How to select the right Toshiba laptop
IntroductionThough Toshiba is only the fifth-largest PC maker in the market, this Japanese company is constantly at the forefront of research and lays claims to a couple of firsts in the laptop industry. Among them are the:You can check out the complete list here. It was also one of the first to introduce sleep-and-charge USB ports that continue to power connected devices even when the laptop is turned off. Its latest Qosmio G50 machine was the first to sport a Quad-Core HD processor which is similar to the chip used in Sony's PlayStation 3. This provides the processing power that allows the Qosmio to scan and collate movies based on the face recognition technology similar to the "faces" feature in Apple's iPhoto, though the latter works on only still images. By using the Webcam to detect hand movements, the Qosmio G50 is also the first to allow the use of gestures for multimedia control. However, one of the more recent failures of Toshiba was its HD-DVD format. Going toe-to-toe with Sony's Blu-ray for the next-generation optical standard, it lost the format wars and production of HD-DVD media has since stopped. However, Toshiba has no intention to use Blu-ray drives in its laptops and hence it remains one of the few companies not to have the HD optical format in its entertainment models. This puts it behind other multimedia laptops in terms of functionality, though Toshiba has mentioned that it will focus on Internet downloads of high-definition media instead. Before Netbooks were even a glimmer in Intel's eye, Toshiba already had a famous minilaptop. The Libretto was a tiny notebook with displays ranging from 6- to 10-inches and ran the full version of Windows operating system in its time. Though hardly a powerhouse, the Libretto paved the way for even smaller, full-featured ultraportables. In 2007, it surprised with the Portege R500 which, despite its incredibly slim profile, managed to slot a DVD writer and Core 2 Duo processor under the hood. Another feather in its cap is the company's green initiatives. In Greenpeace's recent seventh edition of its Guide to Greener Electronics, Toshiba was tied with Samsung for first place as the most environmentally friendly tech manufacturer. One of Toshiba's key recycling schemes is the Notebook-2-Recycle program in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. All the consumer needs to do is call a number and a company representative will go right to the doorstep and collect any unwanted Toshiba laptop for recycling as a free service. Almost all its portables are RoHS-compliant, with some models even conforming to the EPEAT standard as well. Consumer lineupNetbooks | Satellite | Qosmio
Business lineupPortege | Tecra
Tags: Toshiba Portege, Toshiba Qosmio, Laptop Computer, multimedia, Toshiba Tecra | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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