Just Got To Try Out Toshiba P105-S9722

I just got back from CompUSA, and they actually had the P105-S9722 out on display (something that surprised me, as they generally haven't had the previous high-end P105's available to actually try out).

Overall seemed pretty nice. I did notice that the left-hand side of it seemed to be very hot, and the bottom on that side was scaldingly hot........ not a surprise I guess, but probably backs up the idea that this shouldn't be used on your lap without a cooler.

The screen looked pretty solid to me, although it seemed noticeably darker and less vibrant than the 17" HP's that were also around. Not terrible or anything, and I think it still seemed pretty solid.

Overall, the keyboard felt pretty solid to me, and I typed a number of paragraphs to see how comfortable I'd be. Previous descriptions that it feels more like a desktop keyboard than a laptop keyboard seemed pretty accurate to me. I do have to concur though that the squished keys on the right do seem kind of annoying, and I'd gladly take some full sized shift, enter and arrow keys instead of having a numpad. I think I would eventually get used to it, but I'm not sure I'd ever really like it. The heat issue comes up here as well, of course, since the left half of the keyboard also feels pretty hot; could probably get used to it, but definitely noticeable.

I have to say I didn't really care for the trackpad or buttons. The mouse buttons seemed really stiff to me, and the trackpad and buttons both seem too small to me. I didn't find it very comfortable navigating around the screen, etc. with the mouse. I think I would also have to turn off the trackpad tap-clicking stuff, because it seemed to be too sensitive (registering clicks when I really wasn't clicking).

I played some music videos through Windows Media Player, and I have to say the speakers seemed very impressive. Definitely pretty loud for laptop speakers, and I didn't hear any real distortion, etc.

Overall though, it seemed pretty solid to me. I am not sure yet if I'll buy one, but it seems like an impressive machine given the specs. I can't really fault it for the heat considering the amount of power in it (it is kind of humbling that this thing is significantly more powerful than my desktop computer).

I kind of wish Toshiba would include a copy of 3DMark or something; CompUSA at least won't let you install it on a demo machine, and it seems like if you're selling a gaming notebook, it would be nice to have 3DMark and maybe some game demos preinstalled so that people could really see what the machine can do.

 

Thanks for the report. It's too bad Toshiba decided to keep the pokey 4200rpm HD on their newest gaming machine. Everything else seemed perfect. I wonder how much difference the new Core 2 Duo CPU would make.

 

For what it's worth, I couldn't really tell of any problems from having a 4200rpm HD. Launching apps, etc. seemed to be pretty quick to me. I guess it would depend what one was using it for though.

 

yeah tried the P100 series. there is a little light leakage along the bottom of the display, kinda like the VAIO AR-series have. the keyboard is a wee bit weak. i guess i didn't like the looks of it, not coz its ugly or anything, but TOSHIBA needs to diferentiate its styling from its expensive 7900GS/GTX P100 with the A100 or something or rather OR even with the weaker P100... they just looks too similar. i reckon they needs to make a new GAMING line up with new name, instead of Sattelite, the [insert cool-tasteful name here] series! and they seriously needs to consider using high-end material; sony.... even DELL use Magnesium for its e1705/9400 series! c'mon Toshiba! for me to drool over one, imagine this;

My DREAM LAPTOP;

1) Lid needs to be made in CARBON FIBRE (with ACER style weaving) - coz metal would reduce the WiFi signal strength.

2) Strategic antenna placement - Multiple antenna in the lid to maximise signal reception

3) Carbon fibre (but with SONY style brushed steel looks) top half of the laptop - coz metal would tranmit heat when ur typing

4) Perforated (with holes like the Mac Pro) bottom half of the laptop made from titanium/alumunium/magnesium - titanium is preferable, but less heat transmission than alumunium; alumunium is great but easily dent... perhaps magnesium? that one seems in between; hence the "/'

5) Carbon Fibre Chassis

6) Every crucial part is shock mounted with rubber, enclosure, other technique, etc. (this includes HDD, inverter, etc.)

7) 3D Motion sensor!!!

8) Bright, something of WSXGA or WUXGA if it can get bright enough, dual-lamp, no light leakage-uniform screen, sort of like the Qosmio one but thinner, like the AR.

 

One thing I will say, I definitely liked the overall "feel" of the Toshiba P105 keyboard; I agree with the other assessments that typing on it feels a lot like typing on a desktop keyboard. My only complaint about it was just the squashed keys on the right side of the keyboard.

 

You're the second or so person that complained about this light leakage. I wish someone would post a pic of this problem. My P100 looks normal to me. The screen is a little too bright for my tastes, so I just simply dialed it down some. While I have my complaints about my Toshiba like the ridiculous touchpad (Even my lowly HP has a much better one). The screen is not one of them. To me it's almost like looking out a window especially when viewing HD videos.

 

**** you guys are lucky to have that awsome machine. Here in the Uk they dont come with that kind of power . I really wanna see a review of this beast!

In oct im buying one from USA...i found a guy who will ship to uk unlike stupid amazon who wont

ill get it for £1000. Laptops round here go for much higher and way less specs so im stoked haha.

 

Madonion, it's funny you should say that, 'cause I've read somewhere that the configurable P100 is available with the Go 7900 in Europe!!! I definitely would've gotten that if I had that choice.

 

Mine arrived a few days ago. Very sweet. Preliminary Benches are consistent with specs. Super Pi 2m = 1:03. 3D mark 05 = 6099. Fingerprint reader works well. I will try to do a full review next week.

 

That 3dMark looks pretty low, relatively...... in HexiumVII's review of the P105-S921, he got a 3DMark 05 score of 6877. Especially odd since that config also had only 1GB of RAM (and that was 533 MHz instead of 667), and was a 1.83 GHz Core Duo.

Granted, his score seemed on the high side, but other reviews I remember reading of the older P105 had a 3DMark05 score around 6200.

Any ideas what could cause this model to have an even lower score even though it should seemingly do better?

 

That's what I get with my P105-S9312

 

Wow. Is that with overclocking or something? What all did you have to do to get that kind of score?

If it is overclocking, how safe is that?

EDIT: Actually, is that because it is at 1024x768? Perhaps the people getting in the 6000-6200 range are running 3DMark at 1440x900?

 

Yes, that's overclocked..

Using Riva Tuner.

From Stock 375/500(1000mhz) to 443/654(1308mhz)

Also, I was thinking that maybe he got that slow score, having FSAA and Aniso activate it, you gotta disable them.

 

Ahh, gotcha. I guess though that it might be more representative of what your actual gaming experience will be to run at native resolution and with antialiasing, etc. turned on - I don't think anyone buys a notebook like this to just run at 1024x768 without any aliasing on.

What sort of effects have you noticed from overclocking? More heat, any other problems?

 

What I meant was like having FSAA and ANISO Application Controlled, instead of fixed 4xFSAA 16X Aniso..

But Remember Benchmarking is more like the highest score u can get, disabling all unnecessary programs that might be running in the background, disabling AntiVirus etc..

Actually I like that aspect of HardOCP.com Reviews... Instead on going with points scores... What they do when comparing Video Cards, is They Show the Maximum Playable settings and what Resolution, FSAA, Aniso.. and Averge, Highest, Lowest FPS they experienced on those settings..

But Remember.. When You're Drag Racing, you take out all unnecessary things from your car, to have less weight.

Just my 2 Cents... and Remember benchmarks should be runned with default settings..

PS: Another thing for actual gameplay benchmarks, Programs like 3dmark shouldn't be considered since they don't represent how good will your computer run certain games. So if what you wanted was the actual gameplay performance, than you just need to run the game u want with Fraps in the background taking the stats.


3dmark05 Is Supposed to be Run @ 1024x768, That's it's default Resolution, and people compare scores on default Resolution..
Now on 3dmark06 the Default Resolution is Higher. So I don't think the people getting 6200 points is running 1400x900, they wouldn't score that much at that Res with their default Speed.. Trust me.

 

I bought mine last week and while it is a beautiful high performance machine, I do have some reservations. The keyboard has a good feel but the right shift, (.) and (/) keys are not standard and take some geting used to. I plan to post a full review soon.

The fingerprint reader has not been reliable, and the speakers are nothing to be excited about.

3D 05 scores are about 6200
PC 05 scores are about 4900
3D06 scores are about 3820

The hard drive (4200 rpm) is not that slow.
Access 21ms
Average 28.2 MB/sec
Burst 76 MB/sec
CPU 3.6%

I got it from costco.com for $1800, mainly for their return policy (6m), but it is not on their site now.

Toshiba America was recently given a failing grade for costomer support by a consumer agency (Saw it at dailytech)