August 25, 2006 - Among home theater fans on the bleeding edge, Media Center PCs, other wise known as Home Theater PCs (HTPCs), represent the pinnacle of technological integration available today. While the form factor isn't terribly new (Windows Media Center PCs have been on the market since late 2004), the burgeoning popularity of PVRs (TiVo), portable media players (iPod Video), streaming media (Slingbox), and some hardware and software advances (big, cheap hard drives, good TV-in PC cards, and Windows Vista) are finally coalescing into a unified whole that really make the HTPC concept viable. While it still takes committed effort and vision to make a HTPC the hub of your entertainment center, the final effect is something truly worthy of envy.
When enthusiasts think about HTPCs the usual image that comes to mind is a stylish PC case that (hopefully) won't look completely out of place among a rack of A/V equipment. Toshiba, on the other hand, saw the chance to shake things up by injecting a laptop into the mix and has released the Qosmio G35-AV650. The new lappy is unquestionably the most fully featured Media Center laptop on the market, thanks in large part to some rather cool and unique features, which include a built-in HD-DVD drive, integrated TV Tuner, full 1080p (1920x1200) LCD, and HDMI-out. Can a laptop serve as the HTPC hub of a high-end entertainment center? Let's find out.
In terms of traditional laptop functionality, the Qosmio G35-AV650 is a beast. The $2,999.99 (direct) 10.2 pound machine is a desktop replacement laptop not terribly well suited for heavy travel thanks to its heft and large proportions. Toshiba does make good use of the available space by packing in some decently powerful hardware. An Intel Core Duo T2500 (2.0 GHz) CPU and a Go GeForce 7600 provide the processing muscle, which, while not really qualifying as stellar for gaming purposes, should be enough for most other tasks. Memory is comprised of 1GB of ram, split between two 512MB sticks (you'll have to toss one if you want to upgrade-disappointing) and 200 GB of mass storage split between two hard drives. That's a fair amount of HDD space, but if you're really going to make the machine a full HTPC you'll need to add an external HDD or swap in bigger hard drives to get the most out of the PVR functionality.
What really shines (literally) about the G35-AV650 are its display and body design. Toshiba engineers obviously took inspiration from high-end AV equipment in designing the G35's shell, as when closed the titanium top, angled sides, and little round feet would allow it to blend in among components in a nice home theater. Nice design features include a big titanium volume knob that's easily accessible even when the laptop is folded shut, and a front mounted reception point for the included Media Center remote. When open, you'll be treated to an integrated finger-print security lock (which will be the end of many quality college pranks) and an array of media controls directly below the screen. Among the standard play, fast forward etc, dedicated buttons for record (immediately start recording TV you're watching) and TV-out (no software hassle, one press makes the G35 begin outputting a TV signal) standout as well conceived features.
The touchpad also offers shortcuts in addition to its general pointing utility. Tapping the upper-right hand icon switches between the modes, and when the shortcut feature is activated the touch-pad glows a bright, bright blue. Though we tended to find ourselves accidentally activating the shortcuts when we first got the computer for testing, with some consistent use you'll learn to avoid it, and we appreciated the extra functionality in the end.
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In terms of traditional laptop functionality, the Qosmio G35-AV650 is a beast. The $2,999.99 (direct) 10.2 pound machine is a desktop replacement laptop not terribly well suited for heavy travel thanks to its heft and large proportions. Toshiba does make good use of the available space by packing in some decently powerful hardware. An Intel Core Duo T2500 (2.0 GHz) CPU and a Go GeForce 7600 provide the processing muscle, which, while not really qualifying as stellar for gaming purposes, should be enough for most other tasks. Memory is comprised of 1GB of ram, split between two 512MB sticks (you'll have to toss one if you want to upgrade-disappointing) and 200 GB of mass storage split between two hard drives. That's a fair amount of HDD space, but if you're really going to make the machine a full HTPC you'll need to add an external HDD or swap in bigger hard drives to get the most out of the PVR functionality.
What really shines (literally) about the G35-AV650 are its display and body design. Toshiba engineers obviously took inspiration from high-end AV equipment in designing the G35's shell, as when closed the titanium top, angled sides, and little round feet would allow it to blend in among components in a nice home theater. Nice design features include a big titanium volume knob that's easily accessible even when the laptop is folded shut, and a front mounted reception point for the included Media Center remote. When open, you'll be treated to an integrated finger-print security lock (which will be the end of many quality college pranks) and an array of media controls directly below the screen. Among the standard play, fast forward etc, dedicated buttons for record (immediately start recording TV you're watching) and TV-out (no software hassle, one press makes the G35 begin outputting a TV signal) standout as well conceived features.
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The touchpad also offers shortcuts in addition to its general pointing utility. Tapping the upper-right hand icon switches between the modes, and when the shortcut feature is activated the touch-pad glows a bright, bright blue. Though we tended to find ourselves accidentally activating the shortcuts when we first got the computer for testing, with some consistent use you'll learn to avoid it, and we appreciated the extra functionality in the end.
