Overview
Toshiba's Qosmio line of notebooks are the poster children for multimedia excellence. Always loaded with the latest mobile technology from Intel, gorgeous and bright screens, Windows XP Media Center Edition, TV tuner, and plenty of other multimedia goodies. Today we're looking at the Qosmio G35-AV650, the current middle-of-the-line Qosmio model available. The Qosmio multimedia experience starts at $2,399 with the G35-AV600, but goes up to the G35-AV660 at $3,499.
The AV650 uses Intel's Centrino Duo platform, sporting the T2500 2.0GHz processor and 3945ABG wireless card. You get a high resolution WUXGA (1920x1200) screen powered by NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7600 with 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM. Every port you could want is on this puppy, including HDMI video output perfect for watching HD-DVD movies on your high definition home theater. Speaking of HD-DVD of course, the Qosmio AV650 sports an optical drive capable of playing HD-DVD movies! Enticed by this feature filled Qosmio yet? Read on to find out what other surprises this laptop has in store!
Design
Portability
Let's just put it this way: none. Weighing in at a hefty 10.1lbs, the only people wanting to tote this around are looking for a workout at the same time. With dimensions of 16" x 11.6" x 1.79", you aren't likely to be able to open this up on your seatback tray in coach class on an airpline either. Any questions?
Case and Design
Like most entertainment electronics these days, the Qosmio is designed to be pleasing in both form and function. The silver-on-black theme is attractive, but subtle. When you open the Qosmio, you'll notice the polished black interior reflecting back at you. The brushed silver mouse buttons & volume control, striking large speakers, and blue accent lights really stand out.
On the front you'll find a large LED indicator panel with the following indicators left to right: AC Power, System Power, Battery, Hard Drive Activity, Media card reader, and WiFi.
If that weren't enough, you've got a system control panel at the top of the keyboard, left to right: Power, TV Playback, CD/DVD Playback, Play/Pause, Stop/Eject, Previous, Next, Record, Brightness Down, Brightness Up, Dolby Sound enable, TV Output enable. And the final control feature of this system, the stylish silver volume knob:
The overall design quality of the Qosmio is rather high, with fit and finish being top notch. Our only complaint is in regards to the screen and how it is secured to the notebook, which you can read more about in the Display section.
Keyboard
For those who perused our Portege M400 review, you'll remember well the odd-ball keyboard arrangement Toshiba notebooks have. The Start & Context Menu keys are in the upper right and the Tilde & Delete keys are on either side of the spacebar. This configuration makes fast typing very difficult at first, but one does get used to it. Weird layout aside, the quality of the keyboard was excellent. There is no flexing, fairly quiet when typing fast, and comfortable to use for long periods of time.
