My Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q706 User Review

I've been looking for a desktop replacement laptop to use for gaming and multimedia mostly and after much deliberation, I went with the Qosmio X305-Q706.

Other possible choices I looked at were the Alienware m17 and Asus G70/71 series. I went with the Qosmio because it not only fit into my $2000 budget, but it also sported dual 9800m GTS's in SLI and incredible sound, plus DDR3 memory, and support for the latest Intel Montevina processors including the QX9300.

My X305-Q706 Specs:

• 17-inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) glossy display
• Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz/ 3MB L2/ 1066MHz FSB) Dual Core Processor
• 4GB DDR3-1066 RAM (Hynix)
• Dual Nvidia GeForce 9800M-GTS with 512MB GDDR3 memory in SLI
• Nvidia GeForce 9400M chipset
• 320GB 7200RPM Primary Drive (Hitachi), No Secondary drive installed
• DVD Super Multi drive
• Atheros WLAN and built-in Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
• One-year warranty
• 230W AC adapter
• 47Wh 8-cell battery
• Weight: 9.04 lbs
• Dimensions: 16.2” (W) x 12.0” (D) x 1.7 – 2.5” (H)

The manufacturer's page for this model is here:
http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio/X305/X305-Q706

Price:

This model retails for $1999 and is unfortunately not customizable.

I originally wanted to purchase this through Toshiba, since at the time they were running a $200 off promo, however, they charge sales tax to NY residents, so I purchased it from Newegg for $1949, no tax.

Packing and accessories:



Inside the accessory box are the following:

• AC Adapter with Cable
• Microfiber cleaning cloth
• Qosmio Quick Start Guide
• Qosmio Resource Guide
• Instruction Manual for Safety and Comfort
• Master EULA
• Norton 360 Pamphlet
• eMusic Insert
• Microsoft Office Trial Insert

The power adapter is quite large, it really is about the size of a brick, not exactly something you want to carry around, but it is rated for 230W, so it's to be expected.

What I was surprised to see not in the box is the Recovery DVD set. Instead of including it, there is a Recovery partition on the drive and a program installed so you can make your own copy. This process required 5 blank DVD's.

Build and Design:



Let me start off by saying this laptop is huge! At almost 16.2" across and 2.5" thick at the rear, there won't be many bags capable of fitting this. A couple of the backpacks I tested had a hard time fitting this machine. Most of the traditional messenger bags were fine.

The Qosmio X305 Series uses Toshiba's Rogue pattern, with that "Look at Me, I'm a Qosmio" Red flame design which some people might find tacky. Open it up and the entire inside is made of glossy plastic, keyboard, speaker grilles, and mouse buttons included. To me the inside is much more pleasing to the eye, and the red LED's adjacent to the top speakers aren't overly bright either. The red LED's and accents can be turned off with the push of a button.

The structural design leaves a little to be desired, the lid feels thin and weak compared to the massive base, and the lid flexes quite a bit, although the hinges are sturdy. When opened the DVD tray is also a little wobbily compared to others I've used.

Upon First Boot: BIOS



The BIOS is version 1.00 and by Phoenix. This is Toshiba's standard BIOS which unfortunately only provides basic operability like setting a supervisor password, and enabling/disabling things like Legacy USB support, Pointing devices and Virtualization support. Any overclocking must be done through Nvidia's utilities. Also, RAID is not supported on the X305 series, although it is possible a future BIOS update may change that.

Upon First Boot: Windows



You have the option to decide whether to use 32-bit or 64-bit windows during the computer's initial set up. Installing the 64-bit is highly recommended of course since you will have access to the entire 4GB of RAM.

Screen

This model comes with Toshiba's TruBrite 17-inch screen. The resolution is 1680x1050 (WSXGA+). The display at first is lackluster, the brightness and color quality leave a little to be desired. It isn't until you change settings in the Nvidia control panel that this can be resolved. If you sit too close to the screen you can notice the brightness fading in the corners. The viewing angles are on par with most LCD's, great from left to right, faded or darkened when looking from above or below. The notebook opens to about 150 degrees.



The Nvidia control panel is what makes all the difference in this screen in my opinion. Right click on the desktop to access the control panel. By clicking on "Adjust desktop color settings" you can access the controls. I found that by setting the brightness, contrast, and vibrance to about 70%, it makes a world of difference. The images below are my best approximation of Before and After photos regarding this change:



Speakers

The 4.1 Harman Kardon system in this laptop is simply brilliant! 4 speakers are situated on top, the subwoofer is just about centered on the underside. Sharp, clear sound regardless of volume, no crackling or hissing, and bass you can actually feel make this the best sound I've ever heard on any laptop.

Processor and Performance





The installed processor is Intel's Core 2 Duo P8400, running at 2.26Ghz with a 3MB cache, providing ample speed for everyday tasks such as web browsing and gaming alike. Toshiba does pre-install a high amount of bloatware and utilities unfortunately. With the unnecessary programs uninstalled, boot times are fast. The Hitachi 7200RPM drive is quick and speedy, about 45 seconds from power on to Login screen. A 2nd drive bay is available, it is directly beneath the first drive, although no caddy is provided for it. I have included HD Tune results for the WD Black 320gb drive that I added to the machine as well.



Gaming performance is exceptional, thanks to dual Nvidia 9800m GTS's in SLI configuration. It will handle most anything thrown its way. The only two games I have tested so far are Unreal Tournament 3 and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. Both performed flawlessly with all settings at their maximum.

Benchmarks

3D Mark 05 and 3D Mark 06 Respectively:



PC Mark 05:



SuperPi at 1 Million places:



Windows Experience Index:



Idle temps:



Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard texture is of a glossy plastic, which complements the look of this laptop nicely, but someone with moist fingers may find it hard to grip. On the other side of the coin, the glossy finish makes them more durable and less prone to the wear and tear. There is noticeable flex on this keyboard, more so on the number pad than the rest of the keyboard on the one I received, but it is there. The keys are responsive, I haven't had any trouble typing or gaming on it as of yet, but I do wish it felt more solid.

The touchpad is of excellent quality, providing quick response without a heavy touch. The texture provides excellent grip for dry or moist hands. The surrounding plastic is textured as well, for some it may be hard to discern where the edge of the touchpad is, but the two textures have a different feel. I definitely prefer this type of touchpad over other designs, since I have seen some with a recessed edge cave in before.

Input and Output Ports




The front of the laptop has the On/Off switch for wireless devices, as well as the Optical drive. I personally like the placement of the optical drive on the Qosmio series since it doesn't impede the use of a mouse.



On the left we have the combo USB/eSATA port along with a second USB port, and the Express Card slot.



The right side features the volume control knob, the headphone and microphone jacks, 2 more USB ports for a total of 4, and underneath the flap are the memory card reader, which handles SD, XD and Memory Stick, and the modem jack. I particularly like the volume knob, definitely beats having to Alt-Tab out of a game to adjust volume when needed.



On the back, from left to right, are the following: Kensington Lock Slot, mini FireWire port, Power jack, HDMI, Regza Link Display port, VGA, and Ethernet (Gigabit)

Wireless Adapters

The Atheros AR9281 B/G/N Wireless card was problem free, offering a quick and steady connection to any of the 3 routers I tested it with, a Linksys WRT54GX4, D-Link DIR-628, and a Verizon (Actiontec) MI424-WR.

Battery

One of the most interesting features of this laptop is it's 3 graphic card configuration. When on battery power, the dual 9800's are powered down and the third card, a GeForce 9400M is enabled, saving a great deal of power. Running on battery power and performing tasks such as music playing and web browsing/IM I was able to get a little over one and a half hours.

Operating System and Software

The Qosmio X305-Q706 comes with Vista Home Premium with SP1. Toshiba does install a rather unnecessary amount of bloatware, and no recovery disks are provided. Instead there is a utility installed to burn recovery disks, and there is a built in recovery partition. The good thing is that it doesn't create a one shot recovery, the OS and applications/drivers are on separate disks. This means you can install a fresh copy of Vista and then choose which applications and drivers you want installed, giving you a much cleaner installation.

Customer Support and Warranty

I have not had the need to contact Toshiba for support for this model, but my general experience with them is good. Phone numbers for Toshiba support can be found here:

US: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/navShell.jsp?cf=su_contact
Canada: http://www.toshiba.ca/web/link?id=2820
UK: http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/generic/Customer_Contact/

The standard warranty on this model is 1 Year but extended warranties can be purchased through Toshiba directly. Toshiba allows you to purchase a warranty within the first 9 months of ownership. For purchases through Newegg, you can purchase the warranty through either Toshiba or Newegg.

Conclusion

This laptop has definitely exceeded my expectations and I feel that the pros outweigh the cons. It offers a great value for the price, features excellent gaming performance and a high quality sound system, and while it has its flaws, I still give it my recommendation.

Pros:

• Eye catching design
• Excellent gaming performance
• High quality sound system
• Upgradable to X9100/QX9300
• Well placed, good variety of ports
• Decent battery life given its components
• Good cooling

Cons:

• Eye catching design
• Moderate keyboard flex
• Initially lackluster screen
• Lack of RAID or BIOS overclocking
• Some weak points in build
• Large form factor/Power adapter
• High amount of bloatware

 

great review. I have the q701. Got it when it first came out. Wished I waited for this model.

 

your 3dmark score is a little low...1 gts scores ~9k

And great review!

 

I thought the same thing, not sure why though.

 

is your sli enabled? .. like Xirurg said .. its looks low

 

Yes, sli is enabled. *scratches head*

 

maybe try some new drivers?

 

update drivers. you should get around 12k

 

I've tried the LaptopVideo2go drivers, they crash vista on boot, and the ones Nvidia posted to their site won't install. Any others I should try?

 

oh forgot to mention, great review! very nice!

 

Thanks!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Matt

 

Did you try the benchmark with the OEM drivers or just the modded Laptopvideo2go ones? The new Nvidia drivers page says the Qosmio X305-Q706 and 708 and other hybrid SLI notebooks are not supported in 179. These notebooks will be supported in a future release.

 

I'm glad there will be future support.

I ran the benchmarks with the stock drivers. The modded drivers rendered it unusable.

 

Thank you for a great review !!

 

Nice review... that's really a rather unique look there (Look like a toy to me) but hey, I agree with such massive monster running under the hood, I can practically ignore everything else!

 

It's probably due to the relatively low-end processor (P8400). But even with the P8400, it should be over 10k, maybe 10.5K. This system with a QX9300 gets 12.2k, which is also kinda low IMO.

 

I ordered my 706 on Dec 12th and they said it would ship within 1-2 business days. Their website even says, order your prebuilt computer by Dec 18th to ensure delivery by Dec 25th. They are telling me that my computer will not even be in stock until Jan 7th. ! I am going to cancel my order tomorrow.

 

Not bad...but you must update your driver and give new results...)

 

Great review.

Performance wise this computer sucks big time. Over priced, sli 9800m gts do not perform as good as 8800m gtx. Plus changing the CPU is not that easy. You have to pull the whole computer apart to get there and in that case warranty is not valid anymore. We have OCZ whitebook, gateway P-7811 or 7805 which can perform at the same level with a single card and the CPU is easier to replace. For $2K you can do much more than what this machine offers. They should sell it for $1400 so that it becomes really appealing to some buyers.

 

I'm going to be testing a few different releases tomorrow, I will post the versions/results of all tested drivers.

Matt

 

I cancelled my order from Toshibadirect and ordered an X305-Q706 from Newegg for similar reasons that you stated in your review. Supposed to deliver tomorrow sometime, read your review just after purchasing from Newegg, might have changed my mind because of the disappointing initial benchmarking results. It is also disappointing that there is seemingly no support for these hybrid sli systems but encouraging that Nvidia says that driver support is coming. Been researching the hybrid sli, mostly here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybridsli_notebook.html and was wondering if you had this: [/URL][/IMG] or this:

 

Yes, those options can be changed in the power settings, but by default the configuration is Boost Performance Mode (uses the dual 9800's) while on AC power, and Save Power Mode when on battery (disables the 9800's and uses the integrated 9400 instead).

I'm in the process of testing a few drivers right now, I'll post results up tonight.

 

what about results....

 

Sorry, my internet connection at home is down, *gets on Verizon's case*. I can't get on here too often at work but wanted to givce an update. The 179.14 is smoother in general, on the desktop and in games, and is the best one I've tried so far, definitely better than the 181.00 drivers.. noticeable difference, but none of them boost 3DMark06 pask 9912, that's the highest I've gotten so far.

More updates tonight, the connection should be up and running.

 

i have bought a toshiba A135 S-4527 laptop in july 2007. it has a 1 year international limited warranty. just 2 months after its warranty got over, my laptop stopped working. when given for service, they told me that the problem is with the motherboard and i have to replace the motherboard. although replacing the motherboard costs more than 50% of the total cost of a laptop, i was willing to pay the sum because a lot of important data is there in my laptop. now, here comes the problem. they are telling me that the mother board model suitable for my lap is not available now. just 14 months from buying, is this the type of customer service you expect from toshiba ? and so, now i'm in a dilemma of losing all my important data along with my laptop.

THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS ISSUE, SINCE YOU ARE PAYING A WHOLE GOOD AMOUNT IN BUYING A COMP. AND YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANY SUPPORT OR SERVICE FROM TOSHIBA...I SHOULD SAY, YOU MUST THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING A LAPTOP FROM TOSHIBA..

 

Connection back up and running finally, took forever to get the Verizon connection straightened out, getting a discount on my bill though because of it Also had my connection switched from Coax to Ethernet so I could ditch the ActionLESS box of poo they call a router.

Anyway, I haven't had any luck with other drivers either, I've gotten the best performance with the 179.14 and the stock 176.49 drivers.

Question though, I know everyone thinks that the X706 should perform better in 3dMark06 than 9935 (thats with stock drivers after another fresh install/cleanup), but taking a look at the Gateway 7811, it gets about 8500, and had the same processor, RAM, and a single 9800GTS.

Would the SLI setup really bring up 3dMark06 up by over 3500 points?

 

i have the Toshiba qosmio with the t9550 with a single 9800m gtx and i'm currently getting 10556 just so you can compare overall happy with it.