Toshiba is laying the smack down on Alienware, revamping its flame emblazoned Qosmio X305 by introducing the Qosmio X305-Q708, which features a Core 2 Extreme QX9300 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 128GB SSD, 320GB 7,200 RPM SATA drive, dual-layer DVD writer, twin NVIDIA 512MB GeForce 9800M GTS graphics cards, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and Windows Vista Ultimate. It’s also got a full-sized keyboard with a ten-key number pad, four Harman Kardon speakers, HDMI / DisplayPort connectors, 1.3-megapixel webcam, Wireless USB / USB Sleep-and-Charge technologies and a 17-inch TruBrite LCD (Unknown resolution).

It should be available by the time you read this for around $4,199.99. But if I were you I’d pay extra to get rid of the whole fire motif. With those specs, it’s a damn shame Toshiba is so set on making you look like a flaming dork.

When most people want a new notebook, they look around online and then go to a retail store to buy. Enthusiasts wanting system that you can’t buy in retail outlets may actually order online, but the average consumer wants to walk in a store and leave with their new computer.

To help the retail shoppers find a machine with good performance, Best Buy and Toshiba have teamed up for a Satellite E105 notebook that is a Best Buy exclusive. The notebook has a 14.1-inch LCD and offers up to 5.5 hours of battery life.

Toshiba is delivering a new mobile projector which offers closed caption capabilities for those in need of this type of function. It is called the TLP-X150U and you’ll find it available for around $960.

The TLP-X150U, with its closed caption feature, allows the audience to read text or dialogue from a DVD player or television signal. It also offers what is described as a “PC-free” presentation, hosting a USB port so one can show a presentation stored in JPG format on a USB flash drive.

I have talked about the drawbacks of SSDs before, including the high price of the typical SSD and the lower storage capacity among others. The price for your average SSD is starting to come down and new technology is bringing us higher capacities and better performance. Toshiba introduce a new SSD this week that helps performance and capacity concerns.

The Toshiba 256GB SSD uses multi-level cell technology for faster performance. The 256GB drive uses the industry standard 2.5-inch form factor. MLC technology allows the SSD to have read speeds of 120Mbps and write speeds of 70Mbps.

When many of us think of hard drives, we immediately think of notebook and desktop computers where storage capacities can reach into the terabyte level. Storage capacities are equally important for smaller devices like MP3 players and camcorders.

Toshiba has announced a new 1.8-inch hard drive today that is the world’s first dual disc 1.8-inch 240GB HDD and the world’s first 120GB single platter hard drive. The new 240GB HDD is Toshiba part number MK2431GAH. The drive spins at 4200 RPM and offers a 33% improvement in energy consumption compared to Toshiba’s 160GB 3600 rpm 1.8-inch drive.

Toshiba, sent packing earlier this year in its battle against Blu-ray, is back again with what one might consider a low-budget HD competitor. The technology is called XDE and the first product out with it is the Toshiba XD-E500, a DVD player priced around $150.

XDE, also known as “eXtended Detail Enhancement,” is reportedly DVD upconversion on steroids. Toshiba says of it that “in addition to providing upconversion from 480i/p up to 1080p, XDE offers user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience.” Three selectable picture mode settings - sharp, color, contrast - lets one bring closer to “true HD quality” their DVD viewing experience.

The initial buzz of the new Intel Centrino 2 chip technology now seems to have died down as related laptops settle into regular purchasing habits. Two last laptops we thought we’d highlight from the flurry of announcements the other week are the Toshiba Tecra M10 and A10. The former has a starting price around $1,400, while the other model has yet to be priced.

These two updated flagship business laptops from Toshiba will include, besides the Centrino 2, other features such as hard drive protection, spill resistant keyboard, fingerprint reader and an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port. You can even have Toshiba throw in a solid state drive if you have a little bit of extra cash to pony up for this option.

Toshiba earlier this week introduced a new laptop series that integrates Garmin GPS technology into the fold. It is called the Toshiba Qosmio F55 and pricing starts at around $1,400.

The Toshiba Qosmio F55 sports a 15.4-inch screen and is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and NVIDIA GPUs. The integrated GPS technology by Garmin lets you do all the things you’d typically do with a free-standing GPS system and the system include face recognition technology as well.

Gaming notebooks are known for a few things—power, gaming performance and a high price. Your typical gaming notebook will often cost three times or more the amount that you can get a normal notebook for. Not all notebooks for gaming are hugely expensive though and Toshiba has introduced a new gaming machine that has a very reasonable price.

The new Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q701 is a Best Buy exclusive system that retails for $1,549.99. The machine has Toshiba’s slick looking fiery finish with Rouge design. Graphics for the notebook are via NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GTS discrete card and the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor.

Toshiba this week announced it had updated select models of its Satellite laptops with new processor technology and other features. These models include the Satellite P300, Satellite A300, Satellite M300 and Satellite U400.

These updated Toshiba Satellite laptops feature Intel’s latest Core 2 Duo processor technology in addition to other enhancements such as “sleep-and-charge” USB ports and face recognition. You can get the full details via a Toshiba press release after the jump.

The Toshiba Qosmio WXW/79GW gaming laptop means business,(play actually) as it comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of DDR3 memory. It also sports a 64GB SSD drive with a 160GB 7200 SATA hard drive. Some other features include a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1,680×1,050), 1GB GeForce 9800M GTX graphics card, a 1.3MP camera, 4 in 1 card reader, HDMI out, USB, Firewire, WLAN, and a DVD super drive.

As if that weren’t enough, it comes to you with this awesome flame skin. The Toshiba 9800M GTX Gaming Laptop will be available in Japan next month. The SSD model will cost $3500.

Toshiba said with pride today it is launching the world’s first laptop with a 128GB solid state drive. It is called the Toshiba Portégé R500-S5007V and you’ll find it pricing around $3,000.

The Toshiba Portégé R500-S5007V, besides sporting a 128GB solid state drive, also comes equipped with a DVD SuperMulti drive. These two small form factor build-ins allow this laptop to be 0.77-inches thin and around 2.4 pounds. The R500-s5007V’s screen is a 12.1-inch backlit widescreen with transreflective LED.

Toshiba’s got a new Qosmio. The G55. It should go on sale next month with a price of $1,550. Some specs include an 18.4-inch (1680 x 945) display, Centrino 2 CPU, GeForce 9600M GT, 4GB of RAM, dual drives, and the “Quad Core HD processor”. The interesting thing however is the camera-based visual gesture control system. Seems like they’re taking a page from the Wii playbook.

On one hand it looks a bit frustrating and you need to have steady hands, plus it apparently is hell on the wrists. Then again it could be very useful for a number of applications. Either way, we’re talking about a laptop with motion control. Of course, we want one.

Toshiba is out today with word of a new small projector which weighs just under five pounds. It is called the Toshiba TDP-SP1U and prices at around $720.

The Toshiba TDP-SP1U, besides weighing 4.8 pounds, is noted for having 2,200 ANSI lumens, DLP BrilliantColor technology and an extended lamp life of up to 4,000 hours. Native resolution of the projector is SVGA (800 x 600).

In case you haven’t noticed, there is a real fitness craze happening thanks in part to Wii Fit. Toshiba wants to do their part as well. The Toshiba Sportio is a new addition for Japanese carrier KDDi. Ironically, the phone is a fatty, but helps you stay fit with motion sensors counting the calories burned during a workout.

It also takes advantage of GPS to lay out your jogging route. It will stream music to compatible Bluetooth headphones with the ‘BEAT RUN’ function, which adjusts the tempo to you as you feel the burn. The Sportio sports a 2.2 inch TFT 240 x 320 screen, 2 Megapixel camera, GPS and 1 Seg Tuner. You’ll have your choice of five colors: orange, white, black, red and green.