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Toshiba to unveil TV-capable notebook

Toshiba Corp, which fell from the ranks of the world's biggest laptop computer makers this year, said it will debut a notebook computer that doubles as a TV.

Notebook computer shipments this year will grow by 22.5 percent, compared with 12.9 percent for the market including desktops, according to market researcher IDC Corp. Toshiba expects laptops to become the control center for home-entertainment systems, according to company vice president Atsutoshi Nishida.

Toshiba dropped from the ranks of the world's five largest laptop makers in the first quarter, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. Toshiba, which this year said it will focus on its flat-screen television business to improve profitability, declined to say when the TV-equipped notebooks will be available.

"We need to meet the requirements of different television broadcast systems worldwide," Nishida said in an interview.

Europe, the US and Japan use different broadcast formats, with which Toshiba aims to comply, he said. Nishida was visiting Computex 2004 in Taipei.

The plan to allow video-input products such as digital camcorders and still cameras from different manufacturers to combine with televisions will need one device to control everything, Barry Lam (林百里), chairman of Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest maker of notebook computers, said.
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