The Cell appearing in laptops

Toshiba has taken the wraps off three new notebooks overseas, the Qosmio F50, G50 and X300.

The company claims that the new additions to the Qosmio range are its most powerful laptops yet.

The F50 and G50 run on Toshiba's Quad Core HD Processor which is based on Cell architecture, the same technology which runs the PlayStation 3 and the Roadrunner petaflop supercomputer.

Both models sport hard drives up to 640GB and memory expandable to 8GB, and include Toshiba's new Gesture Control technology which uses an integrated webcam to recognise simple hand movements and translate them into commands.

"Toshiba's latest Qosmio models represent a new generation of portable PCs that offer desktop-like performance and a superior visual experience for HD-quality digital content," said Eszter Morvay, a senior research analyst at IDC.

"Incorporating unique features, such as the Quad Core HD Processor, motion sensor and an 18.4in screen, the new laptops will enable Toshiba to better address the opportunities within the transportable notebook market segment.

"This segment is forecasted to grow by over 70 per cent across EMEA in 2008 according to IDC's latest screen size forecast."

The Qosmio X300 is aimed squarely at gamers in terms of specifications and design. It features an LCD cover decorated in a 'Fire Shark' design theme, red LED illumination and a textured glossy palm rest.

The X300 will sport Intel Core2 Duo Extreme CPUs, dual hard drives and GDDR3 SLI graphics. All new Qosmio laptops will be equipped with Nvidia GeForce graphics cards.

The new notebooks are expected to be available overseas in the third quarter of this year and pricing will depend on the particular specifications.