New G35 announced

I was on the US Toshiba web site today and sometimes when I click on the Qosmio link I get a new US version G35 and other times I just get the old G35-AV600 by it's self. So I can't post a link to it but I did cut and paste the info on the new G35-AV650 HD notebook with two 100 GB hard drives.

Pre-Configured
G35-AV650

HD DVD-ROM
WUXGA Display Your Price
$2,999.99

G35-AV650
HD DVD-ROM* in a notebook! Watch 1080p HD DVDs on the 17" diagonal WUXGA Ultimate TruBrite display (1920x1200). The HDMI port supports 1080i. Connect to an HD TV to enjoy movies and games in a larger format!
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 [2.0GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB]
Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
1024MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (512MBx2)
17" Diagonal Widescreen WUXGA Ultimate TruBrite™ Display (1920 x 1200)
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7600 with 256MB GDDR3 discrete graphics memory
200GB: Two 100GB HDDs (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)
HD DVD-ROM and DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive (in one optical drive)
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth® (v.2.0) + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)

Also Includes:

Microsoft® Office OneNote™
Microsoft® Works
InterVideo® WinDVD™ Creator 2 Platinum
Sonic PrimeTime
Sonic™ Solutions RecordNow!™ Basic for TOSHIBA
4-USB(2.0) ports
iLINK (IEEE 1394) port
Bridge Media Adapter
2 AV-Out ports
2 AV-In ports
RJ-45 LAN port
RJ-11 modem port

I do have the detailed pdf link for it:

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/cont..._G35-AV650.pdf

The contrast ratio on the new HD notebook only looks to be half as good as it is 450:1 where as the old G35-AV600 is 700:1 so not sure what is up with that.

Other drawbacks with the new AV650 that I noticed are lower battery life.

AV600 6 cell = 2 hours 9 min 9 cell = 3 hours 18 min
AV650 6 cell = 1 hour 48 min 9 cell = 2 hours 30 min

brightness:

AV600 plugged in AC 480 Cd/m squared Battery mode 220 Cd/m squared
AV650 plugged in AC 350 Cd/m squared Battery mode 146 Cd/m squared

and of course it is 600 dollars more for the 650 over the 600

Also, the DVD burner is not as good on the AV650 as you can only burn DVD-R at 4x instead of 8x

I guess this new notebook might work for someone that is really into HD DVD and gaming. However, my only concern for a notebook is to have the best LCD screen in the world and respectible processor speed and RAM as I am using it for a video monitor for my Sony VX2100's in place of a huge tradional video monitor. Also, I have thousands of regular DVD movies with no plans in the near future to replace them with HD discs.

One very possitive point on the AV650 is that it actually has a normal DVD drive in it. You know the kind where you push a button and a tray pops out. The G35 AV600 that I just purchased has a DVD drive where you have to push in the discs into a slot. I hate these type of drives as I am sure they will scratch up the DVD's and CD's that have to be pushed through the slot. Does anyone know if the slot DVD drive can be replaced with a tradional tray drive in the G35 AV600?

I'm going to go with an external slimline Firewire/USB 2.0 NEC for my movie watching that is tray loaded. It should save on wear and tear of the notebook drive and take the worry away of getting one of my DVD-R's with labels stuck inside it.

http://www.meritline.com/nec-nd-6750...enclosure.html

It doesn't matter with any laptop dvd burner as they all seem to make coasters and brake down before too long. I've changed my mind and am not getting any slim internal or external Dvd burner for it. Below is what I'm getting for it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106011

It's a full size external LiteOn USB 2.0 that I could not find a single negative review on it anywhere. All of the slim line burner proffesional reviews I've looked at say they are slow and give very poor results as compared to their full size counterparts.

Here's one example:

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...rticleId=16951

The LiteOn USB 2.0 burner that I'm getting also comes with Nero and PowerDVD and can't wait to use these to replace the software that shipped with the G35.

My guess is that HD slim line DVD players/burners will have problems. If I ever go with a HD player/burner it will be of the full size external USB type for my notebook. It is very important for me to get super high quality DVD burns more so than the size difference between the laptop type and the home computer type.

Yes I should have been more specific and stated external HD player/DVD burner.