Previously announced by Toshiba at January"s CES 2007, the Qosmio G30/97A notebook has shipped in Japan, marking the first time a notebook system has shipped with an HD DVD-R drive. The notebook is available for about ¥373,365 (just under $3,100 USD). The electronics and computer maker says the system will definitely be offered overseas, although the company still doesn"t have timetables or pricing. Hitachi-Maxell is now offering 15 GB single-sided HD DVD blank media for ¥1,500 each (about $$12.40 USD).
The G30/97A is an entertainment-focused notebook with a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a standard 1 GB of RAM, and a 17-inch LCD display (1920x1280 max resolution) powered by a 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 controller. The notebook includes analog and digital TV tuner plus VGA, S-Video, and HDMI output. Don"t forget the gigabit Ethernet card, USB 2.0, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking, a PCMCIA slot, an ExpressCard slot and a multi-format media card reader. The notebook weighs a hefty 10.6 pounds and ships with Windows Vista Home Premium.