Toshiba laptops will soon write to HD
Toshiba's Qosmio line may soon sport an HD-DVD burner.
(Credit: CNET Networks)In the maddening crush of gadgets and humanity that is CES, we walked right past the Qosmio sitting in Toshiba's booth--after all, we'd seen that laptop before, and R2-D2 was in the house. But there was something different about that Qosmio; Toshiba was using it to show off its laptop-size HD-DVD-R optical drive, which reportedly will let users burn as much as 30GB of data on a single HD-DVD disc. The company's been mum on other key deets, such as release date and price, though they have promised more info by the end of this quarter. If the previous Qosmio was any indication, though, it's safe to say that the addition of the new technology will price the laptop far beyond the means of the average home consumer--not that the average home consumer has much interest in burning high-def discs, anyway.
Michelle Thatcher has been reviewing technology products for nearly a decade. Her current focus is laptop reviews, with some kitchen gadgetry and Web 2.0 thrown in for good measure. 
Also, Toshiba has one of the worst reputations for customer service and technical support when it comes to their Quosimo line of laptops. There are tons of stories on the net about all kinds of problems with their laptops and no customer service.
Sony has had a bad year (2006) but there is no way I would ever buy a laptop from Toshiba. Blu-Ray all the way.