Toshiba upgrades Qosmio laptop line with HD DVD recording

The oddly named Qosmio series of laptops from Toshiba has always been a favorite of high-end home theater types, combining big, bright screens with HD DVD drives and Harman Kardon speakers.

The latest update, the Qosmio G45-AV680, adds a recordable HD DVD drive (not as common as recordable Blu-ray drives) and keeps the line's built-in Dolby surround-sound technology and high-resolution 1,920x1,200 display. The G45 returns to Toshiba's glossy white "piano finish," unlike the recent G35's matte gray look, and has both a large, circular volume wheel and an AV control wheel.

Other highlights include an HDMI port, draft 802.11n Wi Fi, built-in subwoofer, an external USB TV tuner, and a DirectX 10 video card, the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT.

Of course, all this multimedia power doesn't come cheap. The Qosmio G45-AV680 (with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 CPU, 2GB of RAM and dual 160GB hard drives) is a whopping $3,199, and is available starting today.