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Toshiba Introduces A 17"-Screen Laptop

George Wright writes "Toshiba have announced a monster of a laptop with their Satellite P25. Seems they've decided to copy Apple's idea of fitting a 17" LCD on a laptop, but have ended making a true aircraft carrier in doing so. Notable "features" are the 2.8GHz P4, the 802.11a/b and the 10lb weight (!!!). Still a relatively low resolution though :("

16 of 625 comments (clear)

  1. Erm...why? by BluRBD!E · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't understand technology movements these days. Laptops have saturated the market. Most people want a faster/quiter/cheaper home pc, yet no companies seem to be interested in this option. Then again, the majority of home pc's are still slow pentium 1/2 or celerons, as that's all most mums and dads need. Why aren't companies like Dell, Toshiba, HP etc... improving these? I understand a lot of it is out of their hands (hardware size etc...) but still... PS...First post :P

  2. all you need by pytheron · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is four retractable legs on the underneath, and you could have yourself a carry-round table, where your meals would never get cold (as long as the laptop was switched on).

    --
    "I am not bound to please thee with my answers" [William Shakespeare]
  3. Re:yup, Apple made one first... by Mengoxon · · Score: 5, Informative

    yeah well, do you really think you get your money's worth having to carry around the EXTRA 5 lb of the Toshiba (Apple weight: 5.4 pounds, Toshiba weight: 10 pounds)

  4. Try this link by llamalicious · · Score: 5, Informative

    Without the damned session in the URL:

    Here

  5. 21" laptop by nbarr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The next step: The 21" laptop.

    People keep innovating until technology is completely useless. Then they go back, and settle for the things that are usable.

    This look like: I have a bigger xxx than you have!! Biggest car, biggest house, biggest whatever. But who needs a 200 room house if he lives alone? Some thing for laptops. Who needs 17" to carry around? You only need a screen that big in the office/home, and there, you could connect the laptop to a decent LCD monitor.

    --
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  6. there are other 17" notebooks available too by golden+spud · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sager has a 17" notebook that has been on powernotebooks.com for a little while now:

    http://www.powernotebooks.com/products.php3?displa y_size=17

  7. What happened to WYSIWYG? by crimguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seems that all laptops that come out these days have weird resolutions that have no bearing on how your text will be outputted to a printer. This one will have text that is too large onscreen, while others (Dell is particularly guilty of this) have super-hi res screens where everything is too small. Back when I was a Mac guy (13 years ago) having WYSIWYG was important to most users, but no one appears to care any more.

  8. Ten pounds sounds heavy... by jeblucas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't say 10 ~pounds~, say JUST A HINT OVER 4.5 kg.

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    blarg.
  9. And suddenly i am a laptop owner.. by arcanumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean i can finally call my full tower - 19'' CRT monitor - plus Laserjet 2100 , computer a Laptop without people laughing? Hurray!

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  10. Still not comparable to an Apple by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sure it's as big as an Apple, but it's not comparable in some aspects. First, it's heavier by almost twice (10 lbs vs 5.4 lbs) and it has less than half the battery life (2.0 hrs vs 4.5 hrs) It's a nice first try.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  11. RAM, RAM, RAM by intermodal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    you don't understand it? I don't see why. There's no real innovation to be had these days for joe sixpack.

    Mom and dad can get to their hotmail account and check their stocks just fine on their pentium II (or even pentium 1...my wife's grandparents only upgraded because lightning fried their modem and screwed up their motherboard). Usually all they need is an operating system reinstall or a larger hard drive since they aren't capable of actually cleaning out their files themselves.

    Saying that most people want faster computers is primarily the fault of Microsoft (flamebait, blah blah) wanting to up the number of features at the expense of speed, as well as these users not knowing how to defrag or that they should get rid of the dozens of things running in their system tray. And let's not forget Longhorn's aspirations towards 3d-accelerated desktops. Something Joe User simply doesn't need but will "have to have" once he hears about it. That and upgrading their RAM.

    Saying that most people want quieter computers is the responsibility of chipmakers, not of OEMs. Put a Pentium 4 or Athlon XP into a box and it's gonna have fans. No question. Put a Crusoe or a C3 into a box for grandma, and you might even be able to go fanless if you do it right. But she wants that Pentium 4 the TV told her she had to have.

    As far as cheaper goes, as long as mom and pop are buying from OEMs like Dell and Gateway, it's not gonna happen.

    Personally, as far as desktops go, I think it'd be far more beneficial for people to stop looking at megahertz or gigahertz. A 1.2 GHz Athlon with 1GB of RAM is going to run faster than a 2.4 GHz pentium 4 with 128 MB of RAM for someone who doesn't realize he has 200MB of programs running in his system tray alone. When I build PCs from scratch these days, I do whatever I can to put a bare minimum of a half gig of RAM, preferrably a full gig. Why? Because modern software is bloated, and because average users don't do anything to help the situation. You can try to teach them.

    But trust me on the RAM. it's honestly all the average non-technical person who wants to have a computer for internet and word processing needs to upgrade if their current system is 300mhz or higher

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  12. CPU Disclaimer by macemoneta · · Score: 5, Informative
    Note that this machine uses a desktop CPU, instead of a mobile CPU. In the past, Toshiba have had problems with the machine shutting down due to heat when "stressed" (video games, SETI, long compiles, etc.). They "fixed" it by adding this disclaimer to their products that use desktop CPUs (see the detailed specs on the machine at the article link):

    CPU performance in your computer product may vary from specifications under the following conditions:

    use of certain external peripheral products
    use of battery power instead of AC power
    use of certain multimedia games or videos with special effects
    use of standard telephone lines or low speed network connections
    use of complex modeling software, such as high end computer aided design applications
    use of computer in areas with low air pressure (high altitude >1,000 meters or >3,280 feet above sea level)
    use of computer at temperatures outside the range of 5C to 35C (41F to 95 F) or >25C (77F) at high altitude (all temperature references are approximate).

    CPU performance may also vary from specifications due to design configuration.

    Under some conditions, your computer product may automatically shut- down. This is a normal protective feature designed to reduce the risk of lost data or damage to the product when used outside recommended conditions. To avoid risk of lost data, always make back-up copies of data by periodically storing it on an external storage medium. For optimum performance, use your computer product only under recommended conditions. Read additional restrictions under "Environmental Conditions" in your product Resource Guide. Contact Toshiba Technical Service and Support for more information.

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    Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.

  13. Re:And still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's alright, he works for NASA.

  14. Why are 17" PC Notebooks heavier than MACs? by VisualVoice · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can any Slashdot PC Hardware engineers enlighten us to the sorry state of PC notebook design? Why is this notebook 10lbs, and Apple can design one 3 lbs lighter? Why do PC Notebook components require 3 extra lbs!?? Also why can't PC laptop manufacturers start using DVD/CD Rom drives that do not have a disk tray (e.g. just insert the disk into a slot like the Apple Powerbook)

    1. Re:Why are 17" PC Notebooks heavier than MACs? by cactopus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because Apple spends many many R&D dollars in making their entire system work together beautifully. They are in control of the entire set of hardware components and the logic board architecture... They also are dealing with processors that are incredibly energy efficient and take up a lot less real estate in silicon. Couple this with Steve Jobs' urge to put everything in the box on a tiny overengineered scale, and add in the lack of legacy ports and you get a much finer design. Also ... Toshiba is lazy and isn't really trying hard... as all PC makers are... lazy and complacent... nothing new happens in the x86 world... a PC is a PC is a PC... there is nothing to distinguish one box from another.

    2. Re:Why are 17" PC Notebooks heavier than MACs? by danrees · · Score: 5, Funny

      Whereas in the Apple world, each box is ugly as fuck, but in a different way. I look forward to the launch of each successive Apple product, as I like to laugh at the price, and marvel at what shade of tacky see-through plastic it's made out of this time.

      Hah! The G5 might be a cheese-grater, but plastic it is not! ;)