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[B441]Best Gaming Laptops 2009

by Titus Hoskins, Tit

Now the Qosmio brand was always a top-rated line within Toshiba - very popular with critics and users alike. If you can look beyond all the Toshiba & Third Party software they load these machines up with at the factory, Toshiba makes some half decent laptops.

However, in recent years, Qosmio which means "my personal universe" seems to have been slipping into a Black Hole with just one model listed on Toshiba's main product page. Not only is Toshiba releasing the Qosmio X305 but also the 15.4-inch screen Qosmio F50 and the 18.4-inch Qosmio G50 which will be the world's first to carry the Cell-based SpursEngine, re-christened by Toshiba as the Quad Core HD processor. The 18.4-inch diagonal widescreen with TruBrite? high-definition display will sport a true 16:9 aspect ratio - serious filmmakers take note.

Will these laptops and their new specs introduce a whole new level to gaming laptops? The jury is still out but Toshiba is introducing a few new things with these laptops, especially with the X305. This monster of a machine will sport a whopping 1 Gig of graphics processing power via the new dual-GPU card NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2.

(Side Note: some experts argue this is the wrong way to go - instead of a multi-GPU, they argue for keeping the single GPU since it can have advantages for faster applications and better power consumption with less heat release. This 1GB GPU is the same as putting two 512MB cards together thru SLI technology, isn't it?)

The Qosmio X305 will also come equipped with a 3GHz dual-core Intel processor and dual 200GB, 7200rpm hard drives, as well as 4 Gigs of cutting-edge DDR3 RAM. This machine will also sport a 17-inch display, HDMI-out and S/PDIF audio - running HD quality films from a dedicated processor which should rival Blu-ray. In addition, it will carry four Harmon Kardon speakers with a built-in sub-woofer.

What will be interesting to watch is the whole "Blu-ray vs HD-DVD" debate that seemed to have been settled. Beta anyone? However, if Toshiba can turn/upgrade existing DVDs into a higher quality by this new transcoding/upscaling technology, the fall-out could be worth watching.

Another thing to watch is the "gesture-based controls with your hands" which is enabled by the chip found in PS3s. Look what Wii did to gaming? And the GPS Chipset adds another twist for a laptop, doesn't it?

Compare "Apples to Apples"

Impressive as those Qosmio X305's specs are, the high end gaming laptop market is becoming a little crowded. You have to compare "apples to apples" when buying a gaming rig. It will have to be compared with such high end gaming laptops as the Rock's Xtreme SL8 which sports mind numbing graphics powered by twin NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB (DX10) running SLi and Quad core Intel processors with up to 4GB DDR2 RAM (up to 800MHz). Which also comes equipped with Hi-res 17" WUXGA X-Glass (1920x1200) and the option of a Blu-ray or HD DVD Optical Drive.

And you can't talk about gaming laptops without mentioning Alienware. One of their newest machines Area-51 m17x has similar specs by offering two NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX, (dual GPU SLI configuration) which gives you the 1GB of dedicated memory and DirectX 10 graphics. The Area-51 m17x is powered by Intel Core 2 Extreme @2.8GHz and with up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 Memory.

Remember The Clevo!

Plus, you can't really compare gaming laptops without mentioning Clevo which is the well-respected if not well-known OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) of some pretty good high-end gaming laptops. Brand-name laptop vendors like the ones mentioned above... Alienware, Rock, Hypersonic, Voodoo... all use Clevo components.

This Taiwanese company has just released some new machines - the 15-inch M860TU and 17-inch M570TU the which offer WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolutions. The M570TU also sports the "Montevina" Centrino 2 mobile platform. This model also has a 2 megapixel webcam, Blu-ray drive, TV Tuner, Fingerprint reader, e-SATA and HDMI ports. Sound familiar?

All of these models and laptop manufacturers will no doubt give Toshiba some competition. Keep in mind, the competition is stiff when you consider Dell has Alienware, HP has Voodoo... so you really have some marketing power as well as gaming power behind these high-end gaming laptops.

The Qosmio X305 will probably bring all these nice features up a notch and offer a superior gaming laptop. The release date for this gaming monster is said to be around July 14 of this year. No word on the price yet but this one could be worth waiting for.

Since gaming laptops are usually overpriced for what you get; will Toshiba introduce these new laptops at a reasonable price so that the ordinary person, not necessarily die-hard gamers, can also enjoy all this new mobile technology.

Now that would be truly revolutionary.

Copyright (c) 2008 Titus Hoskins

Toshiba has recently empowered its flagship Qosmio series with two new gaming laptops: the Qosmio X305-Q706 and the Qosmio X305-Q708. These gaming laptops will incorporate Three GPUs in one system with the integrated GeForce 9400M and two Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS cards through SLI (Scalable Link Interface).

Nvidia is naming this triple-card solution as "Hybrid SLI" and it basically offers laptop owners the option of discrete graphics with two connected Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS cards for powerful gaming and then integrated graphics with the GeForce 9400M for lower-power usage like Windows operations.

Toshiba is offering the Qosmio X305 in two versions: the lower priced $1,999 Qosmio X305-Q706, powered by a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. It has a 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive and the already mentioned GeForce 9400M and the two 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS cards.

For those with huge pockets, Toshiba is offering a higher-end version, the Qosmio X305-Q708 at around $4,199 with a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 quad-core processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. It has two hard drives: 128GB solid-state drive and a 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive. And of course, it will feature the three GPUs.

Both these Qosmio X305 gaming models will have the red-flame design and both will have the 17-inch Diagonal Widescreen TruBrite® Display at 1440x900 native resolution. Plus, stereo sound with 4 Harman Kardon speakers with subwoofer.

If you can get over the fact that gaming laptops are often considered a total waste of money because you can get much better performance for a far cheaper price in a gaming Desktop PC; Toshiba may be pointing us in the right direction. Still, many gamers argue that even 3 mobile chips are not equal to their desktop cousins and if you want ultimate gaming performance go with a PC rather than a laptop.

While there's a lot of truth to that argument, gaming laptops are catching up in performance and in price. Gaming laptops are using the latest technologies to improve performance, especially through SLI and Hybrid SLI where two or more GPUs are connected to give you a better gaming experience. Call it "Hybrid SLI" or whatever you want, but there's no denying laptop performance has greatly improved over the last few years.

Still most high end big brand names, like Alienware, charge big prices for all that raw power and style, especially on their fully loaded machines. However, for the prudent consumer there are cheaper gaming laptops that will not break your banking account. Some of these, like the Gateway P-7811FX do offer good value for your money.

Likewise, for those who want a mobile gaming machine and is not worried about the dismal battery life, can look towards the Qosmio X305 gaming laptop series from Toshiba for a solution. It should give you the best of both world in the same laptop: maximum performance and quiet operation. In a recent press release, Carl Pinto, vice president of product development for Toshiba, stated:

"We wanted to deliver an extreme-performance gaming machine that gives gamers a complete, non-compromising system in a laptop form factor... the combination of the NVIDIA GPUs and chipset allowed us to achieve a high level of performance, quality and flexibility that our customers are asking for, at a competitive starting price of $1,999."

Only the marketplace will decide whether these new laptops sporting three GPUs will fulfill that promise and usher in a whole new era in gaming laptops. At least now all the cards are on the table or should we say in the machine.

Article Source : Pg. 193

Titus Hoskins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Desktop, RSS and Computers and The Internet. The author, a former art teacher, has a keen interest in gaming laptops. For more on gaming laptos try here: