The fourth major upgrade to the Toshiba Qosmio line, the G40 is packed full of features, bells, whistles and even a HD-DVD burner. It is still a behemoth and once again performed well in our tests, but not quite as well as the previous Qosmio G30 (PQG32A-02V01W) iteration.
The G40 has an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz processor with 2GB of DDR2 667MHz RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics chip with 512MB of dedicated VRAM. These specs are slightly higher than what we saw on the G30 but, curiously, this model didn't fair as well in our tests. It scored a 79 in WorldBench while the G30 scored 83. However, this drop in processor performance doesn't seem to affect the graphics capabilities as we found an increase to 2077 in 3DMark 2006 (from 2072). That being said, an increase of five points isn't particularly exciting when you take into consideration the more powerful processor and the 512MB of VRAM. Also, testing with 3DMark 2001, we noted a rather curious drop to 18933 (from 19170). These graphics test results suggest the G40 is capable of playing older games without a problem and will even play some modern games as well. It also shows the graphics chip is meant to augment the multimedia playback, rather than drive high powered gaming; in this regard it does a good job. In our CDEX test, where we encode 53 minutes worth of WAV files to 192Kbps MP3 files, the Qosmio G40 did well, finishing the task in 143 seconds. Again, this is a drop in performance from the G30 which scored 128 seconds.
Considering how large this notebook is, its obvious that it isn't meant to be portable, so battery life isn't a huge deal. Nonetheless, we performed a series of battery tests by way of comparison to the G30. Using our worst-case scenario tests, we ran a DVD on loop and timed how long it takes for the battery to drain. This is considered worst-case as it uses the speakers, the optical drive and the core components, such as the LCD and CPU, to put maximum strain on the battery. We also ran the same test using a HD-DVD as well, since HD-DVDs use more power to read the disc than a regular DVD. In the DVD test the battery lasted 127min which was an increase from the 93min seen on the G30. Similarly, the HD-DVD rundown lasted 86min which is a dramatic improvement over previous 53min result. These results show a marked improvement in battery life.
Using the HD-DVD burner, we performed write tests using HD DVD-R media and the pre-installed Toshiba burning program. Using 14GB of random data, the Qosmio completed a disc in 57min 7seconds. Since this is the first notebook where the HD-DVD burn tests have been performed, making a comparison to a previous model is not possible. However, if you were to compare this write time to the Blu-ray write time on the Sony Vaio VGN-AR18GP (10.7GB in 1 hour 30 minutes) or the LaCie d2 (22.6GB in 1 hour and 40 minutes) it seems that the HD-DVD burner is considerably faster, especially when you consider that it is a 1x speed recording device over the 2x speed of the Blu-ray drives.
To make watching HD-DVDs a memorable experience, the G40 has a glossy 17" screen with a native resolution of 1920x1200. In addition it sports premium quality Harmon/Kardon speakers which perform exceptionally, exhibiting no skimp on volume or clarity. The buttons just below the bezel allow for media controls and include play/pause, skip, record and stop.
Since the Qosimo has an integrated HDTV tuner, the record functionality works well as a one touch option for recording your favourite TV programs. With Windows Vista Ultimate pre-installed, the TV tuner is used in conjunction with the Windows Media Centre software. Combine this with an electronic program guide like the Ice TV IceGuide, and the G40 becomes a fully functional and easy to use Personal Video Recorder (PVR).
There is also a good range of handy hotkeys that launch various multimedia applications as well as a wheel on the right hand side for volume control. We found that this wheel wasn't responsive enough and took a long time to lower the volume. However, the other hotkeys all worked well.
While we liked the look and feel of the keyboard, we weren't terribly impressed with its layout. There is a reason why keyboard layouts are largely the same across all manufacturers. It is so people can pick up any notebook and know where certain keys are. On the G40, most of the keys are in the same place, but things like the 'Windows', 'Mouse right-click', 'del', 'end' or 'home' keys are in illogical places. This makes things frustrating for those of us that use keyboard shortcuts.
Connectivity includes four USB 2.0 ports, a mini FireWire port, PC Card and PCI Express card slots and a media card reader supporting SD, MMC and xD media cards. For networking, there's a gigabit Ethernet connection, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g and Buetooth 2.0.HDMI, S-Video and VGA outputs are also included for connecting to a television or projector together with a simple TV-out hotkey. We found the TV out modes to work well, the highest quality of which was the HDMI connection. There is also a video input for video capture (via a supplied adapter).
The Toshiba Qosmio G40 is an impressive notebook by any standard with its multi-faceted multimedia functionality and excellent performance. However, if you own the G30, there is no reason to upgrade. In fact, our tests found that the G40 is actually inferior in many ways to the G30 which was rather surprising.