I am a freelance graphic artist. I need graphic power to run my Adobe Creative apps efficiently. This machine delivers. It is much faster than my desktop which is a Core2 Quad running at 2.83 GHz. It is also extremely pleasing to the eyes without looking too much like an Alienware gaming machine. I personally like the gaming look but needed a machine that delivered gaming performance while still looking professional in front of my customers. It is a bit heavy. It would be a load on long trips where a lot of walking is required. If that is the case for you, I would suggest a pull-behind solution when looking at cases. Had some trouble finding a case that it would fit in. This is an over-sized, 18-inch laptop. Most of the large bags are for a 17 inch. You may need to special order a bag. I took my Qosmio into staples and found a bag that was actually spec'd for a 17-inch, but was able to make it work. It wouldn't fit in most 17-inch bags. I was disappointed when I realized that the keyboard doesn't light up on this model. It also does not have bluetooth. Pay attention to the specs if you want these options. You'll need to upgrade and pay a little more for them. I should have been more observant. I was looking too closely at the other performance specs and while comparing, I took it for granted that these features were standard. They are not. Overall, still a very nice machine. Boots up fast and runs great! I'm pleased. Also, for a very small shipping upgrade, I received this the next day from Amazon! Loved that!
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first the laptop review.....
i5 chip is great, found a pro review online on the chips, i3 is good, i5 is better, i7 is only around 5 percent better, the i5 is the best value for the money..
large screen, 17.3 would have been fine but could not find a toshiba i was happy with in that size, better to go larger then smaller anyway.
speakers are much better then the tinny sound of my sony viao vgnar150 model this is replacing, a deeper rich sounding speaker.
like the key board alot, still learning the buttons so its hard to comment on the red lights on the left, but either way no big deal, ill learn them soon enough.
gaming of course is great, had a toshiba laptop, got the sony after it became too slow for my needs, sony failed after 3 years, wanted another toshiba for they seem to last much longer..
love windows 7 gauges that tell you how hot your laptop gets, how much your fans are running, much better in terms of keeping track of how your computer is doing...
colors of the laptop is just sexy, fingerprints do suck,they show up everywhere on the black surface, buy the screen cleaning pads and clean your laptop once a week or so, otherwise don't bother me in the least..
4 usb ports,two on each side, none is the back, touch pad if you don't use it, can be turned off, real cool for i always use a cordless mouse and rarely use the touch pad, but it can magnify if you want it to, a great feature ill never use..
performs well of course for it does have a 2.4 processor speed with a boost up to 2.64 if i said that right, dual core is fine for me for i don't do that many different tasks at once, so did not need the i7 quad core chip, at least not until my next new one probably if this holds up at least 5 years from now...{knock on wood}..
i'm pretty sure it had the 12 cell battery and does last around 4 hours which is pretty good for a big laptop.
screen is very clear, some of the blues seem lighter colors on pogo where i play games alot, but overall colors are very good, and screen sharpness is good.can't complain about that.
seems like a well built laptop, the screen closes with some force to it, just a little, its not a real loose feel like my sony had, not sure how well i like that but no big deal either, it wont slam on you or anything, and i got used to it real fast....the color of black with red is great, best looking laptop by far i've ever owned or saw, fast processor also, for the price of other i5 chip computers out there i consider this one a bargain, the upgraded video card is also a plus if you play online games, which i may in the future..
one thing i dont like, is the button to open the optical drive, cd burner of course, it is right below the cd tray, and its tough to get used to finding, i liked having one on the keyboard better, but not a big deal enough to downgrade the rating...
the power cord is huge, and easy to plug in, but it is big and heavy, but cord length is very good, a long cord.
touch pad works as well as it should, no better or worse then any good laptop, the two touch pad buttons on the computer itself is sort of annoying for one reason, on my sony i could relax may hand and use the buttons from below the surface, on this toshiba you can't for there is a thin piece of metal on the front of the buttons, so you have to push on them from the top, best i can explain this, but also i use a mouse so this is not a big deal for me to downgrade the rating..
so to sum up, great laptop for the price, minor cons of showing fingerprints and opening cd tray and touch pad buttons are not enough cons to downgrade in my opinion, love the computer and will keep it for as long as possible, bought the squaretrade accident warranty just to be safe, for me its toshiba or dell, the rest just seem to break too much and i hate having my computer repaired, the only other option is apple and i just don't like their systems.....
overall a great value for a grand, i do not regret my choice and glad i took my time to make sure i got the right laptop for me, can't wait for when i get the time to make another home movie for the family, should be much easier on this laptop,
now quick as possible the story of the heck i went through to get this computer..
ordered another toshiba with the i5 chip, 3 weeks later amazon cancels the order, can't get the item, called amazon, first person told me to wait another week or so to see if amazon puts them back up for sale or pay another 90 bucks to get it from another amazon seller, no way, no how. not after having waited 3 weeks already..
second guy willing to help me, he met me half way on this qosmio model, the price difference was 140 dollars, he gave me 60 off and free two day shipping, thanks amazon
computer comes 5 days later because of the weekend, 3 hours of putting my stuff in the computer my problems start, the computer fan on the right side bottom is making a noise like plastic is hitting the fan when you pick up the computer while its on. message popping up on screen saying system is too hot and shut it down.
toshiba tech says possibly a bad hard drive, send it in for service, when i tell him its brand new, he said take it back, no problem.
called amazon, the lady says i'll send you a label to send it back, and sent me another one and also one day shipping, very nice solution, amazon rules for this is the first brand new product i had to send back.
amazon lady says to insure the defective computer for what i paid for it and ship it back, problem, ups says i can't insure an item going back to a return center or repair center for defective items, so i send it in anyway for amazon already shipped me a new one and felt they deserved to get the other back as soon as possible.
amazon lady calls me the next night, got upset when i told her what happened at ups, told me im responsible, sorry but i'm not that stupid, here is the tracking number and i sent the computer back exactly the way i got it, same box and packing materials, can't help what ups does, not my fault....
got mad and called amazon, a guy told me dont worry about it, as long as i sent the computer back following the instructions no problem, if it arrives with more damage then when i sent it then thats an issue between amazon and ups, and i agree....
the good guy notified me by email two days later saying they received the broken laptop, thank you, so i don't have to worry about fighting a charge of two laptops on my card, less headaches for me..
now another issue, got the second laptop, windows update for some reason after downloading 32 updates disconnected my optical drive, after an hour on the phone with toshiba a nice senior tech took over my computer and found the problem, windows update somehow put one lower filter and one higher filter deep in my system, tech found the problem and optical drive back, usually when this happens the easier fixes work but with my luck it took a harder path to fix, but has not happened again and all my stuff and printers and back up hard drives are now installed, and if it would happen again i know how to fix it, so the crap toshiba supports seems to take in the reviews i dont understand, the first guy of course could not fix the problem, the senior tech did, and stayed with me until it got fixed, then spent another 10 minutes to tell me the path to fix this if it happens again,for i asked him to do this, a search on the internet showed this happens sometimes with windows 7 and the same thing did happen to my sony xp system 5 years ago when it was new, but that was an easier fix ,but as far as this model have not seen anyone else this happened to, but all i did was set up my email with windows live email, norton account, and did download my arcsoft showbiz 2 i use to make videos, gotta have that,so don't know why windows update keeps picking on my new optical drive, but only seems to happen once and thats it, just wish i knew why, i am curious if any of you qosmio owners have had this happen to you also, but i still like windows 7 system..next operating system windows comes out with a good idea would be the optical drive cannot be disconnected by accident or updates, see, window 8 was my idea, hah hah hah come on, that was a little funny..
now on using older products on this laptop, my printers installed, epson r300 installed without a hitch, for i make dvd covers and love the printer for this reason, and was an easy install considering the printer is 4 or 5 years old and xp was the newest system for the printer.
my canon pixma ip4000 installed with a little bit of hassle, put the setup disc in and had to plug in the printer to get a compatable driver for it, works a little differently then on my old laptop but all the screens i need are there and now i can put off buying my wife the new canon photo printer until we use up our ink. for she loves her little canon for the 8 x 10 photos.
now my all in one epson rx620 was a hassle, could not get the printer to talk to the computer, downloaded the updates for the software for the scanner no problem from the epson site, a call to epson and the very helpful guy got me through the process to get the driver i needed, so thank you epson..stayed with me until we got all the utilities working, was impressed for it was my first call to epson with a printer out of warranty and they helped me and did not try to charge me, a welcome experience in these modern times.
now on to my lord of the rings, battle for middle earth game, 8 years old or so and never expected it to run on windows, and of course it did not, a search on the internet took me to a forum where someone came up with a fix, and the game works, it was a little hard to follow the directions for you had to go pretty deep into the system and create a folder type for i guess it was an issue with the wide screen size, i dont have many games but like this one, thank you for the person who was smart enough to come up with this fix and sharing it with us..
very happy with the computer, its not the lightest, but whats a couple of pounds anyway, a few fingerprints, don't care, lousy place for an optical drive button, would change but can well live with it, love the laptop and if it lasts as long as my last toshiba, over 8 years and counting, my mom has it, i will be only buying toshibas for the near future.
any updates that might help i will post as i get some more experience with this wonderful machine....
update, have had to use toshiba support, windows based problems, along with me installing older printers and programs not made for windows 7, got everything to work, including my epson r300 cd printer, canon ip4000 printer, and all in one epson 620x printers, my arcsoft showbiz 2 just did not work on this windows, so i got corel videostudio pro x3 and its fantastic, works great on windows and does much more then showbiz did, toshiba and epson supports both helped me by getting updated drivers installed and fixing problems with windows 7, i cannot complain about epson or toshiba supports, and i did ask alot of them at times,so far i love the computer, and its not that heavy as people say it is, would buy again....
Best Deals for Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q885 TruBrite 18.4-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)
I was looking for a new laptop to replace my desktop. I shopped everywhere online and looked at every laptop there is. My budget was $1200. The Qosmio was recently dropped to $999, and when that happened, I decided to jump on it. I bought the SquareTrade 3-year warranty, and with tax, total was about $1230. For that price, you will NOT find a laptop with a 3 year warranty that has the hardware the Qosmio does. I recieved mine on Tuesday, August 24th, which was the promised delivery date. I paid an extra $2 and got 2-day shipping, and was very pleased with the speedy delivery. I am a gamer and I bought the Qosmio with the intention of using it for gaming. So far I have loaded Crysis and Starcraft 2 on it. Crysis performed very well, not spectacular, but very well. All settings on High, running at a consistent minimum of 25 fps, which in Crysis is smooth enough for solid gameplay. Starcraft 2 I maxed all the settings out on Ultra, and my fps is holding at least 40. Very solid gaming machine this is. My biggest complaint so far is the surface is incredibly smudgy. Any part of the laptop you touch, you will leave behind a fingerprint and residue. But, that's easily wiped off. The laptop looks great, the media control touch-buttons can be easily disabled, the speakers sound awesome, and I really love the huge 18.4" screen. The webcam is very, very clear and nice. The entire computer does seem a little on the fragile side, as the screen portion is very easily bendable, so take a little extra caution when moving or carrying the laptop. Lots of great connectivity, 4 USB's + HDMI, a nice touchpad. So far this laptop was DEFINATELY worth $999. I am very, very satisfied with my purchase. I would recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a nice, large laptop to use for gaming. The lowest-end model Q885 still runs the i5 processor, and it is handling 2 top-notch games for me so far with superb performance. So far, so great.
Honest reviews on Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q885 TruBrite 18.4-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)
I purchased this over a month ago and I'm not a gamer or anything like that I use it as probably most people do, Office, Typing and Internet. This review is based upon that and not gaming, and may be an alternative to those "gaming reviews" that are not as relevant for many of us.
Upon opening the box I was most impressed by the appearance muted and tastefull with enough highlights to stand out from the crowd but not be over the top and in your face.
Comparison Unit My old machine was a Toshiba 205 series laptop, still working, but working hard, purchased only two years ago, and I'll use that for comparison it had a 1.7 chipset by intel inside. AS nearly as I can tell the same software is operating on both machines except an upgrade? from Vista to 7.
Appearance The difference in appearance was remarkable, old to new, and having looked at many my personal opinion is apart from a couple of HP's, they don't get much more pleasing to the eyes than this machine.
Physical Size Like the reviews say it's BIG for a laptop, but that's no reason to complain as anyone buying an 18"+ screen has to know it will be.
Fingerprints Issues As has been mentioned pawprints are an issue, but I'll happily take the issue as the laptops aesthetics are well worth it.
Screen Size It's great for anyone needing a larger than normal screen for myself it is easy to read and gives lots of freedom of choice when dealing with multiple windows.
Screen Resoloution Superb for the size you can spend more and get more, but you won't physically see the difference unless you intend to put into another big screen TV and then it might be worth it, stressing might!
Keyboard Firm an positive and the first laptop in the family one here with a severe tremor can use thanks to its almost full size nature (even if it's used on hunt and peck style typing which it is handling well for that use).
Speakers Great for anything short of a large cafe which is full and has everone talking at once better than any other laptop I've ever owned. Good quality Audio.
Junk Software Minimal took only a few minutes to uninstall Norton & Google toolbar.
Speed Faster by far than the 205. When the 205 took ~15 minutes for a given task this laptop took around 3.
Multitasking Haven't managed to slow it down yet my 205 couldn't handle Skype and Ie at the same time if it was asked to do anything else as well.
Full numeric keypad a rarity on a laptop and worth its weight in gold.
Seperate touch pad Audio/DVD controls (LHS) These are a godsend, again for the disabled just get the finger to skim the right part and it works excellent idea.
Backlighted Keyboard Not important to me, but if it is to you then read the specifications closely and select an upgrade with it included. It has a great feel.
Webcam I bought a Logitech webcam (3mp) six months ago and thought that was great it's back in the box! Enough said on that subject.
Microphone Equally as good as the rather expensive Logitech (above) this machine has really uncluttered my desk.
Battery Life I bought the 12 cell it's good installing programs for two hours today on battery only and it was still at 69% the 305 died under the same conditions.
Plug & Play Still haven't found anything that doesn't work with it, even the old Brother printer hooked in and started right up after inserting the disc.
Satisfaction rating: I'd give the 305 a three star rating when I bought it this one gets five stars.
Hoping those interested find this review worth while, as it's written from an amatures not geeks or gamers viewpoint we bought ours from Beach Camera, just not through Amazon.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q885 TruBrite 18.4-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)
I got this laptop a few days ago and I must say I am very impressed with it.
The i5 450 is fast, not as fast as my other laptop the fast none the less.
The Nvidia Geforce GTS 360m is great for most all modern games and doesn't have any problems holding up. (So far I tried this comp with Starcraft 2 and Mass Effect 2 and they both work great)
The Screen is nice and large, a bit bigger then I had in mind but 18.4 is fricken huge and a lot of real estate especially if you are into strategy games.
All in all very happy with purchase.
