Toshiba's Qosmio F45 is a 15.4-inch HD-DVD laptop that's relatively affordable. Does it give you the full bang for your buck?
Review summary of the Toshiba Qosmio F45:
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 If you’re a first adopter who wants to watch high-definition DVDs on a portable machine, the Toshiba Qosmio F45 is about as affordable as you will find in the world of HD laptops. However, if you’re looking into building a media library you will have to choose HD-DVD over Blu-ray with this laptop, which could bite you in a few years. You also won’t be able to take full advantage of the HD-DVD 1080p standard because the display limits you to 720p. Still, from a hardware perspective, the F45 is an excellent value and a true step forward in multimedia laptops. Release: June 2007. Price: $1600.
Pros: HD-DVD experience is a blast; more affordable than most HD laptops.
Cons: Limited to 720p instead of 1080p; short battery life; options not configurable.
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Full review of the Toshiba Qosmio F45:
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The Qosmio F45 is designed to be the smaller, less-expensive little brother to the the Qosmio G45, which has a 17-inch screen and costs twice as much (a bank-breaking $3,000) as the F45. Reducing the screen to 15.4-inches has led Toshiba to make certain compromises in screen resolution that will probably not bother the average consumer, but HD purists may find it unacceptable. The F45 comes in four different configurations; we reviewed the AV425, the most sophisticated of the bunch.
Design – Good
The Qosmio F45 comes in a two-tone, black and white glossy finish that's more stylish than Toshiba's entry-level Satellite or business-branded Tecra lines, both of which are painted with a matte finish. The black-and-white design isn't the most imaginative color palette in the notebook market and almost seems to be going for a “police car” look. Still, considering most laptops stubbornly opt for the “gray/even more gray” color pattern, the Qosmio F45 still pleasingly stands out in a laptop lineup.
At 6.6 pounds, the F45 is a full 4 pounds lighter than the Qosmio G45. That's a 40% weight reduction, and obviously makes the unit much easier to carry around. It's still probably too big for watching movies on an airplane in coach seating, but you can realistically take it from one place to another without crippling your shoulders.
Display – Very good
The display is, in some ways, both the best feature of the Qosmio F45 and its most limiting. The 15.4-inch 1280 x 800 WXGA display is high-definition and looks incredibly sharp. It's a significant step up from the display on any normal, non-HD laptop. The Qosmio F45 can also output 1080i through its HDMI out port.
The problem is, the Qosmio F45 can't output 1080p in any way. Certainly we don't think we could tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on a display as small as 15.4-inches. But why not allow 1080p output from the HDMI port? We're guessing the Qosmio will be most customers' first and only HD-DVD player, so it's disappointing that the quality has been crippled. That being said, if not having the best possible HD resolution on your laptop bothers you, the Qosmio F45 is not for you. In our opinion, though, the 720p HD display on the Qosmio is a major step up from any normal laptop display. Paired with the powerful GeForce 8600M GT, watching a DVD on the F45 does feel like watching a home theater.
Performance – Very good
The Qosmio F45 comes preconfigured with Intel's 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 processor. The Core 2 Duo, part of Intel's 65-nm architecture (codenamed “Merom”), is one of the fastest mobile processors available. The F45 is also using the latest Centrino package (the fourth-generation Santa Rosa platform) which provides a few extra performance bonuses.
Graphics in the F45 are powered by Nvidia's GeForce 8600M GT, Nvidia's second-fastest mobile graphics chip behind the 8800. Comparable HD-DVD laptops like the Acer Aspire AS5720 and HP dv6500t both use the slightly slower 8400 model, although Dell's new XPS M1530, a 15.4-inch Blu-ray notebook, also uses the 8600M GT.
We benchmarked the Qosmio F45 with 3dmark06 and got a score of 3267, which is excellent for a notebook, especially one running Windows Vista and DirectX 10.
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is the default operating system on the F45-AV425, although Vista Home Premium is available on two of the other F45 configurations. At this point we still prefer Windows XP, as benchmarks still indicate that it runs faster for most tasks. However, Microsoft announced Vista Service Pack 1 Beta on its website in late August, so that will hopefully help sell us on the Vista experience.
Ports / Connectivity – Good
Toshiba has most of the standard ports on the Qosmio F45 -- four USB 2.0, one FireWire b, an ExpressCard slot -- with one excellent addition and one head-scratching decision. On the positive side, the F45 includes an HDMI out port, which, as mentioned above, allows you to watch video on a larger HD display in 1080i format. That's great. On the flipside, there's inexplicably a VGA port instead of a DVI port -- in case you're not interested in using the HD capabilities of your computer. It's not a big deal, especially since it has an HDMI output, but you can forget about plugging in a 1080p-compatible monitor.
Software – Mediocre
Toshiba includes its own proprietary HD-DVD software in the Qosmio F45, and HD fans expecting elaborate controls commensurate with a next-generation optical drive and display are going to be disappointed. The Toshiba HD-DVD player is about as basic a DVD player you'll find, lacking enhancements found in something as simple as Windows Media Player 11 (crossfading, auto volume leveling, graphic equalizer, SRS WOW effects) but it does come at a great price -- free.
Entertainment – Very good
Watching high definition DVDs is what the Qosmio F45 is designed for, and on that point it delivers. We tested the film "300" in HD-DVD and could easily see the visual superiority over standard-definition DVDs.
HD-DVD includes a couple of neat features over standard DVD playback, such as skipping back and forth between scenes during playback (regular DVDs require you to stop the movie). The Warner Bros. HD-DVD release of 300 contains a unique implementation of “In-Movie Experience,” an HD-DVD software tool that allows for bonus content to play during the movie. While watching 300, users can call up a bluescreen picture-in-picture, which shows the actors working in front of a bluescreen, prior to the addition of computerized special effects. It’s a neat bonus for film fans who want to see how the film was made.
Music fans will appreciate that the F45 comes with twin Harman Kardon speakers with a built-in subwoofer -- a highly unusual addition for a laptop. The extras bass is noticeable, providing extra depth and clarity. Still, if you’re so serious about a high-def DVD experience that you’re willing to buy this computer, chances are your audio standards are higher than the small Harman Kardons can provide, and you're going to want something larger.
To emphasize the multimedia nature of the Qosmio F45, Qosmio added two “jog wheels” at the sides of the 86-key keyboard which manage volume and playback. Not only is the circular, metallic design unique, both controls are encircled by blue LED lights that make them seem futuristic. It's a neat little touch that enhances the high-end feel Toshiba is trying to create with the Qosmio line. There’s also a row of playback controls above the keyboard, something that seems to have become standard in multimedia laptops.
Gaming – Good
We also tested the system with one of the latest and greatest first person shooter, Crysis. Installation was not easy -- even after downloading all the latest drivers and updates, we still needed to install a “Hot Fix” from Microsoft to resolve an unspecified virtual memory management issue that prevented the game from loading. On “medium” settings at 1024x768 resolution gameplay was a little choppy, but set to “low” everything ran smoothly, was 100% playable, and, believe it or not, still looked pretty amazing.
Running Crytek's built-in graphics benchmark (which loops through an island level) at 1024x768 resolution and low settings gave us an average framerate of 14fps. No, that's not an amazing score, but remember that this is a multimedia laptop, so it's performance will come in just short of a gaming machine. The fact that it can respectably play a system-eater like Crysis is no small achievement, especially on Vista/DirectX 10.
Web browsing – Very good
The Qosmio F45 comes not only with standard 802.11a/g, but 802.11n as well. As the latest iteration of the 802.11 standard, 802.11n uses what's called MIMO (multiple in multiple out) technology to delivery higher data throughputs. For a laptop that's positioning itself as a luxury machine, it's a nice addition. There’s also a dedicated button north of the keyboard, next to the playback control buttons, to launch Internet explorer, as well as a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam.
Productivity – Good
The Qosmio F45 is a multimedia laptop, not a business laptop, so there aren't many business-oriented features on the notebook. One exception is the Fingerprint reader, located directly underneath the Touchpad. These have been around for years, but the inclusion of Windows Vista as the default operating system means it can be seamlessly used as a secure login tool. Normally, advanced security features are reserved for business laptops, but it's nice to see Toshiba go the extra mile and include a minor -- but useful -- feature like this. Setting it up is straightforward through a guided tutorial. You can record all 10 of your fingerprints for each user, but it only secures the logon, not individual blocks of files..
Battery life – Poor
Any laptop with a powerful processor and graphics chip is going to have a dismal battery life, and the Qosmio F45 is no exception. Even with the brightness at its middle setting and Wi-Fi off, we barely managed to squeeze out an hour unplugged. But we blame the battery Toshiba included, a 4000 mAh part instead of the 7050 mAh Lithium Ion battery it packs with the bigger G45.
Value – Very good
One of the motivations behind this laptop is to make HD-DVD more palatable for Joe Laptop, the average customer who didn’t want to drop $3,000 on the bigger 17-inch Qosmio G45. At $1,600, the F45 is giving you a good value for the hardware. The closest comparable models, HP’s dv6500t and Acer’s Aspire AS5720, both come in a little higher when configured for similar components. ASUS’ Lamborghini comes in a 15.4-inch, HD-DVD version that retails for around $3,300.
Price and availability
The Toshiba Qosmio F45 will start selling for $1600 () in June 2007.
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