Seeing how HD DVD burners are still quite a new idea for the desktop set, you can imagine our delight at discovering Toshiba‘s new Qosmio G30 laptop, which sports the elusive drive within its portable frame. Well, almost portable. At 10.6 pounds, we’re not sure any mortal lap — not to mention tray table — could support this thing, but we really expected nothing less the first time around. The 17-inch display rocks it True HD style at 1920 x 1200, plus if you get bored with your selection of HD DVDs, there’s always the analog and digital TV tuners to keep you entertained. Other specs on the G30/97A include a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, 1GB of RAM, dual 160GB HDDs, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics with 256MB of RAM, and just about every kind of connectivity you could think of — USB 2.0, Firewire, PCMCIA, ExpressCard/54, multi-card reader, 802.11a/b/g, gigabit Ethernet, modem, VGA, S-video, S/PDIF and HDMI. Of course, in light of the G30/97A’s 400,000 yen pricetag ($3,320 US), you might be interested in its G30/95A sibling, which for 280,000 yen ($2,324 US) drops the HD DVD for a DVD burner, swaps HDMI for DVI and skimps on a few other specs like a 1440 x 900 display resolution. If that’s too much bulk, but you’d still like Toshiba to keep you in the medias, Toshiba is also announcing its Qosmio F30 laptops, which still include frills like digital tuners and S/PDIF, but drop those ExpressCard slots, along with pulling the display size down to a manageable 15.4-inches, at a 1280 x 800 resolution. Prices start at 200,000 yen ($1,660 US), and all of these new laptops feature Windows Vista Home Premium.

[Via Impress]
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Seemingly, it’s just not to efficient enough to buy lighting tools for your home anymore, as lamps these days have to have at least one other random function thrown in for good measure, and Soundoiler’s duo is no different. Melding form with function, this stylish lamp features a built-in speaker to go along with its lighting capabilities, an integrated control pad to dictate volume / channel selection, and an optional “maestro” transmitter that pipes in audio from your wirelessly-enabled DAP. Moreover, the lamps can be purchased in pairs and setup to function as stereo speakers, correctly separating the left and right channels during playback, and if that weren’t snazzy enough, there’s also a foot-controlled power / dimmer switch so you can set the mood without even lifting a finger. Soundoiler’s multi-purpose fixture can be picked up now for $279.95, while the wireless addition will run you an extra $79.95, but the wow-factor in your living room is presumably priceless.

[Via CNET]
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from engadget