Toshiba laptop with a cell processor

So I saw this article linked from Slashdot:

http://www.hothardware.com/News/Tosh...Ubased_Laptop/

I am very surprised at the price of that thing. It is incredibly low given the amount of features that are included. If you go here and look at all the specs for that thing....it has some real power in it, and it's price seems incredible.

I went to Dell and tried to configure a comparable laptop but couldn't bring it within even $500 of the price of the Toshiba. What do yall think? If I actually had money in my budget to buy a new laptop right now....that one looks very tempting.

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Of course two downfalls are: it's huge and it's heavy

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Useless except for watching movies on a trans-oceanic flight. The cell is dedicated to the multimedia decoder, so is not accessable for crunching numbers.

I am not talking about just the cell processor though. The thing has 500 GB of hard disk space, a 512 MB video card, and 4 GB of memory...plus many other things.

Although it is very feasible for laptops to have those specs these days, what surprised me the most was the price at which Toshiba was offering it.

That price isnt that great, sorry to tell you. Its really not that interesting of a deal. It's nice, but nothing special.

> Its really not that interesting of a deal. It's nice, but nothing special
I disagree, just look at the other laptops. Sure it's just a computer, but compared to other laptops in the same class, it's fantastic! :)

I'd have one if I could afford it, the size doesn't bother me either. The only thing they don't mention is battery life...

18.4" widescreen and Starting at 10.8 lbs? Not for me, thanks. Nice specs though.

Why a laptop at 10lbs? You get the worst of both worlds - expensive and not portable :).

I used to own a 15" (6lbs) laptop with C2D T7300 and 8600M GT, until I figured it's too heavy for moving around.

With $1500, you can buy a quad core + GTX 260 desktop (~$900) and a 10"-12" light (3lbs) laptop (~$600). That combination is both more powerful and more portable than an ultra-heavy laptop.

Not to mention that Core 2 CPU's overclock like crazy, and you can't overclock it in a laptop.

Toshiba Qosmio laptops are notoriously big. On account of their usual rather large screen sizes, I'd think. 10 pounds is really not that heavy considering the type of portability expected of a laptop aiming the entertainment and business markets.

I usually carry my laptops in one of two ways. A backpack or a bag. The bag is an old (12 year old!) Argus that I just got attached too. It has the capacity for up to 3 laptops which basically leaves me room for all the paperwork, accessories and my sandwiches. The bag alone weights around 2 pounds. And it never bothered me. The backpack is a Tatonka I bought a couple of years ago. Needless to say a 10 pound Qosmio wouldn't weight on my shoulders.

If you walk a lot with your laptop, maybe. Otherwise, I honestly never understood why an heavy laptop is a problem.

I guess you just have stronger muscles than me :). I find walking around with a 6lb laptop tiring after 10 minutes or so.

It's not just the weight. The size, too.

10.2lb? That's the weight of 2 13.3" laptops!

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Not to mention that Core 2 CPU's overclock like crazy, and you can't overclock it in a laptop.

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It certainly is possible, though probably not a very good idea...

I agree though, never understood the point of this kind of laptop.

The point is that they are fast, powerful and now cheap. They don't give you migraines either. If mobility is an issue and one can't handle the extra size/weight then sure! There's other type of laptops. Otherwise they make excellent laptops... if a tad bit ugly on the design side in my opinion.

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The point is that they are fast, powerful and now cheap. They don't give you migraines either. If mobility is an issue and one can't handle the extra size/weight then sure! There's other type of laptops. Otherwise they make excellent laptops... if a tad bit ugly on the design side in my opinion.

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But as Cyberfish pointed out, you can get a desktop PC that will outperform the Toshiba, AND a subnotebook that is much much lighter and smaller, for the price of one of those big suit-case laptops.

If you have a reasonably fast connection, you can even use the subnotebook as a thin-client over the Internet to the desktop machine (SSH or VNC). That way you get a crazily fast subnotebook :). The only issue I see is that you won't be able to play games on the laptop, unless you have a lightning fast connection and use StreamMyGames or something of that sort.

Hmm... a $600 laptop is not going to outperform a Qosmio. That's where the comparison should be made I guess. If there is a need for a powerful laptop, there is a need for a powerful laptop :) Not a need for a powerful desktop plus a sufferable laptop. Different type of machines.

Otherwise we would just go the extra mile and admit there's no reason for any kind of laptop because generally speaking any desktop will always outperform a similarly priced laptop with the added benefit of being even highly customizable.

But laptops are important machines. Up until 2 years ago I couldn't work without one. So in the market of laptops, that Qosmio - at that price and with those specs - is quiet an attractive machine.

EDIT: In my opinion, naturally.

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Otherwise we would just go the extra mile and admit there's no reason for any kind of laptop because generally speaking any desktop will always outperform a similarly priced laptop with the added benefit of being even highly customizable.

But laptops are important machines. Up until 2 years ago I couldn't work without one. So in the market of laptops, that Qosmio - at that price and with those specs - is quiet an attractive machine.

EDIT: In my opinion, naturally.

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Well a desktop is highly immobile, so i don't think i agree with this. Surely there is a need for laptops, but is there a need for powerful laptops, who really needs that much computing power in mobile shape? I have a hard time picturing anyone with one of those Alienware laptops with very high specs, who can honestly say they need an 8800 series graphics card when on the move.

The money is simply better spent elsewhere...

But if you use the laptop as a thin-client (SSH or VNC, sorry for the typo above, corrected) to the powerful desktop, you get the mobility of a small and light laptop and the power of a desktop, on the laptop.

I'm just promoting the idea of thin-client.