Toshiba notebooks with HD-DVD blue-laser drives on the horizon

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 20 Oct 2004 at 15:56

Toshiba is to launch notebooks featuring next-gen HD-DVD blue-laser drives before the end of next year, according to Japanese news service Nihon Keizai.

The range would fall under its Qosmio brand of high-end entertainment focused laptops launched earlier this year - which currently allow users to watch TV without having to boot into Windows.

HD-DVD uses blue-laser technology to write up to 15GB on an optical disc and is supported by the likes of Toshiba and NEC. The rival format is Blu-ray, backed by Sony, Pioneer and others.

Launching commercial HD-DVD products will pile on the pressure between the two formats. Sony has said it intends to launch second-gen Blu-ray recorders by the end of this year.

Toshiba told Nihon Keizai that it expects to ship around a million of its HD-DVD notebooks and is pricing them at between 200,00 Japanese Yen (about 1,020) and 300,000 (about 1,530).