Review of Toshiba X775-Q7384

Before I get started...here are the basic specs:

Price: I got mine for $1399 from Newegg. I see the price is currently up to $1499

Processor*
Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor
Operating System*
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), SP1
Graphics Engine*
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M w/NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology
Graphics Memory*
1.5GB GDDR5 discrete graphics memory

Memory and Storage

Memory*
8GB DDR3 1333MHz memory
Hard Drive*
1.0TB: 500GB (7200rpm, Serial ATA) + 500GB (7200rpm, Serial ATA)
Optical Drive*
Blu-ray Disc™ ROM and DVD SuperMulti drive with Labelflash®*

Audio and Video

Display Size
17.3" widescreen
Display Type*
HD+ TruBrite® LED Backlit display
Display Resolution
1600x900

I have never taken the time to review a laptop on this forum previously...but after living with the Toshiba X775-Q7384 for a few weeks, feel that it is one of the more underrated gaming machines for the dollar. There are some definite negatives...but first some basics to keep in mind:

Configuration: My Q7384 came with bios 1.40. It is a known issue on this forum that quite a few X775 models have throttling issues with any bios beyond 1.10. Being aware of this, I immediately reflashed the bios to 1.10 using the very handy Toshiba utility which made a bootable DVD for me. Be aware if you're wary of taking a chance of bricking a laptop by having a bad flash...this is a risk you'll most likely have to take until Toshiba gets an updated bios out that will disable the GPU throttling. I'm a certified tech, so it's no big deal to me...but it is something to be aware of. Machine came with the usual load of bloatware...but that's what the uninstall programs utility is for.

Chassis: Personally, I like the look of the X775 laptops. It's purely a matter of personal taste. I can say that if you're worried that the laptop will be "too red", the red in my opinion is rather understated and not too "loud". The red Toshiba logo on the back of the chassis is bright and shiny...but the other highlights are rather subdued. One big positive for me is the chassis has a textured feel that does not fingerprint. Keeps a real clean look even after several weeks of use.

Keyboard: Chicklet-style raised keys that have no lag and good tactile response. Going at a good 70wpm clip, I encounter no errors at all. Also, I appreciate the media hotkeys above the keyboard which allow you to raise/lower volume, turn off sound, wireless, etc. There is also a small button just above the touchpad which will enable/disable it. I don't use the touchpad (give me a good gaming mouse anytime), but it seems responsive.

Sound: Exceptional. Simple as that. That built-in Harman/Kardon speakers will blow you away. Great resonance and depth to the sound. Also, as opposed to other laptops I've owned, very loud. I normally keep the volume at 50% to keep from shaking the windows.

Performance: As I have indicated in previous posts, this X775 will game with the best of them at native res. Currently playing Old Republic, Skyrim, the newest Assassin's Creed, etc and running all at full detail getting very steady frame rates. I'm not a FRAPS person and haven't run tests to evaluate from a pure numbers standpoint. I have taken a couple of YouTube videos which I will upload later. But, for my tastes, gameplay is smooth no matter what I throw at this thing. I due tend to be sensitive to motion sickness if the frames drop below 30...and have never had that occur with this machine...so that my give you an idea. The Nvidia 560M can definitely handle the 1600 by 900 res with no trouble. Also of note, have had no problem running the standard Nvidia drivers...currently running 290.53 beta.

Cons: The biggest problem is battery life. I virtually always run this tethered to electric anyway...but for testing purposes, tried to game without cord and was only able to go without tethered power for around 40 minutes. This beast burns battery faster than any machine I've ever owned. If battery is any kind of issue for you, steer clear. One other minor niggle is the power connector on the left side is a little fragile for my tastes. Have had no problems, but I wouldn't want any kind of weight to hit the cord while plugged in. I also would prefer to set up desktop color using the Nvidia control panel...unfortunately, it's the built-in Intel desktop colors that are in charge when not gaming. I have it tuned like I want, but it's less than ideal.

Optical and hard drive: This comes equipped with a very nice bluray drive and a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive. Hard drive "feels" very swift. And, the bluray drive does a good job of starting movies quickly and looks good on this screen (basically you're getting a 720p display...so not the best, but still adequate for my tastes)

Screen: Personally, the screen is fine for my eyes, but to judge it versus other machines I've had, I'd say it's not a strong point. The viewing angle issue never bothers me since I'm normally the only one looking at the screen...but I can say that it doesn't have a wide viewing angle if that matters to you before the colors get lost. This may be something that I replace with a matte screen at some point...but for now, it's fine.

Stability: Have not had one crash yet, but the fan on the left side will kick into high gear when gaming. Not extremely loud (I'm looking at you MSI GT683)...but you'll be aware that it's there. Haven't measured temps or run Furmark, but after long periods of gaming, not one issue...heat-related or otherwise.

Miscellaneous stuff: I like the way the chassis is elevated by the battery in the back. That allows for healthy airflow underneath the laptop and can't hurt stability. Also, for me anyway, makes typing more comfortable. We occasionally will use this laptop for Vudu movies...and it connects seamlessly to our Panasonic 1080p plasma and looks outstanding. No special configuration necessary.

Gallery of pics:

 

Toshiba X775-Q7384 Battlefield 3 Gameplay - YouTube

 

Toshiba X775-Q7384 SW:Old Republic Gameplay - YouTube

 

The first two videos were shot by my wife at a slightly off-angle which doesn't show the screen very well. This final one should represent the screen slightly better:

Toshiba X775-Q7384 running F1 2012 ultra settings - YouTube

 

Holiday, great review!!!

Glad to see you really enjoy your Qosmio and it is kicking butt in those games you posted [BF3 looks sweet on it]. Thank you for the review, as I believe it is one of the first detailed x775 reviews we've had [includes pics and videos].
A very good read


Good luck and keep us posted with any updates

 

That's a very informative review
I'm thinking of getting this laptop and i found your review quite helpful, thank you and please feel free to post any updates

 

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Yes, love the laptop. I may post some additional gameplay videos...perhaps some Skyrim at max and Assassin's Creed. Highly recommended machine! Thanks again.

 

You should get FRAPS so you can demo the FPS with those top settings. I am blown away by my Toshiba X500-067 Qosmio first gen i7 and GTX460M. I play most games at max settings with more than respectable frames. I have the 1080P screen. I own several great gaming laptops and the Qosmio is my favorite to play on. For some reason it just seems easier to aim and control my character, plus the sound is awesome. If my my mobo ever dies I will definatly upgrade to a S/B mobo with second gen i7. This machine was expensive when new, but it is really worth the extra $.

 

No offense to the FRAPS crowd, but I've never been interested in synthetics. It always causes a big hit in frame rate...so IMHO, you don't get an idea what it really looks like to play the game on the machine. I didn't intend the review to be a scientific measurement...just my opinion. Thanks.

 

Good job on the review. Nothing was said about lack of drivers. If Toshiba is like Asus, and my UL30vt with hybrid drivers, it's going to be a long winter.

Yea, LOL what is it with the power plug config? Big and round but only plugs in 1/4"? Less damage if tripped over?

What about your batery wear out the box? Mine and others show 20-21% wear out the box. Our rather small 4.6 mWh battery shows only 3.6 mWh as shown on several utilities. I have replacement battery in the mail from toshiba.

 

FWIW..

The new version of Fraps is reported to have minimal impact when just reporting FPS. Recording movies is another matter.

I used the new Fraps to bench Skyrim with and without a Skyrim accelerator which quickly showed we( I) do not need it with our Qosimo. Unfortunately, without a built in bench, how else are we to decide if the new driver or CPU upgrade was worth it?

So, IMHO; synthetic or not; these have their purpose over a closed course on your machine.. as my old stop watch is history!

Of course, YMMV!

 

Coming from an Alienware owner too!? O_O

wat

I didn't expect to hear this from someone who owns a machine of that caliber. Coolio. ^_^

I know the Qosmio line doesn't get as good scores for every day tasks, but as far as I have seen, using the same setup as an Alienware or Clevo, they win in game benches for whatever reason. I've heard it's due to the motherboard connectivity and the GPU being physically soldered onto it. I love my X505... plan on selling it to a close friend so I can see it from time to time. ^_^ After I upgrade of course.

 

Update on my original review: Replaced the glossy screen that came with my machine with a 1600 by 900 matte. Big time improvement in colors (IMHO). Just uploaded a follow up YouTube video running F1 2012 again...this time with the new matte screen:

Toshiba X775-Q7384 with new Matte screen running F1 2012 at ultra settings - YouTube

Went with this screen instead of the 1920 by 1080 due to that screen being out of stock at the time and wanting to maintain the lower res due to future-proofing frame rates for games down the road.

 

good review, I get my tommorrow replacing my asus g50v thats falling apart, so thought I give Toshiba a try wish me luck

 

I hope your X775 works great for you! It's so far the best machine I've ever owned. I immediately flashed the bios back to 1.10 when I received it and haven't found a reason yet to go with the new 1.60. If you have any questions once you get it in hand, fire them this way.

 

Since you ask lol, I heard going back to the 1.1 makes it overheat, so you haven't had any throttle, or slow downs since you owned it?

 

Haven't had one issue. I don't use a laptop cooler...laptop doesn't run loud when gaming. No blue screens...this thing has been pristine! Even better now that I've replaced the glossy screen with a matte screen...

When my X775 arrived, it had the 1.30 bios...and I had seen enough videos online showing what the throttling looked like, so I made up my mind that I was going to back-flash from day one. Glad I did although I hear that the 1.60 bios works good too.

 

Yea, I really never like the glossy screens, my asus has it and reflects so much during the day and my old dell laptop didn't have glossy and was so much better. Idk why they would make glossy screens.

 

Very nice review. I own the X550-Q893 and have had it for about 18 months now, having bought it literally a couple of weeks after Toshiba launched the then new line with the 460m GPU. I was considering upgrading, but my lappy still plays ALL the current games with no problem, so let's see what Toshiba has up their sleeves for the NEXT gen of Qosmios. Seriously, though, great review, very informative!

Edit: By the way, I am very interested in making sure to get a matte screen on my next gaming laptop. Did you purchase that from Toshiba or was it an aftermarket item? I ask because I looked out of curiosity on Toshiba's site and they don't seem to offer the X77x line with matte screens.

 

Hello, I bought a non-Toshiba screen from Screencountry.com. It ended up being the same AUO brand as the glossy that came with the system....but the new matte screen has MUCH better viewing angle and better colors...very happy with the upgrade.

Unfortunately, due to other circumstances, currently have the system for sale in the NBR Marketplace....but it's been an awesome laptop.

 

Sorry to hear that, Holiday. I hope you get a lot of cash for it!

I really HATE that Toshiba won't offer a matte screen because it is kind of pointless to have to buy a new screen for a brand new lappy.

 

No problem...these things happen when you find out you are about to be the father of a SIXTH child

I agree on the matte screen...I don't have a serious problem with glossy screens...but you would think they would at least offer it as an upgrade or option....

Thanks for the well wishes...much appreciated.

 

Well mine had 1.6 no problems, have done some heat test, and 560m overclocking because haven't seen anyone try.

Ok as for the temps 91c on my cpu, and 74gpu overclocked playing deus ex. Thinking it could use some of my arctic 5 silver paste but don't want to void the warranty so probably not for a while.

My overclocks were 925/1850/1900 wont keep them there but just wanted to try it.

Had freezing problems where I get to the desktop and wont let me do anything for like 10mins but uninstalled alot of Toshiba's junk and fixed the problem.

 

I keep looking at the Qosimo... it seems like the best bang for the buck, but did they have to make it so _ugly_?! I hate orange, or red/orange.

 

The color may be a bit more subtle than you're thinking. I was expecting the computer version of a tomato...but (to me anyway), the color is more subtle...more red highlights than anything real gaudy...but to each his own...

 

I like the color and the texture of the laptop, also I like not having finger prints everywhere lol

 

I agree. Not one fingerprint on this thing even after daily use for a couple months. My wife doesn't like crazy colors on a laptop and even she thinks this one looks good.

 

My wife thinks it looks better than my asus g50v with the orange lightning bolt on it. I had to clean that thing like 3 times a week lol

 

Great review !

 

Thanks for the kind words. I would have liked to help out the benchmark crowd a bit more...but I've never really had the time or will to do a bunch of synthetics...just my take on what has been a great laptop. Too bad I may have to sell the thing