Toshiba offers HD-DVD in Satellite A200

Darius Chang | Nov 06, 2007

Blu-ray and HD-DVD used to be exclusive to high-end and expensive desktop replacements. Sony put Blu-ray in its VGN-AR series, while Toshiba responded by inserting an HD-DVD in its Qosmio laptops.

The first next-generation optical drive to appear in a 15.4-inch portable was with the Sony VGN-FZ notebook back in July. However, this option bumped up the cost of the unit to S$4,699 (US$3,455.15), a price not many were willing to pay. Today, Toshiba announced that it's putting the HD-DVD into the midsize Satellite A200 laptop, with the basic configuration starting at only S$2,699 (US$1,984.56). This may possibly be the cheapest portable to include a next-gen optical standard in the market. Do note that the drive in the Satellite A200 can only read HD-DVD discs, though it can write to almost any flavor of DVD and CD.

Besides the HD-DVD, the Satellite A200 includes other high-end components like a Core 2 Duo processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 graphics engine. A new addition is the HDMI connector for hooking up to a larger panel. Going forward, Toshiba has revealed that it intends to offer HD-DVD drives in all its consumer laptops (Qosmio and Satellite). However, no time frame was mentioned.

The new Satellite A200 with HD-DVD will be available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines by mid-November.

Filed under: Notebooks
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