Customer Reviews

Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q850 18.4-Inch Gaming Black/Red Laptop - 3 Hours 40 Minutes of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cosmetically, the Qosmio looks like a technological piece of art; under the hood, it gets even better. Every time I lay my hands on it, I'm thrilled I made this purchase.

I'd been hoping to put off buying a new laptop but the screen on my old HP was failing and I just can't justify sinking money into obsolete tech. I convinced myself I was willing to live with the funky lines running through my screen in favor of being frugal, but with each malfunctioning pixel, it was clear I had to buy a replacement soon.

If you're like me, a new laptop isn't something to be taken lightly. It's a decision I'll have to live with a good many years, so selecting the right model is important since I'll be using it on a daily basis. Well, I'd like to say I did exhaustive research comparison shopping every new laptop, but that simply wasn't the case. I had two basic criteria that eliminated 99% of the laptops on the market: I wanted the largest screen possible and a lighted keyboard.

Enter Qosmio...
(Insert angelic harps here)

Thankfully, Amazon makes it easy to search laptops by attribute like screen size, and the first laptop that came up on my search was the Qosmio x505-Q850 -- the pictures were more reminiscent of an elegant sports car than laptop -- it was love at first sight. The screen was a whopping 18.4 inches, which is huge for a laptop, and much to my surprise, it even had a lighted keyboard!!!

(Angelic choir join the harps and crescendo for dramatic effect...)

Could finding my perfect laptop be this easy? "Calm down," I tell myself, "looks aren't everything." The price isn't cheap, yet it's nearly half the cost of Alienware, it's nearest rival in specs and looks. Excitedly reading the product info, I was thrilled to see the Qosmio's feature set is just as brilliant on the inside as it is on the outside. With the latest quad core processor, a blazing fast solid state drive for the OS, a 2nd SATA drive, 6gb of memory, the latest NVIDIA graphics card, Bluetooth, HDMI output and Blu-Ray drive, this Qosmio is a powerhouse indeed.

Delving deeper, I learned this new Qosmio had just been released and was in limited supply. Even buying direct from Toshiba was a 2 month wait. Amazon had a few in stock but quickly sold out. With more pixels disappearing on my old HP, I kept a keen lookout hoping someone would get the Qosmio in stock soon. I was hoping to buy at Amazon and get triple points on their credit card (every 2500 points gets me a $25 gift card and triple points on a laptop would be near 6000!!) but alas, a different retailer got in a small quantity, and much as I hated to do it, I cheated on Amazon and made my purchase elsewhere.

When my Qosmio arrived, it was a euphoric experience. The box is red and black with a huge red Q on it and the same detailed design that's on the laptop itself. As I peeled back the box tab to open it, the inside flap had little red letters that said "Enjoy your laptop." My heart fluttered, "I will," I thought to myself, "Don't you worry."

Angelic harps reach their apex as I open the Qosmio box. And there it was -- emerging through light beams -- with its high gloss black finish glistening, and points of light sparkling off red metallic accents. I challenge anyone to find a more stunning looking laptop.

Okay, so literary embellishments aside, this really is a great laptop. And Windows 7 is pretty awesome too. Boot up time is lightening fast; 45 seconds tops from the moment I hit the power button and I can click on anything and get going instantly. And this new processor is a total beast too. Photoshop CS4 opens near instantly. A 100gb backup took barely over an hour. And rendering video editing is blazing fast too. I'm not a gamer, so I have nothing to report there, but judging by everything else, it ought to be equally fast in that department.


"Gaming Laptop" is just a euphemism for Fast!

If you see a computer that's touted for "gamers" don't assume that's all it's good for. "Gaming computer" just means fast, and who doesn't want a fast computer?? I've seen several reviews that did speed tests pitting this new Qosmio against its rivals and it outperformed them with ease. Granted, it was the only one with this new processor and as others follow suit, the speed comparisons will level off.


Blu-Ray Rom vs Burner

ROM basically means this drive plays Blu-Ray disks but doesn't burn them. (It does, of course, burn DVD+-RW and CDs.) At first, I was disappointed Qosmio didn't have a Blu-Ray burner. But then I realized I'd rather archive all my video to MPEG4 or WMV and watch it directly off Media Share. I already use Media Share to listen to all my music, so why not do the same with video too? It's way more convenient to access MP3 files digitally than it is to load a CD into a player, just like it's easier to do backups with external hard drives as opposed to disks. Digital files are just faster and more convenient, so a Blu-Ray burner may already be meaningless for my purposes.


HDMI Output

One of my favorite features of the Qosmio is the ease with which it can be connected to my 50" plasma! Just run an HDMI cable from your computer to your plasma and it's good to go! Audio is automatically cut from the laptop and plays out the TV instead. And the picture is full 1080p HD! Play any video clip, surf the web or watch a Blu-Ray movie all on your plasma!! Very cool!! Oh, and in case you're wondering, the Qosmio uses a standard HDMI cable, not the mini size seen on camcorders. And Qosmio automatically detects the HDMI signal and turns on an off the external display automatically. You can have both screens active at the same time, or choose between the two. Combined with my Philips Wireless HDMI transmitter and it all couldn't be easier to use.


Lighted Keyboard

I've read some forums where people were upset the keyboard doesn't stay lit all the time and turns off after so many seconds. NOT TRUE -- the keyboard CAN be set to stay on all the time. On your Qosmio, just go to: >Start >Toshiba >Utilities >HWSetup >Illumination >then under "Keyboard Backlight," click the radio button "FN" then check the box "On." After you reboot, you'll be able to turn the keyboard on and off by using the "FN" + "Z" keys. Personally, I have my keyboard set to stay on all the time, and naturally, it turns off automatically when the computer is shut down. It's also worth mentioning that the keyboard itself is very smooth and QUIET! I don't know about you, but clackety-clack keyboards drive me nuts! No reason why they can't all be virtually silent like this Qosmio's. I have to strain just to hear a sound -- perfect!


No Crapware

I hate it when I buy a new computer and it's loaded with garbage programs that basically amount to advertisers littering all over my new hard drive. Thankfully, Qosmio comes with very little corporate garbage under the hood -- a Microsoft Office trial, Quickbooks, Toshiba Online Backup -- oh, and that crappy Norton I got rid of on my first bootup. Aside from that, it's pretty much a clean install with only the necessities, and I'm thankful for that. I'll install my own programs, thank you very much! Incidentally, Toshiba did a good job of including some helpful utilities and a decent DVD/CD burning program, so kudos there.


Harman / Kardon Speakers

No, these aren't going to fill a room or blow anyone's hair back, but compared to other laptops I've encountered, these speakers are great! If I'm out on the go, they're just fine and plenty powerful. But when I'm home, I do plug in a set of Altec Lansings for a fuller, dynamic sound. But truth be told, I don't listen to music off my laptop. But I do have it connected to my DirecTV receiver and listen to music on my home theater system via Media Share. There's nothing like it!


Eco-Mode

I applaud Toshiba for including this feature but it's nothing I'll ever use. Basically, you can setup this feature so that at a push of a button, your the Qosmio will conserve energy and you can feel good about reducing your carbon footprint. That's all well and good but I didn't spend 2 grand for a sluggish computer. I paid for speed and I want speed, I'll deal with my carbon footprint elsewhere. I take the bus most places, so I have most people beat right there. I'll burn my laptop as fast as I please; thanks much.


Face Recognition Login

Yes, you heard me -- this Qosmio has a built in web cam that's good for video calls via Skype, but it also does one better -- the built in web cam also enables the use of face recognition software in lieu of a password for login! Cool!


Fingerprints

The high gloss finish of this Qosmio is stunning but it also picks up fingerprints with ease. Personally, I don't mind. I wouldn't want to sacrifice the Qosmio's lux look and don't mind wiping it down to keep it shiny and clean. Besides, we've all seen the reports that say people's keyboards have more germs on them than a public toilet, so it's a good thing to wipe your laptop down frequently no matter what.


Solid State Drive

I credit Qosmio for wanting to be on the cutting edge but the solid state drive on this thing is way too small -- only 64gb. It does have a 2nd 320gb SATA which beats most competitors since it spins at 7200rpm. But the SSD is still small for my taste. To make matters worse, the partitions only give 47gb of usable space. The rest is allocated to a Recovery partition and a hidden partition that contains a backup image that can restore your computer to its out of box state. This could be helpful if you're on the go and something happens but I did make my DVD backup disks as well just for good measure. I don't mind how the partitions are laid out, I just need a bigger SSD and plan to upgrade as soon as the price drops from the stratosphere to something reasonable. But having said that, the speed of this drive is amazing so I'll gladly make do in the meantime. I installed my most taxing programs on the SSD and moved all my documents to the secondary SATA. Thankfully, Toshiba included an easy utility that helps migrate the user files to the secondary drive so as to help conserve space on the SSD.


Windows 7 64bit - NOT 32bit

The description says 32bit but this is actually 64bit Windows 7 Home Premium. I upgraded with ease to Ultimate and it did take less than 10 min just as advertised.


Helpful Hint:

check my other reviews for the perfect laptop cooler: NZXT ACC-NT-CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler 120MM Adjustable Fans (Black) It's the perfect fit for this Qosmio!


Bottom Line:

There are far too many features to go through them all, but suffice to say, this Qosmio x505-Q850 is truly on the cutting edge. I give it my highest recommendation and am totally satisfied with it in every way. If you want a fast laptop that's on the cutting edge and looks great too, this Qosmio is your WINNER!!!

I've had this laptop for longer than a week now and I have had literally no problems with it. I chose this laptop because I could not find another laptop that could even compare with the high performance included along with the affordability. This laptop has tons of features, literally tons. I can't explain all the features, yet you can simply look on Toshiba's website. As the other review stated about the wi-fi, I can't say much other than that I have had no problems with the wi-fi so far, none. The wi-fi infact is very convenient and works very well in my opinion perhaps his was just defected. The reason I bought this laptop is because I didn't wanna go over 2 grand, yet I still wanted to be able to play the latest games and still be able to attend to my work using my favorite part about this laptop, MOBILITY!!!!!

This laptop is very simple. I reccomend this for all business users due to the flat-mat style keyboard along with the other many convenient features. These make sending emails, surfing the web, and other everyday tasks extremely easy and adequately comfortable. The screen itself includes a 16:9 aspect ratio along with an impressive 1920x1080 resolution making games and movies look marvelous along with an immersive experience. The soundcard along with the speakers are also quite impressive, leaving my movies and games with an awesome experience. The ports are also very convenient (more than I expected) allowing more possibilities

Now for the performance, I can't complain at all. It runs many of the latest games that I play with shear performance.

This review has already been stretched out long enough, but I'm sure I could get in all the details. In conclusion, if you need a high performance (all the features built in) affordable laptop then I reccomend this laptop to any computer user out there!

The q850 is an excellent price to performance ratio buy, no other laptop company could seem to provide such a good ratio. I have always been a fan of Toshiba laptops and my last 3 laptops were all satellites. I usually only go for desktops, i like to build them, but considering my deployment to Iraq i couldn't take my 45 pound tower out here. I needed something mobile yet powerful enough to play games and handle power hungry applications, and let me tell you this laptop does it. the core i7 720QM is comparable to my phenom II 935, even with the i7's lower clock speed.

I was sceptical about the video performance at first considering it was only packing a gts 250m, the best mobile vprocessor being the gtx 280m. but i did my research and found out it was packing GDDR5 VRAM which runs a lot better at higher resolutions ie 1920X1080 (HD+) in games comparable to the gtx 260m, although sucked less power. I run most games fluid with almost max settings, borderlands, Fallout 3, Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age, ex.
The performance in game is also due to the faster Ram clock speeds, turbo mode, and the SSD.

Like people have said before me the SSD only has 47 GB on it not the 64 they propose, but once you remove most of the junk from the system it frees up enough space to load applications and a couple of games on to the SSD. the HDD is running at 7200 RPM which is a fast for a laptop considering most laptop HDDs run at 5400. Its great for storage or installing less used or important applications.

Blu-ray movies look excellent on the giant screen.

The side touch panel makes it easy to stop music while in game without alt tabbing.

The on board Wifi works great for me, I pick up signal even through my metal walls.

I haven't tested the battery power, but from what i have seen so far beats the hell out of any HP laptop.

I would recommend getting a gaming mouse, the touch pad that's is built into the system isn't that great, but it will get the job done. I myself have the Razor Orochi gaming mouse.

I would also recommend getting a set of speakers and a sub considering this model only has speakers in it and they sound great but not for the music enthusiast.

The laptop looks very sleek and the back lit keyboard is awesome at night time.

Windows 7 has way better performance than vista on this laptop.

Overall this laptop was a very good buy, even though it took me forever to get it out here to Iraq.

I'm thrilled with my new laptop. It boots from the SSD and so has amazing speed, has an extra drive for storage, a great screen, a nice keyboard, and a great look. It supports "hardware virtualization" which means if you use VMWare Workstation or such, it can take advantage of the enhancements which make your VMs much faster than "normal."

I can think of only three annoyances with this laptop:

1) They keyboard has backlighting, which turns off after a (slightly configurable) time. I'd like to be able to set it to "stay on until I manually turn it off." You have to hit a key to get them to light up again, but by then you've hit the wrong key - annoying.

2) The power supply connects via one of the older standard type plugs, meaning without the "swivel" that some newer laptops are coming with. It just means that it will get "worn" and "bent out of shape" faster than you'd like.

3) The "finish" is just too glossy. Like an iPod - it's beautiful until you touch it. You'll have fingerprints all over it, which is decidedly not beautiful anymore. I find myself wanting to "wash and wax" my laptop like I did my car when I was a teenager :)

This is a very nice entertainment notebook. It's only real competition at the moment is the HP Pavilion dv8t Quad.

As regards the question another reviewer raised, the CPU is 1.6GHz base speed, but it can automatically boost its speed up to 2.8GHz when you are doing something compute-intensive. So you get the best of both worlds: low heat and longer battery life because most of the time you won't need the higher speed, but also a much faster CPU when you do need that.

My only negative comment about this specific deal is that it is overpriced. You can buy the exact same configuration from Toshiba Direct for $1899.99, which is a lot less than what Amazon is currently asking. The catch is that Toshiba Direct is quoting shipment in 4 to 5 weeks!

Well, I purchased this gaming rig/laptop about two months ago and I'm really pleased with it. The amount of features it has is without parallel unless you talking about another gaming rig from say like, Alienware. The toshiba x500-110 comes with the intel i7 core chip 720 at 1.60ghz which tranlates into 3.2 ghz to 3.8ghz maxium cpu speed, a bluray player/burner coupled with an 18.4 inch screen that brings a crisp 1080p for watching hi-def movies or gaming, 8gb ddr (european model which I have#, two 500 gb hard drives #1 terrabyte# wow!, windows 7 premium, a ton of toshiba software which are really great, security features like face recognition and fingerprint #however haven't got the face recog. to work yet#, harmon kardon speakers are superb, and many more features. Now my review is that while the toshiba qosmio x500 is loaded with all anyone could want in a laptop it's HEAVY AS HELL! I couldn't find a carrying bag in any stores, but found one made by toshiba here on amazon. That's the only con I have for anyone thinking about buying one. It looks really sleek and the design is beautuful and can pass as a non-gaming laptop unlike an Alienware rig which is clearly for gamers. I play pc games and can safely say this can play anything except Crysis warhead I think because of the windows 7, but Crysis warhead as everybody who games knows pushes everything in regards to graphics and cpu usage to the limits. I've played COD waw, Half-life #brilliantly#, Bioshock, Left4dead 2 #amazing), Unreal 3, Dirt 2 and PES2010 all in 1080p and with ease. It comes with the nvidia 250 m chip which does well enough and I'm so happy with that because you can't upgrade laptops, so I should be ok for the next 3-4 years. This laptop is considered a desktop replacement so if you want the reliabilty of a desktop without the bulk of a desktop then this is it. I comfortable place it on my lap and use this laptob better than any other laptop I've had previously. It also has an Eco mode that saves and monitors energy usage which is pretty cool. Well this concludes my first review ever. I hope it helped.

Super high performance, super quiet. Great full keyboard layout with led light up. Speakers are even nice. This is the perfect mobile computer. It's not exactly a netbook, has short battery life but it's a great product nonetheless.

I have been searching for a laptop for 9 months. When I first saw this laptop, my eyes lit up! The amount of hardware in this laptop for a special price on amazon of $1799, I could not turn and look the other way. I have been searching through Dell, Alienware, Asus, Sony, Sager... etc... Toshiba makes great laptops and this sure is a master piece. The 1080P screen with the bluray is amazing! The I7 Core is blazing fast! I have tried many things to slow this laptop down, but nothing on the market will get it past 30%. If you can find this laptop for a cheaper price then listed buy it! It is worth every penny spent, guaranteed!!!

Great laptop, and I really like the SSD. Mine arrived as promised, and after about 4 hours of use, the screen went black. No blue screen of death first, it just blinked and then black. I called tech support at Sony, and actually got through fairly quickly to a human. Told him the issue, and we tried lots of things - rebooting, removing the battery, Fn/F8 attempts, etc., but nothing worked. It turned out to be a screen issue of some sort, as the computer booted, you could see the light blinking and knew that the hard drive was being accessed, but no picture. The solution - he asked me to return it to Amazon. I did that, but they were out and couldn't replace it. I needed a laptop rather quickly - Christmas, and found a Sony with a SSD. After two weeks, it is purring along just fine.

Toshiba makes a good laptop, and this one has gotten great reviews, but I just happened to have gotten a dud. I won't give up on Toshiba, but there are lots of other good choices out there, so they need to get it right the first time.

Regards.

Gary R

Very nice laptop.Dose everything they said it would and more. I am very happy with toshiba products.I bought a toshiba for my wife an 0' problems.AMAZON cannot be beat.five stars ***** for them.fast fast PC.Fast fast AMAZON.