Toshiba Laptop | Toshiba Notebook Review: Toshiba Qosmio G25 AV513
The Qosmio G25-AV513, the highest-end model in the Qosmio line, offers a bright 17-inch, wide-screen display, a double-layer DVD drive, and a TV tuner, as well as a full complement of ports and connections, a rocking set of stereo speakers, and a terrific set of multimedia controls. At $1,111, this notebook is not for the casual user. You can certainly get a handful of these features for less in other entertainment-themed notebooks, such as the HP Pavilion dv4000. Still, we think the Qosmio G25-AV513 is well worth the money if you're looking for a premier, all-in-one, digital-entertainment system that's portable enough to move from room to room. With the lid closed, the Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 looks quite similar to the original Qosmio E15-AV101--it's silver colored, has lots of ports and lights around the edges.
Featuring a sleek, streamlined design, the Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 notebook PC provides you a powerful media center that you can take anywhere. It runs the powerful Windows XP Media Center operating system, which enables you to save TV programming from the built-in TV tuner and save shows to the hard drive or burn to DVD via the dual-layer, multi-format DVD burner. It features a wide-screen 17-inch display, two 60 GB hard drives (for a 120 GB total), a power-saving 2.0 GHz Pentium M (Centrino) processor, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), integrated 54g wireless connectivity, and Media Center remote control.
Toshiba Qosmio G25 AV513 Design and Build Quality Review
The first thing we noticed about the 9.5-pound G25 is that it looks more like an AV component than a computer. Toshiba went back to the drawing board after its boxy first design and came back with a more angular aesthetic, complete with a slot-loading DVD drive up front, a smooth circular volume dial on the right, and soothing blue LED lights. Open this beauty up and you’re greeted with an elegant piano black finish beneath the display.
Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 16 x 11.5 x 1.9 inches and weighs 9.5 pounds.
Power
It's powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3 hours (depending on usage).
What's in the Box
This package contains the G25-AV513 notebook PC, remote control, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limiited hardware warranty.
The good news is that, unlike the previous version, Toshiba doesn’t force you to use two remote controls to operate the QosmioPlayer feature and Media Center menus. QosmioPlayer plays TV, DVDs, or CDs (but not MP3s) without booting into Windows. If you want to kick back with the remote from across the room, plug the Qosmio into your big-screen TV using either the component or S-Video connections. Toshiba Qosmio G25 AV513 Screen Display Review
This notebook has one of the brightest wide-aspect 17-inch displays we've seen on a laptop--on a par with the superbright Fujitsu LifeBook N6000, slightly brighter than the Sony VAIO VGN-A690, and exponentially brighter than the Pavilion zd8000. The Qosmio G25-AV513's 1,440x900 native resolution (also found on the Apple 17-inch PowerBook), affords a large amount of screen real estate without forcing text to a painfully tiny size. The widescreen display seems deceptively larger than its actual 17 inches. With Toshiba’s TruBrite technology, the screen is so bright that you may have to turn it down a notch.
The colors on DVD movies popped, and even analog cable footage seemed warmer and clearer than on a traditional TV. Game graphics were absolutely intense. We played Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 at its highest possible settings, and the gameplay was flawless. The system yielded high scores of 15,910 and 6,118 on 3Dmark2001 and 3Dmark03, respectively. The notebook ran quietly despite the heavy-duty tasks we threw at it, and it remained cool to the touch.
The composite- and S-Video-in ports let you connect a gaming console and a camcorder to the Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 notebook, respectively. This notebook also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems). With loads of A/V inputs and outputs, the Qosmio will connect to almost every type of television set. Besides composite and S-Video, the component output will accommodate high-definition displays. Inputs are restricted to analog connections, so forget about viewing or recording HDTV footage, and there’s no DVI port for connecting to a larger LCD.
