Official X500 Owner's Lounge!

The G73 does look interesting. I see it does not have eSata or ExpressCard. I'd like to see the display in person.

The Q880 is displaying a cooling system problem message now, so it looks like I'll be returning it.

 

Lebo,Could you be more specific on your cooling problem.I might have a similar problem runing certain programs. thanks

 

I'm sorry to hear that.
Hehe. Just kidding.

Too bad I can't find the G73 anywhere in the US....Bummer.

Yes, please do be more specific about this problem...

 

I am getting a System Warning error window when I power up the system. It says:

Warning: A problem with the cooling system has been detected. Please turn off the computer immediately, and return it for service.

 

Thanks for the reply!
damn thats one creepy message for a new top o'line computah!! I wonder what exactly prompted such an ALERT!

 

Wow, sounds like a fan unit or something came off during shipping. If it's that new, return it where you purchased.

On the bright side, makes me feel good to know the built in fail-safe systems work, sorry tho, that it happened with your machine.

 

I would have to agree with Compusmurf. It's probably just that one faulty product that just happens no matter what product it is (I include the shipping process into the category "faulty" eventhough I wouldn't when it comes to statistics. lol. Just mainly because it's a part of the whole delivery of the product and you didn't have it yet...dunno if anyone else thinks this way. haha).

 

I haven't noticed any blue cast on FullHD screen, however I didn't really compare colour temperature differences. Even if one exists, it should be easy to be calibrated by W7 colour settings calibration (not NVidia one - NVidia one is not calibration tool by any means).

Matte surface on already dim FullHD screen will make it just horrible, remember that matteness greatly reduces brightness and contrast - pointless to do on dim screens.

The full G73 review on notebookcheck.net should be out soon, they will measure screen like they usually do.

 

I once worked part time as a receiving dock dude.

If you saw what we did......... Warehouse workers, when they get bored, really do awful things. Football with shipped product, hockey with others..... Products that WERE probably PERFECT from the factory wasn't quite so perfect when the customer takes them home......

 

haha. This I do know.
When I worked for Apple, 99.9% of the DOA items or lost items were either broken/stolen by FedEx. haha

I just include shipping into that for some reason.....dunno why. haha

 

Hahaha, if it weren't for bubble wrap and foam packing, 3/4 of everything purchased would be damaged.

 

Guess I won't be getting this laptop afterall....or any for that matter.
Student load won't go through for some reason. :/
Back to using my rent's desktop that has 700 something MB of ram, a 1ghz single processor (I think it may be less actually lol), and a vid card that is literally about 8-9 years old.

Yayyyy for me!



FML.

 

I've returned the defective X505-Q880 and the X505-Q832 went back to Costco.

Tonight the X505-Q879 (like X505-Q880 but a Costco specific model with the 2 year warranty) showed up on the Costco.com site, so I've put an order in for one of those. Hopefully that will arrive in good shape and I'll be able to spend time with the display to see if it's workable for me.

 

Hello,

could someone please post a detailed method how to overclock a geforce GTS 250M in Qosmio X500 I read that here that some people used EVGA precision utility to overclock the graphic card but is it enough just to download EVGA precision or do I have to upgrade the nvidia drivers first? So can someone post how to do this?

thanks

Peter

 

Podlipsky, read, read, read, learn, study. Once you know all the risks, then by that time, you'll know how.

Most folks aren't going to step out and say exactly how considering the risk vs reward of what you're asking.

Can it be done? Yup. But honestly, if you don't know how yet, then you're not ready to take the chance of frying your video card. No disrespect intended here.

 

I have overclocked several systems (CPU, memory, and graphics) in the past, it is a great way of "upgrading" ones system, but I do *not* recommend it for the Qosmio X500.

My main usage is not gaming, but when I do an occasional hour of wow in the evening, both the area above the graphic card and the power supply get burning hot. In fact I make sure to keep flamables away from the power brick, it is that hot.

I have not measured the actual temperature, but I believe both parts must be close to thermal limits at regular speeds.

 

I have done overclocking before but not on a laptop but on a desktop I know the risks and I know that you have to be careful and slow and always watch temperature but on a desktop I just used omega drivers or something like that and some overclocking utility I think I know a bit how to do it I have to download drivers from laptopvideo2go but will the modified inf work? and the main question do I have to use these drivers or can I overclock the card with original toshiba drivers only by using EVGA precision?

 

Hi all. I just purchased an x500-S1801 model from Amazon. What is strange however is that the specs on this item on Amazon are different from the specs I've seen at every other site. Specifically, Amazon lists a GTS 360m along with a screen rez of 1920x1080 with the FHD TruBrite technology, while other sites (including Toshiba's) list a 360m with a rez of 1680x945 paired with the HD+ TruBright TFT. I honestly don't know one which one I prefer, but after hearing everyone poo poo the FHD, perhaps I'll be hoping for the HD+. If I don't like this screen, its going back.

 

Just popped in to say that I am so glad I got the Asus G73 instead!

This thing whoops Toshiba like Epic Beard Man!

 

Quick update to my previous post:
Amazon just updated the page for the X500-S1801 to include a 1680x945 screen. Having already ordered it, I will be sending this back on their dime if I don't get my 1920x1080 screen. Grrrr.....

 

I received the X505-Q879 yesterday and have had good results adjusting the display, including brightness (note there is a Screen brightness setting associated with each Power Plan, with the Balanced plan being fairly dim by default). Colors are much more saturated with the 1920x1080 display than the 1680x945 display as reported by others

I did have some issues getting a WiFi connection established. I have 3 other computers here that have no problem with this so it may be a weakness of the Realtek card. Let's hope there will be a user configurable order option that includes an Intel card or that Toshiba switches to something better in the future (or maybe some future drivers will help).

 

So you are saying you like the 1080p panel better than the 720p as well? I am really annoyed by Amazon right about now.

 

This depends on what you mean by "better".
Colours and contrast are better on FullHD screen, true, but it's a lot less bright, has slightly worse viewing angles and also faint dark line at the bottom of the screen where bottom lamp is located.

And it's not 720p (1280x720), its HD+ (1680x945).

 

EVGA precision will work on any driver.

I've been running mine at 500/1250 since I've got my X500 (several months) without any issues. No wonder actually, since these are just stock NVidia frequencies - 250M originally downclocked on X500 by Toshiba.

 

Yes but Leebo mentions that he has discovered a way to make his screen 1920x1080 screen brighter, thus seemingly having his cake and eating it too. Perhaps his idea of bright is not most people's, and I will be happier with the 1680x945 screen. I will reserve judgment when my item comes in.

Doh!

 

Regardless of what software tricks you try, FullHD X500 screen will be about 1.5 times dimmer on max brightness than HD+
If you've seen both screens side by side you will know what I mean.

It's entirely hardware-dependant (LCD filter density), and not possible to fix with software. Most apparent fact is that it's never possible to make white color brighter regardless of calibration settings.

Actually this is direct result of less saturated colour filters on HD+ screen - they filter less light out => higher brightness.

 

Well I really hope we share similar tastes, since I will be getting the same screen that you have. It would be a shame if I don't like the screen, since everything else about this notebook seems pretty solid.

 

Yes, I like the 1920x1080 display better. I can get plenty of brightness out of it and I like the more saturated colors. One place to set brightness is: Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options: there is a Brightness slider at the bottom which can be set differently for each Power Plan.

It's really a personal choice, so ideally you'd be able to look at both and pick what you like best, or you might be happy with what you get.

I think the Toshiba specs show that the models with a 1680x945 display support 720p (for output via HDMI?)

 

Might as well be 720p though as I have never heard of anything that is broadcasted in 945p or have ever seen a resolution with that in any of my games I play on my computer(s). so that extra 225p seems kinda pointless to me.....but that's just my personal opinion.

 

Don't know what games you mean, but all recent releases I've played ran in native res just fine.
IMO it's most optimal res for 250M, it's not powerful enough to handle FullHD gaming.

 

That is very good to know. Thanks. I really hope I am not disappointed with mine when it comes in.

 

I just meant they didn't have a XX by 945 resolution.
I could have overlooked them, as I am not a big gamer though.

And that's strange, I had a worse vid card in my other laptop, and had no prob playing my games in full 1080p. Although some weren't that demanding, others were. The ones that were demanding I wasn't able to have all video settings turned to high though, otherwise it could lag when the game needed the extra resources.

 

Was exactly my point. I prefer to play my games on high, with good and smooth framerate.

 

to each their own.
I prefer to have it on 1080p, and have all my games set to low except for shadows/texture. I've always played with them set like that even when I don't have 1080p, and I get better framerates no matter what pc I'm playing on lol.
But I liked playing the campaigns/careers set to high, just not online gaming.

 

I am more in line with Ingvarr on this issue. If we were talking gaming on something as big as a 40-inch sure 1080p all the way even with lower settings. But, on a screen as small as 18.4 inches, 1680x945 is good enough, especially since I'll likely be able to max out settings for most games. Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself I will like 1680x945 better, since today I got an email from TigerDirect's Amazon sales dept informing me that if I want to send it back, it will be on my dime even though at the time I ordered it was listed as having a 1080p screen. Sigh, I really hope I like it.

 

Hello All,

New own, does anyone else think the screen has a real bad yellow hue to it?

Put it out to a flat screen monitor andits perfect so I know its not my settings.

Whites are a definite yellow

TIA!!

 

What flat screen monitor to compare to? There is no industry standard on color temperature of white point that each display mush have, therefore some screens appear more "yellowish" while others more "blueish".

Also often white appears yellow if the screen is too bright for current ambient light condition (on the opposite white can appear blueish if brightness is insufficient) - due to result of Purkinje effect.

If you want different colour temperature for your screen's white point (like make it the same as desktop screen you like), its pretty easy to change with calibration software.

 

The Flat screen monitor is a cheap Acer Wide Screen X223HQ

But the laptop is really yellow, Chalk and chesse tried to Download new drivers for the card but cannot only "allowed" Toshiba, this was before I ran it through the monitor as I though it might be to do with the settings.

Any decent free calibration software you could suggest?

 

You can adjust most of monitor parameters that matter by Windows 7 built-in calibration software. I find it best for my basic uses.

There is a white point adjustment here in "color balance" section.

Here is a guide - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Calibrate-your-display

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for that, already tried that, and all the colours are as far over to the right as possible, and just makes it worse moving to the left. I am seriously considering taking it back.

For £1399 its really poor my first one never got booted as it was broken, the battery mounts were snapped. My kids have got a new mid range Asus @ £500 and the display is perfect, in fact it puts this one to shame.

This one white has a yellow hue and everything else has too, driving me crazy almost like a protective cover on the screen

 

lol. Well I hope you like it too haha.
I was hooking my laptop up to my 27" external monitor (biggest monitor that would fit on my desk in the monitor spot). So I guess that could have been the reason why I didn't mind so much. lol.

 

Yeah, I'll be using my laptop as a laptop. I already have 3 devices capable of outputting to 1080p which are my Xbox 360, my PS3, and my PC (which actually outputs to 1920x1200). But really, I am just trying to convince myself that I'll like it at this point. The proof will come later today when I receive my x500-s1801 in the mail.

 

Still trying to solve my yellow screen X500 the laptop LCD should it be "Generic Plug & Play Monitor"? Cannot see any monitor driver on the Toshiba Download site.

Any help I would be very happy with, I have migrated all my files so really do not want to return it and I am happy with everything bar this darn screen!

 

further research says I am not the only one, does anyone else really not notice it?

"Note: Our prototypes display appeared to have a slight yellow cast that actually only could be noticed under Windows and Office."

Taken form here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Toshiba-Qosmio-X500-10V-Notebook.24427.0.html

 

Mine says generic plug n play monitor also.

If my 870 has a yellow tint to it I don't notice it. I put a white piece of paper up against it and it looks as white as the paper where it should look white so who knows.

 

Alright so my x500-s1801 just came in. Not really happy with the screen. This is supposed to be bright at 1680x945? Anyhoo not long after I had turned it on did I receive this message:
Grrrrreat! Well, I think I'll be sending this back on TigerDirect's dime now.

 

How did you try to adjust the brightness?

That's the same message I had on my X505-Q880 right after receiving it. No problems with my X505-Q879 so far.

You lucked out on the shipping, although it seems TigerDirect should be responsible for shipping if you decided to return a non-defective product that was mis-represented on their site.

 

Yeah so i had a sager np5967 whatever it was called, some of the dumbest naming schemes i have to say but now i bought a m17x yep! for only 1,500 the same amount of money i just about payed for my qosmio, i do kinda miss the core i7 even though there isn't much of a difference lol. Specs for the m17x is in my signature.

 

A lot brighter than 1920x1080, yes. Did fn+f7? Takes several minutes to warm up lamp after cold start.

 

Its not quite as bright as the screen on my HP DV9500 with the dual led lcd. My dad got an HP DV7 a little after I got mine, and I noticed his screen was very dim as well. Kind of a yellow cast as others have described. I tried to adjust every setting I could but nothing would fix it. The Qosmio screen seems to be cut from the same cloth - same yellow cast. Perhaps I am just used to the dual leds and not at all used to screens with the ccfl. But yes, I will try to give it some more time as I didn't take into account the warm up period after a cold start.

Adjusted the brightness within the OS as well as FN+7. As for the cooling system warning I guess that message is in error, since the laptop doesn't feel warm to the touch and I can feel air being pushed out the back. Also, I don't know how accurate it is but the software sensor that ships with this PC tells me the CPU is only "50 percent hot" whatever that means.
One more thing, the sticker on the wrist rest tells me I have a x505 with a resolution of 1920x1080, lol.