosmio G50 which will be the world’s first to carry the Cell-based SpursEngine, re-christened by Toshiba as the Quad Core HD processor. The 18.4-inch diagonal widescreen with TruBrite® high-definition display will sport a true 16:9 aspect ratio – serious filmmakers take note.
Will these laptops and their new specs introduce a whole new level to gaming laptops? The jury is still out but Toshiba is introducing a few new things with these laptops, especially with the X305. This monster of a machine will sport a whopping 1 Gig of graphics processing power via the new dual-GPU card NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2.
(Side Note: some experts argue this is the wrong way to go – instead of a multi-GPU, they argue for keeping the single GPU since it can have advantages for faster applications and better power consumption with less heat release. This 1GB GPU is the same as putting two 512MB cards together thru SLI technology, isn’t it?)
The Qosmio X305 will also come equipped with a 3GHz dual-core Intel processor and dual 200GB, 7200rpm hard drives, as well as 4 Gigs of cutting-edge DDR3 RAM. This machine will also sport a 17-inch display, HDMI-out and S/PDIF audio – running HD quality films from a dedicated processor which should rival Blu-ray. In addition, it will carry four Harmon Kardon speakers with a built-in sub-woofer.
What will be interesting to watch is the whole “Blu-ray vs HD-DVD” debate that seemed to have been settled. Beta anyone? However, if Toshiba can turn/upgrade existing DVDs into a higher quality by this new transcoding/upscaling technology, the fall-out could be worth watching.
Another thing to watch is the “gesture-based controls with your hands” which is enabled by the chip found in PS3s. Look what Wii did to gaming? And the GPS Chipset adds another twist for a laptop, doesn’t it?
Compare “Apples to Apples”
Impressive as those Qosmio X305’s specs are, the high end gaming laptop market is becoming a little crowded. You have to compare “apples to apples” when buying a gaming rig. It will have to be compared with such high end gaming laptops as the Rock’s Xtreme SL8 which sports mind numbing graphics powered by twin NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB (DX10) running SLi and Quad core Intel processors with up to 4GB DDR2 RAM (up to 800MHz). Which also comes equipped with Hi-res 17″ WUXGA X-Glass (1920×1200) and the option of a Blu-ray or HD DVD Optical Drive.