AfterDawn: News

Toshiba to include HD DVD in all laptops

Toshiba Corp. has announced it aims to put HD DVD hardware into all of its laptops starting next year, pushing the HD DVD optical disc format forward once again. "The demand is there: people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road," Toshiba Senior Vice President Hisatsugu Nonaka told reporters at a news conference. Sony equips PS3 consoles with Blu-ray Disc players to guarantee Blu-ray playback capabilities in millions of homes.

According to research firm IDC, Toshiba sold about 9.2 million notebook PCs in calendar 2006. Presumably, adding HD DVD hardware to all of its laptops, even next year, would push up the prices and could affect overall sales. Meanwhile, Sony shipped 5.5 million PS3s by the end of March, selling 3.6 million of those units.



Toshiba also announced that it will begin selling laptops that use flash memory for storage from June 22nd. NAND prices have fallen enough to make notebooks with 64GB of flash, needed for Windows Vista. "We think flash laptops are about ready to break into the consumer market, and will start to catch on around next summer," Nonaka said. While flash laptops have many benefits like being lighter and quieter, they are priced at around 400,000 yen ($3,286).

Source:
Reuters

Written by: James Delahunty @ 5 Jun 2007 12:43

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• 15 comments

• borhan9

  Sounds interesting. So let me get this straight flash memory is going to replace the hard drive or is this like how the new PC's do not have floppy drives. Either way i would like to get more info on this. I have a Toshiba Laptop and its great. I would not mind buying another. They are very stable and reliable.

  5.6.2007 13:55 #1

• hughjars

  Some people laughed at the idea of Toshiba selling 3 million HD DVD players by the end of FY 2007 (which is, funnily enough, in april 2008).
  It's becoming ever more clear they were not joking & this is part of how they are going to do it.
  
  HD DVD is just getting bigger & bigger; BD has singularly failed to knock it out of the game.

  5.6.2007 16:16 #2

• Spenman91

  I would love to have an HD-DVD drive in anything right now but the prices are too high, and I still don't know if HD-DVD will even win or not. If they won and Toshibia went through with putting HD-DVD players in all of their laptops I would get one if it wasn't for one thing; the last laptop I had from them overheated and eventually quit after 2 years, and that was just with playing standard DVDs. I can only Imagine how playing HD-DVDs would effect battery life and heat output. Although I'm sure they will be fairly powerful, that will still take quite a bit of graphics and processing power.

  5.6.2007 17:01 #3

• hughjars

  Originally posted by Spenman91:I would love to have an HD-DVD drive in anything right now but the prices are too high, and I still don't know if HD-DVD will even win or not. - All HD DVD has to do to 'win' is stay in the game......and with each passing month bringing ever higher hardware & software sales that gets more and more guaranteed.
  
  BD has failed to push HD DVD out.
  
  Frankly it's been quite amazing to watch the complete underdog go from a point where it's mere survival was being questioned to present debates about whether it can actually 'win' or not.
  
  Even if it does not 'win' it will still be around, just as plenty of market sectors can happily sustain 2 formats of varying size (PCs are much bigger than Macs but you don't see Apple folding their tents and vanishing, do you?).
  
  HD DVD is almost at the point where it's survival is certain no matter what happens......and when X-mas this year comes and the very inexpensive Chinese HD DVD players arrive - along with ever cheaper Toshiba's and the other hardware manufacturers that are due (Samsung, LG, Meridian, Onkyo as well as 3 Chinese brands known to be coming for certain no matter what Walmart do) - it will all add up to a very interesting 2008.

  6.6.2007 03:23 #4

• connolly

  Toshiba saying this is not big news, what could be considered real news is Apple looks set to put Blu-ray into all their MacBooks. An announcement looks set for next week.
  
  Its far too early to predict a winner in this race, comments like "all HD-DVD have to do is stay in the game to win" is faintly ridiculous.

  6.6.2007 05:27 #5

• hughjars

  Originally posted by connolly:Toshiba saying this is not big news - Really?
  
  The firm that sold almost 10 million laptops last year is going to fit HD DVD players in every one of them from now on & you think it's nothing?!
  
  (I'm not saying every laptop will be used at an HD DVD movie player......but we're in very similar territory to the similar principle where not every one of the 3 million PS3's sold is going to be used as a BD movie player.
  
  Undoubtedly they will have a very significant effect.......and with movie discs sales currently only 60:40 in BD's favour right now - and the effects of the recent Toshiba price-drops yet to be seen - this 'war' is far from over, never mind anywhere near the BD side's idea of 'won').
  
  Originally posted by connolly:Its far too early to predict a winner in this race - Tell that to the BD side who already declared themselves 'winners';
  anyways I would not really agree with that.....mainly because the BD side seem to term 'win' as just one format (theirs) existing at the end of this.
  
  Originally posted by connolly:comments like "all HD-DVD have to do is stay in the game to win" is faintly ridiculous. - No, not if you take the BD side at their word
  (which is to ultimately be the only high def format around when the so-called 'war' is over).

  6.6.2007 06:22 #6

• connolly

  You woudn't by chance be a xbox360 owner would you, with a HD-DVD add-on? The aggression must come from somewhere.
  
  Anyway, here's an interesting article, about the whole format war.
  
  http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html
  
  Enjoy.

  6.6.2007 06:42 #7

• MrMexican

  I would say the only reason the ps3 boosted sales for blue ray was that its a game system with capabilities of blue ray movies. It was a win - win situation.
  
  Think about this lets say the ps3 finally gets all the big franchise games it needs will many people buy it probably yes. And of course the only real competition it has is the 360 and the nintendo wii is just an embarrasement.
  
  and with toshiba putting HD DVD drives is a bad idea for the fact that everyone has choices for laptops.
  We have hp,sony,acer,apple,gateway,and anyones i missed.

  6.6.2007 06:48 #8

• NexGen76

  Originally posted by connolly:You woudn't by chance be a xbox360 owner would you, with a HD-DVD add-on? The aggression must come from somewhere.
  
  Anyway, here's an interesting article, about the whole format war.
  
  http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html
  
  Enjoy.Great link connolly thats what i been saying the whole time.
  
  Quote: How are all those high-def titles selling? Let's see what Nielsen VideoScan says (click here and look at page one of this digital edition of Home Media): As of 5/27, Blu-ray leads HD-DVD in overall software sales, 58% to 42% since both formats launched. The more recent trends are more lopsided: Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD 67% to 33% year-to-date for 2007. That's a 2 to 1 margin, DESPITE the fact that HD-DVD claims to have sold many more actual stand-alone players than Blu-ray Disc.
  
  How about the most recent sales numbers? Okay... let's consider 5/22, when Disney debuted both Pirates of the Caribbean films on Blu-ray against Warner's dual Matrix box sets on HD-DVD. According to Home Media: "The two “Pirates” films sold a combined total of nearly 47,000 units, while the higher-priced “Matrix” sets sold about 13,900 units." So more people purchased BOTH Pirates BDs than purchased any Matrix box set - even the cheaper one. Warner's recent The Departed provides another case in point. By their own admission, the studio sold 58,300 copies on Blu-ray and just 35,300 on HD-DVD.Quote: We've been following this stupid, cursed high-def format war since the beginning, and it's driving us crazy. But we'll admit that maybe one good thing HAS come of it: HD-DVD cutting their prices so quickly has forced Blu-ray to do the same. But that's a double-edged sword.
  
  Let's get back to that business model problem I mentioned a moment ago. It should come as a surprise to no one that Toshiba has been losing money on their HD-DVD players (as is typical for hardware of any new format in the first few years - BD manufacturers deal with this as well). But in the last couple of weeks, the company has been slashing prices dramatically and offering $100 rebates, effectively bringing the cost of the HD-A2 to $299. That seems like a great deal, and Harry certainly jumped on it. Hell, we wouldn't be surprised to see Toshiba slash down to $199 or even less by the holidays at this rate. But it means that Toshiba is losing even MORE money on HD-DVD hardware than they were before, which can't have a positive impact on their overall business. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call this a fire sale, but it sure smacks of desperation on Toshiba's part. But there's another, bigger problem with this as well. What other major HD-DVD manufacturer wants to compete with that?Quote: Let's look at the studio support side. HD-DVD has just one major exclusive studio supporter: Universal. Blu-ray has FIVE exclusive studios: Disney, Fox, MGM, Lionsgate and Sony. Which exclusive group do you think is more likely to go format neutral first? (FYI, the other major studios - Warner, Paramount, DreamWorks - already support both formats, and New Line has indicated that they'll likely do the same.) For better or worse, one of the reasons some of these studios sided with Blu-ray exclusively is because that format offers them an additional layer of content protection: BD+ (the details of which Sony is soon to finalize according to this story at Audioholics). By the way, that Audioholics story hints that Fox has a particular interest in BD+ protection for its high-def titles, which could be why they've delayed all those Fox and MGM catalog Blu-ray titles they talked about at CES. With AACS already smarting from a series of cracks, hacks and work-arounds that have exposed existing high-def titles (including The Matrix) to copying, does anyone really think those studios are going to start releasing their titles on HD-DVD format, especially when Blu-ray is already dominating software sales? Again, there's no incentive whatsoever.Quote: Our readers trust us to give it to them straight, and to help guide them through the confusing home video landscape in such a way that they don't end up wasting their money. HD-DVD is a great format technically, but its business model is an utter and complete disaster from which it will not recover.
  He speak the truth..............

  6.6.2007 07:40 #9

• hughjars

  Wow.
  
  'Biased Bill Hunt' and digitalbits finally decide to come right out with what has been obvious for some time.
  
  Big deal, he finally has an opinion he's prepared to say straight out.
  
  It's just his opinion.
  
  .....and I'd love to hear what has changed to make him decide things have changed so significantly that he felt moved to shift off of his previous stance (cos I've not seen any massive developments on the PS3/BD side of the street to justify that view......if anything the poor performance of the PS3 in shifting BD movies would point the other way).
  
  ......*cough* what do you mean 'advertising revenue' *cough* ?
  
  Originally posted by connolly:You woudn't by chance be a xbox360 owner would you - You're quite right, I wouldn't.
  
  I don't go in for consoles of any particular brand.
  
  Originally posted by connolly:with a HD-DVD add-on? - I use the XBox 360 add-on with my PC, ......and what?
  
  Originally posted by connolly:The aggression must come from somewhere. - Oh OK so I'm "aggressive" now am I?
  
  Alrighty then, where exactly was I "aggressive", hmmmmm?

  6.6.2007 07:53 #10

• connolly

  Nice speech Hughjars but you've failed to answer any questions brought up in the linked article.
  
  It may be biased and they may be swayed by advertising revenue, but tell me where exactly they're wrong.

  6.6.2007 08:07 #11

• NexGen76

  I didn't see where he was bias toward either format i think he was giving a honest opinion.But nothing he said that hasn't already be said by BD corp or BD backers.They have the facts in front of them but HD-DVD camp refuse to accept it.

  6.6.2007 08:30 #12

• hughjars

  Originally posted by connolly:Nice speech Hughjars - It was a few lines, hardly a "speech".
  
  Originally posted by connolly: but you've failed to answer any questions brought up in the linked article. - Oh I'm sorry, I had no idea you were really after a critique of the whole article.
  
  Originally posted by connolly:It may be biased and they may be swayed by advertising revenue, but tell me where exactly they're wrong. - I think you were on safer ground when you began this exchsnge saying "Its far too early to predict a winner in this race".
  
  The whole article is opinion formed at a stage in proceedings where neither format is selling particularly well right now.
  
  It's also pretty unusual because his previous reasons for staying neutral on the subject made a lot more sense; so I'm wondering just what is so significant that is supposed to have happened to have justified such a switch? He doesn't say.
  
  Nextgen76 these are not "facts", they are mere opinion based on current events.
  Events which are far too tiny to be drawing such huge conclusions from.
  But sadly such has been the BD 'game plan' since CES 2007.
  You can continue making mountains out of molehills all you like but pretending they are more than what they are is just foolish, sadly you seem incapable of accepting that.

  6.6.2007 08:42 #13

• plutonash

  Dont believe anything from digitalbits that site is about as fair as Bill O' Riley and the rest of the Fox News Cast when it come to politics

  7.6.2007 06:34 #14

• Unfocused

  What kind of battery life can one expect from portable hi-def?

  23.7.2007 23:03 #15