Toshiba Emphasizes Innovation and Style with New Qosmio Laptop Family

Qosmio Series Consists of Three Distinct Laptop Models that Uniquely Sport a Quad Core HD Processor, Gaming Grade Graphics and GPS Chipset

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), today announced the expansion of its flagship Qosmio brand with three unique laptops, the Qosmio G55, Qosmio X305 and Qosmio F55. These new laptops are specifically designed for users who enjoy gaming, multimedia and advanced mobility technology.

“The Qosmio has long been the standard of excellence in the multimedia laptop space, in both styling and entertainment capabilities”

“The Qosmio has long been the standard of excellence in the multimedia laptop space, in both styling and entertainment capabilities,” said Jeff Barney, vice president and general manager, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. “In an effort to take this standard to the next level for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts alike, the three new Qosmio models have been tailored specifically towards their personal interests, while staying true to the incredible user-experience that the Qosmio family is known for.”

Designed to meet the needs of a growing demographic of digital consumers, each new Qosmio harnesses unique features that set them apart from their respective Qosmio siblings.

The Qosmio G55 is the world’s first laptop to incorporate a parallel media co-processor, which is based on the revolutionary Cell processor(1) technology co-developed by Toshiba, Sony and IBM. This technology is best known for its use within the popular Sony PlayStation® 3 and various supercomputers. Branded as the TOSHIBA Quad Core HD Processor, users have more power than ever to control and create personal movie projects with unmatched speed and efficiency. Additionally, the Qosmio G55 sports up to 500GB of hard drive storage space, and is the first laptop from Toshiba to include an expansive 18.4-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite® high-definition display sporting a true 16:9 aspect ratio that’s perfect for serious filmmakers.

As high-definition digital camcorders become more affordable, people quickly learn that video editing is a time-intensive process. Video often must be converted from the camcorder’s format into one the editing software understands (called transcoding). Burning the video onto a DVD requires reducing the resolution to standard-definition and then transcoding the final product to a DVD Video MPEG2 format. A 10-minute video can take an hour or more to transcode using a high performance processor. Offloading that work from the CPU to the TOSHIBA Quad Core HD Processor boosts the transcoding speed up to 10 times(2) faster. The Toshiba DVD Player software also takes advantage of this extra performance, upscaling DVD video to high definition.

Toshiba’s Qosmio X305 is a powerful gaming rig that’s built around a stunning 17.1-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite high-definition display. Designed to provide gamers with the highest laptop performance possible, select Qosmio X305’s take advantage of the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GTX GPU(3), up to 1GB VRAM graphics memory, dual hard drives with up to 400GB of collective storage space, as well as leading-edge DDR3 RAM(4). Collectively these features power a premium gaming machine that’s designed for high-level competition, while also looking the part of a gaming machine with an aggressively bold chassis and red-flamed Rogue design topped off with Toshiba’s Fusion™ finish.

The Qosmio F55 with its 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite high-definition display is a worthy gaming machine that also takes mobility seriously. Sporting gaming grade NVIDIA GeForce 9700 GTS graphics users can enjoy a fluid and impressive gaming experience. Toshiba’s first laptop with a built-in GPS receiver and Garmin™ mapping software, the Qosmio F55 frees users from the need for an Internet connection when searching for millions of points of interest, as the built-in GPS system empowers users to determine their exact location in relation to their destination within moments.

Beyond the laptops, the new Qosmio family has the power to be extended into the living room through REGZA LINK™ HDMI technology. This standard feature enables simultaneous instant device configuration, and the ability to control REGZA LINK enabled devices, such as Toshiba’s REGZA™ HDTVs and a Qosmio laptop with a single remote.

Adding to their quality appeal, the Qosmio X305, Qosmio G55 and Qosmio F55 feature several prominent design characteristics that magnify the cutting-edge nature of the series. Each Qosmio sports a striking new chassis design and Fusion™ finish, Feathertouch multimedia buttons, a flush-mounted Touchpad, a high-speed eSATA port and Harman® Kardon high-fidelity bass reflex speakers with a built-in sub-woofer. These features do much to enhance the overall quality and premium feel of the new Qosmio series.

Each new Qosmio model will be available later this summer from a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide or available directly from Toshiba at www.toshibadirect.com. Additional information is available at www.explore.toshiba.com/Qosmio.

All new Toshiba laptops are RoHS-compatible(5), effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances. Beginning in the third Quarter of 2008, Toshiba will offer a computer trade-in and recycling program for all manufacturer’s PCs to reduce environmental impact and promote efficient utilization of resources. To learn more about this free PC recycling program or to find out how to recycle other consumer electronic products, please visit: www.toshiba.eztradein.com/toshiba.

Multimedia: Qosmio Series

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry leading portable computers; projectors; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure systems. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $76 billion. For more information on Toshiba’s leading innovations, visit the company’s Web site at www.toshiba.com.

1. Processor. CPU performance may vary. See Processor Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com.

2. 10Xfaster. Up to 10X faster claim is based on comparison between a Toshiba notebook with and without TOSHIBA Quad Core HD Processor. Performance may vary depending on product model, configuration, video content/format/settings as well as the performance variations of individual hardware components. Results were achieved on select models and configurations tested by Toshiba at the time of publication.

3. Graphics. GPU performance may vary. See Graphics Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com.

4. Memory. Memory size may vary. See Memory Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com.

5. RoHS. This product is compatible with European Union Directive 2002/95/EC. See RoHS legal footnote at www.info.toshiba.com.

© 2008 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All product, service and company names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Information including without limitation product prices, specifications, availability, content of services, and contact information is subject to change without notice.

Release Summary:

Toshiba expands its flagship Qosmio laptop brand with three unique models, the Qosmio G55, Qosmio X305 and Qosmio F55. These laptops are designed for gaming, multimedia and advanced mobility technology.

Keyword Tags:

gaming, laptop, multimedia, Qomsio, qosmio, toshiba