Qosmio x505-q894 brief review

My very brief and disjointed review (damn you Chiro for setting the bar so high):

I received my 894 today and so far everything is great. It is huge but not significantly larger than other 17 inch laptops I looked at. It is also heavy, but not nearly as heavy as my desktop. I chose the 894 because I use an i7 processor in my desktop and I feel that it may allow me an extra year of viable gaming life for the unit; also because I wanted the backlit keyboard and I have to pay tax on Amazon in my state so I was buying from Newegg which does not carry the 893.

I got this for semi portable gaming in my house mainly--I'm tired of being stuck in my basement office to play--and so far it is working well. I installed WoW and cranked the settings up and it runs great. Also starcraft2 is installed but I haven't played it much yet.

The styling looks great, the unit boots fast and runs really fast.

The slick keys on the keyboard are a little odd but I am having no trouble typing on it. No trouble with the small space bar others have mentioned or with the buttons on the side of the keyboard.

The area above the keyboard near the screen has gotten warm while I have been gaming but the bottom is totally cool to the touch. Also it is very quiet--you can't hear it at all with normal household noises going on.

I had to uninstall the toshiba hard drive protector because it parks the drive heads with the slightest movement of the laptop, otherwise it didn't really come with that much bloatware--some Toshiba apps I may uninstall later, a short term norton's that I uninstalled in favor of free Avast and some tool bars I uninstalled.

Sound is really good for a laptop--laptops I compare it to are business class dell and lenovo units which it blows away.

Screen looks great to me but I may not be as picky as others.

Ok there is my stream of consciousness review--I'll try to come back to update my reveiw and answer any questions over the next few days.

R

 

Thanks for the review.

Regarding the HDD sensor, I have heard that you can adjust the sensitivity of it so it doesn't park the HDD at the slightest touch. The HDD sensor is also flawed; testing it at Fry's, the slightest sideways movement triggered it, but I was able to move the laptop up and down substantially without setting it off. Nonetheless, it's probably useful in a "better safe than sorry" way.

 

nice review. I'm starting to regret I didn't get the i7 model, but still I saved $400 so at least I can cheer myself up a bit, and yes at first just a tiny bump on my desk and the HDD sensor would kick, although after reading through some reviews on the x505 I also followed suite and turned it down a notch to setting number 2. I wouldn't uninstall it though, since it does protect your investment. BTW I think I got like a week left to opt for the Accidently damage warranty, did you purchase it?

 

I have this Laptop and so far I'm gonna concur with your assessment of it. This is my first laptop and so far I'm liking it allot. Haven't gamed yet...I do have Black Ops under the tree but won't be loading it till Christmas Day Eve at the earliest. I do have Doom 3 that I've already played to death on the Desktop...but what the hey, maybe I'll go ahead and install it. I'm loving the keyboard, probably one of the best I've used...it's extremely user friendly.
Gaming is really secondary why I got this machine. Mostly I got it for video editing so I wanted to speed, space and memory that I'll be increasing to 8 gigs probably tomorrow and adding a external USB 3 TB HD for video rendering and storage. But really looking forward into ripping into some games.

 

I am amazed at this laptop. I was looking at the sager 18.4' screen model, but decided it was to rich for my blood. So, far no problems, every game I have thrown at it Mafia 2, Crysis, COD 4-Modern Warfare and my ps2 emulator (pcsx2) and games work great (resident evil 4, 5, God of War 1 and 2). Since I have the next couple of weeks off, I have been playing at least 3 hrs a day (alot for me), no overheating problems. I will say my lappy is sitting on a NZXT cooler.

 

I just signed up to post in this thread.

That I received my q894 just last night and this is the most beautiful piece of machinery I have ever laid my eyes upon.

 

Redd, what NLE do yo use? I am looking at this laptop for the same reason. I have been using a Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz, 4 gig ram 320 GB HD 15.6" Asus for about 4 years and want to move up.

I currently cut on Media Composer 5 and started way back when with Pinnacle Studio moving then to Avid Liquid.

The laptop sound great and is within my price range. Might move up to the 896 and get the true 1080i screen.

Jeff

 

I've had the Q894 for about a week. Runs like butter! I've had 15+ programs open + gaming and it still runs without a hiccup.

My only complaint: Like others have mentioned, the media keys to the left of the keyboard are very annoying. They are super sensitive and are easy to unintentionally touch.

 

Just in case you don't know, you can disable them. Go to Start Menu / All Programs / Toshiba / Utilities / HW Setup (see the Button Setting tab)

 

Thanks Andanzas, I just now disabled them.

Hopefully Toshiba will come up with a new update that will allow us to choose which buttons to disable. I really like the volume control and "eco-button" but don't need the rest (as I always seem to hit the mute button, it's right next to the tab button).

 

Cool review. I actually liked the stream of consciousness style, to be honest.

LMAO! :laugh:

 

It's been almost 2 weeks now and I really really like this laptop. Game performance in WoW and Starcraft 2 with most settings maxed out has been excellent.

Long periods of gaming do cause it to put out some very warm air from the rear exhaust ports but the laptop doesn't get that hot.

I haven't had a problem with the multimedia buttons so I've left mine on...

This thing boots so fast and runs everything so quickly it's just amazing...very comparable to my i7 desktop system...

I can't imagine why more people aren't buying these--on a feature/price basis they are really the best thing going right now.

 

It's because you have to buy it online. If it were in retail stores, they'd be selling like hotcakes.

 

I'm about 4 days away from dumping this ASUS G73JW and buying either the Q894 or the Q896. The screen resolution is the ONLY factor I'm trying to make the right decision on.

Let me ask you...did you Q894 owners need to zoom the screen ( Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display ) beyond 100% in order to view programs, web pages easily? I absolutely hate having to increase that setting above 100% -- messes up my work on my external 19" monitor.

Thank you in advance. Your input might finally help me settle on the right unit.

Happy New Year!

 

I have the 894 with the 720p screen. It looks great and I haven't had to zoom anything in to view it. I looked at some higher end Toshiba Satellites at Walmart (they have a similar size chasis, 17.3 inches, and use a similar screen).

I think the quality of the screen is great! I don't know why people are bashing the screen quality. I have heard the 1080p screens are dim, but Toshiba just recently (12/21/10) released bios 2.90 that addresses that problem, with many users reporting a 25-30% increase in brightness.

I too do not like ASUS. I have had issues with their products in the past (6-7 yrs ago). Maybe their quality has improved, but I have a 10 yr old Toshiba laptop that still runs great! That's all the convincing I need.

Good luck!

 

Thank you for the response, alex.

Now, to find out if owners of the 1080p screens have to zoom. If yes, I'll go with the Q894.

 

I have the x505-898 model and I have not touched anything concerning the screen. IMHO its not to dark, and no adjustments needed. OH, I was lucky, I was able to walk into my local store (J&R-NYC) and buy it. I really do like walking into the store and palying around with the floor models before buying. Another advantage of the store is that you can see how hot the laptop gets, since they have them on all day.

 

Quess i was lucky to with my full HD screen....no dark problem here, in fact i have to turn the brightness down to save my eyes

 

Hey guys I have a couple questions if any of you Qosmio or Asus G73 owners have a minute.

I recently bought a sony vaio EC serious with an LED 1080p screen. I have returned it because of various reasons, one of the big ones being that the viewing angles were just horrible. The slightest move of my head up or down completely distorted the picture and washed everything out.

I am trying to figure out what to get for a gaming laptop between $1000-1500, so far ive been looking at the G73 and the Qosmios.

Are the vertical viewing angles on the Qosmios really that terrible? (on the 1080 and 940 screens) I really love the laptop overall (price specs look etc) and from the reviews I have read here.

Also am interested in the Asus if anyone have any input on its screen (although I dont love the overall look of the laptop I guess I can overlook this lol).

I really wish I could find these in store so I could look at them in person, but I dont think Best Buys or Wal Marts in Massachusetts carry them. Any idea on similar lappy screens I could check out or maybe some stores that carry them? (I believe there are some Costco's, Sams clubs, etc around)

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

The Qosmio has a similar screen to higher end Toshiba Satellites (glossy finish).
I was able to see a Satellite at Walmart that was 17.3 inches, similar chasis and similar screen to the Qosmio. Seeing the Satellite made me want to buy the Qosmio.

Walmart.com: Toshiba Helios Grey 17.3" Satellite L675D-S7060 Laptop PC, AMD Turion II P540 Processor, Blu-Ray Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium: Computers

Best Buy carries a stripped down version of the G73 (has a 5200 rpm HD and less RAM). It looks nice. Screen looks bright and probably has less glare than the Toshiba. I did not like the "rubberized" feel of the ASUS mousepad and exterior. The ASUS is also smaller (17.3 inches) and lighter (about 7 lbs).
However, I preferred the style and brand of Toshiba over ASUS. Maybe you'll like the ASUS.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/1257894.p?id=1218243761956&skuId=1257894

I also considered the SONY (VPC-F 136 version $1300 [now $1200], labeled as Desktop replacement). I'm still way more impressed by the look and specs of the Qosmio over the Sony).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...lack/1245308.p?id=1218240958342&skuId=1245308

I bought my Qosmio Q894 from Costco.com. However, Costco is sold out. Maybe they'll get more in.
Don't buy the Qosmio from Bestbuy. Half of the models are outdated (have Gforce GTS 360; newer have GTX 460) and are OVERpriced.

Good luck! and let us know what you decide.

 

The Qosmio's 1080p screen has pretty decent viewing angles for a notebook. I have seen some notebooks with horribly narrow viewing range, one slight move and the colors totally change but the Qosmio is not one of those.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Ill definitely have to check out some of the higher end 17 inch Toshiba screens, you said they have similar screens right? Is the Qosmio screen a bit better or are they very close in general?

I think some of the Best Buys have the Asus around here, Im going to try to check one out. I'd like to see the Asus in person because I have a feeling I also wont love the black rubber design much.

What do you think of the Asus screen vs the Qosmio / 17inch satellites ?

Again thanks for the replys!

 

Let me put it this way, I am shipping my ASUS G73 (with 1080p screen) back to the retailer via UPS tomorrow & will never buy another ASUS again without using it for 30 minutes at the store first.

I spent 30 minutes evaluating a Qosmio (with the 1080p) screen this past weekend, and I'm buying a Qosmio later this week (but, I want the Q894 with a 1680 x 945 screen instead of the 1080p screen).

It's late; so, keeping my feedback brief.

ASUS keyboard sucked - I have posts (& help from other users here - thanks to them!) here about the garbage keyboard. Missed keystrokes, space bar did not register hits, numeric keypad is small. As someone who works on the laptop more than games on it, this was an epic FAIL for me. Yes, ASUS is working on a BIOS update for my particular model, but it's too late for me.

ASUS speakers sucked - even playing media at lower volume levels caused the speakers to crackle & pop. FAIL. Yes, again there apparently is a fix for this out there on the Internet, but why am I always trying to fix ASUS's failures?

Viewing on a 19" external monitor was not good - drag a window from the laptop screen over to the 19" monitor & I got the feeling my 19" monitor was more like a 14".

The viewing angle was kind of funny. I did a few Skype video calls on the ASUS. To get the best view of my own screen while on the call, I had to push the monitor up so that my forehead was near the bottom of the camera's view.

The ASUS was quiet and did a good job cooling.

--

The Qosmio that I tried out at the store?
Bigger screen @ 18.4".
Great keyboard.
The Harmon/Kardon (sp?) speakers were excellent by laptop standards.
The numeric keys were regular-sized.
Same i7 processor.
Same NVIDIA GPU.
It was warm just above the function keys, but not uncomfortable.
Overall, it was about as quiet and cool as the ASUS.

I do not like scaling a 1080p screen at 125% just to make content on the screen legible; so, I'm sticking with the 1680 x 945.

Best wishes on your future purchase. Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

 

Trust me zolins as Bolt said... Qosmios are the defacto for medium to high end... remember there are other millionaire brands such as Sagar/Clevo.. but the discussion is not about em eh... I wanted to get the Q894 so bad but the extra 400 would see the wife putting me out.... so i went with the Q893... I gamed on it immediately to burn it in... never a whimper from then... about the ASUS G7x lines... just look aroung on the net like neo in the matrix.... you will see just how much people are rma'ing them... its like a plague... i too was gonna get one... but as i do note a Qosmio is a Toshiba.... and a Toshiba will always be a Toshiba....

 

I am still waiting for my Vaio RMA to be complete before I can really pull the trigger on something.

Took a look at Best Buys stripped down ASUS G73 today along with some of their higher end toshibas (They had a 17" satellite). The screens on them both looked pretty good, viewing angles not superb but seem acceptable. I think my GFs XPS M1730 is making me picky about screens, it really seems the market is getting cheap with them.

I surprisingly didnt mind the design of the G73 as much as I thought I would. Im now hearing about the "Sandy Bridge" models of both just over the horizon and may wait to see how those pan out before I decide (Unless they arn't popping up for over a month or so).

Earlier I read through the G73 forums a bit, and the general feeling seems to be they like them, but they have some annoying software issues, something I may be willing to fix myself or wait and see if the sandy bridge models fix these issues (im thinking they will). But otherwise I'd be willing to fix the software / driver problems if I decide this is the lappy for me, though this def. slightly deters me (Kind of ridiculous that you have to fix the issues yourself).

I dunno, as maybe have said the lower model Qosmios are a steal (Q891-893), however if I decide to spend the $1500-1600 instead (for 1080p, blu ray, etc.) I might be leaning twords an Asus or something else. Im still not sure tbh, wish I could find a Qosmio in person, I dont feel that comfortable dropping this kind of money on something I have never seen in person.

 

I agree MJO, it's hard to decide on a Qosmio without seeing it in person.

I think your right, wait for the sandy bridge counter-parts to come out. The Sandy Bridge Qosmios are now being sold at Sears.com (I don't know why ToshibaDirect.com doesn't carry them).

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

I need the PC asap for work; so, I can't wait for Sandy Bridge. Very smart move if you have the time and the money.

I went back to the Micro Center today to look at the Qosmio 1920 x 1080 screen again. It turns out that program menus and other content are quite legible at 100% scaling (zoom) -- 100% on an 18.4" screen sure is quite a bit better than 100% on a 17.3" screen.

I might just go with the 1080p resolution, after all.

 

You wont regret. The screen is pinsharp, and you can play all the games in full HD, but dont espect to max out Crysis and Metro in that res

 

TBolt let me know if when you get yours (and what screen res ) and how you like it. I may end up seeing how Sandy bridge plays out. If not Ill let you guys know what I think also

 

So, there is a significant advantage to gaming on the 1680 x 945 - better frame rates, etc?

I'm more of a flight simmer - MS FSX & Aces High II. FSX never plays too well on any system I've ever had; so, I wouldn't ever expect it to run perfectly.

--

MJO, will do! I'm going to watch the news out of Vegas this weekend. If Toshiba announces the release date of their Sandy Bridge systems, I'll be surprised. Engadget says that MSI announced 16 systems already, though; so, we'll see.

 

Bought the Q896 model at Micro Center today. The laptop was completely dead on arrival. Plugged it in to a live socket, checked that the battery was seated properly, pressed the "On" switch & nothing, nada, zip, zilch. hehehe

It was a bummer, but at least Micro Center refunded the money without argument.

These things must sell like hot cakes. The remaining inventory was gone by the time I returned the machine this evening.

 

Sorry to hear that. I would be pretty pissed to get a lemon.

 

No problem. Honestly, I was glad it was something indisputable, like being dead on arrival. No argument from the retailer.

I see Walmart.com has a good price on your Q894. I'll bet the PC arrives at the local Walmart by the end of the weekend (crossing fingers).

 

Nice! Almost got mine from Walmart, but upgraded and got the Costco version.

Walmart had the 896 for the same price as the 894, but I see they longer have the 896 in stock.

I hear Walmart has a 14 day, no questions asked return w/o restocking fee. When you get it, MAKE YOUR RESTORE DVDS, then run every stress test possible to make sure it's not a lemon (stress tests also include playing games )

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

15-day return policy from what I've read, and yes . . . I plan to work the hell out of it during that time. lol.

Dang, didn't see any Qosmios at Costco.com at the time. O well. Will be glad with what I have.

 

Ya, Costco had the 885 and 894, both sold out fairly quickly.

Waiting for Costco to get the Sandy Bridge Qosmios (As Costco already has a Sandy Bridge Satellite on their site); I might trade my 894 for a new unit if they get them in.

Let us know how your new unit turns out.

 

Did you upgrade?

I am happy with this Q894. I only wish I could disable the buttons on the left side of the keyboard. hehehe. I always press them accidentally.

 

Nope. Costco hasn't gotten the SB Qosmios yet.

I also wrote a little tutorial on how to tweak the media keys.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/546917-reassign-disable-annoying-qosmio-media-keys.html

 

Ok. If you get it, looking forward to your comments about how much better it supposedly would be.

Ah! Thank you for the tutorial, Alex! I'm so glad to have those buttons disabled, now. hehehe