Released with very little fanfare, nary a press release, the Toshiba Qosmio G40 series is now available.

This is the first range of notebooks from Toshiba with a writable HD DVD drive.

The no-publicity angle is a little strange when you consider the G40's HD DVD-R USP - and the fact that every little nugget that can be in the current format war is getting picked up and slung at the other side.

So with Tosh unwilling to blow their own trumpet with this Qosmio, we'll do it for them, although not without warning you that this with this high-def tech comes a high price tag.

The new Qosmio G40 range will be priced between £1,899 up to £2299. So anyone that doesn't have two grand to drop on a notebook should sit on their hands

now

.

The G40 is a multimedia notebook that offers 4-in-1 entertainment features, is an HD DVD/HDD recorder, an LCD TV, a virtual surround sound system and a powerful and versatile mobile PC all in a high-contrast, black-and-white notebook.

The top of the range model on Tosh's site offers Vista Ultimate Edition, an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7700,
2MB RAM, 400GB hard disk (from twin hard drives) and a 17-inch full HD Toshiba TruBrite WUXGA TFT display supporting 1080p/1080i.

Oh, and let's not forget the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N and Bluetooth connectivity.

And that doesn't take into account the fingerprint reader, built-in TV tuner or virtual surround sound with Harman Kardon 5-speaker system with subwoofer.

Yep, it's fully featured alright. Sharp-eyed observers will note that the G40 is very similar to the G45 that the Merkins are currently getting to play with.

Link below to Toshiba online shop...