Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q893 User Review

Okay, first off, a disclaimer:

I am not going to post benchmarks, one because I don't own any of the games that would test the system's limits, such as the original Crysis and Metro: 2033, though I may add benchmarks later on as I am considering buying Metro as well as the original Crysis, which, while a little dated, still stymies even the fastest PCs and GPUs because of how badly it is reputed to have been programmed. Also I don't have the time or energy to download all the benchmark software, but mostly because there are a ton of pro reviewers who have already (or will soon enough in the future) posted competent reviews of benchmark testing. I can’t imagine that my feeble attempt at benchmark testing will add one iota to the knowledge base of the already tech-savvy reviewers.

What I am going to focus on are the things that probably 99% of the people who are considering a new laptop are concerned about, not whether or not the 460m in the Qosmio is infinitesimally slower than the Radeon 5870, but will be faster in the long run because of its DirectX 11 support. My goal, to be quite frank is to create a review for the average gamer who is not the president of the Computer Science Club in his high school, college, or their local community.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Q893 is Toshiba’s next generation answer to the Q885. It is Toshiba’s so-called “budget” gaming laptop, which fortunately enough, is built on the same chassis as the higher end models, and has the same basic components. As an aside, the only differences between the Q885 (last gen’s budget Qosmio) and the Q893 (this gen’s budget Qosmio) aside from a slightly higher price-tag is that the Q893 are as follows: The Q893 has the GeForce 460m GPU with a whopping 1.5 GB’s of VRAM, which is the state of the art Nvidia laptop card, second only to the 480m, which, to be quite honest, would never realistically be put into a laptop under two to the thousand dollars. The other differences are that the Q893 (Toshiba’s Amazon and other online retailer model) Has a backlit keyboard and Toshiba updated the newer model with a slightly better i5 processor, which is the 460m (not to be confused with the GPU) and runs at 2.53 GHz, as opposed to the Q885, which has an i5 450m running at 2.4 GHz.

The Q893 can be purchased at Amazon for a mere $1,149.99. If you want a Qosmio with all the bells and whistles, including Blu-ray, 1080p (the Q893 has a resolution of 1680 X 945), a scorching i7 CPU, more RAM (6 GB as opposed to the 4 the Q893), and a Full 1080p monitor, then be prepared to fork out upwards of two grand for the extra bells-and-whistles, which is almost twice the price of the lower end unit.


Out of the box – Packaging:
Okay, the Qosmio is packed beautifully. I love the sweet and compact box that the lappy came in and Toshiba really went the extra mile to make sure that the unit was packaged so well that I think I would feel comfortable having a brand new Qosmio shipped to me on the space shuttle. They even put some of that thin, white, semi-opaque rubber foam inside the closed lid for added protection against in-transit mishaps. The Qosmio shipped with a ton of transparent, rubber stickers covering literally every single part of the laptop that could be scratched, dinged, or damaged. It reminded me, in some ways, of my grandmother's furniture, completely protected, and while it may seem inconvenient to have to spend the better part of a half hour ferreting out and peeling off all of this gossamer, clear Colorforms stuff, I assure you it is well worth the effort. I do have a minor complaint, but this is about the actual product stickers on the chassis, and I warn you it is a tad trivial, but here goes: some of the paper CPU, GPU, and other stickers on the chassis, particularly the ones near the mouse-pad and next to the webcam, were difficult to peel off. Several left a glue-residue and one or two even left paper and glue behind no matter how slowly and carefully I peeled them off. I had to spend a decent amount of time with some Windex, a paper towel, and baby-oil to clean the brand new laptop of the annoying sticker-jiz. Oh, and as an aside, FYI, baby-oil is probably the best way to GENTLY remove glue from delicate structures. Anyway, I could have lived without that relatively minor inconvenience, but whatever, right? I finally got my brand new gaming rig, so let’s just call that an electronic rights-of-passage and move one.

Out of Box – Packaging Score: 9.8/10


Aesthetics of the Unit Itself:

This is without a doubt the most beautiful looking laptop I have ever seen. The jet black, shiny surface, trimmed in metallic red all around is just gorgeous. The top of the Laptop has a matching metallic-red “Qosmio” written in big, bold letters. From every angle, this laptop looks like a piece of finished artwork. Toshiba really went to town on the visual loveliness of the unit. On the top hood, there is an interlocking design that matches the red trim, made up of angular, perpendicular lines, on the cover that really looks sweet and breaks up the jet-black finish quite nicely. Toshiba calls it a “Fusion Design,” but I don’t care if they called it crap on toast, because I really like it. I can’t say enough about how stunning this laptop looks before you even so much as turn it on. If I had to give one tiny little niggle, it would be that the glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet, and I have found that I am cleaning the unit an awful lot. Still, I am not going to take off any points for that, because the only way to solve that “problem” would have been some kind of a metallic or matte finish, and that would have not been anywhere near as beautiful as what I have sitting before me. So let’s just call that one more of a high-maintenance feature—like dating a hot girl who is so pretty she is actually a little annoying—rather than an actual flaw.

Aesthetics Score: 10/10


Craftsmanship and Build Quality:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is where the unit begins to show signs of its price-point. There is just a little too much rubberized plastic for my taste. It doesn’t have the “meaty,” solid feel of an eCinderblock like an Alienware, Sager, or even my antiquated Dell XPS Gen2, which I will actually use as a comparison in this review, strange as it may sound, for some of the features that are relevant to both units. One thing that I find almost maddeningly annoying is that the unit tends to “snap” closed pretty hard when you reach the last inch or two of lid-closure. This may sound trivial, but the first few times I closed the laptop, I wasn’t expecting it, so the force of the lid closing by itself actually pulled the lid out of my fingers and made an audible “thump” as the lid banged into the bottom of the laptop. This cannot be good for a sophisticated piece of machinery, truth be told, and so I have since gotten into the habit of holding the lid by both ends and closing it slowly, not letting go of the lid until it is completely closed. Conversely, this also means that opening the laptop is a little annoying. There is no locking latch like many laptops have, and I find that if I try to open the laptop by just pulling on the lid, it actually pulls the entire front of the unit off the table. Very irritating, so I have found that I have to support the front of the main chassis, holding it down, at least until I have past that “elastic” point that would force it closed. Again, to compare it to my old XPS Gen2, the hinge on the Dell is even, well constructed, and smooth, whereas the opening mechanism on the Qosmio feels quite cheap, as if it were designed by Fisher Price rather than a top-shelf electronics company.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not going to sit here and say the unit feels cheap and flimsy, or even that it has shoddy craftsmanship. It doesn’t. It is actually overall a nice build, but compared to the high end Sherman-Tank laptops I have come across, this one simply doesn’t measure up. I honestly feel as if I need to baby this unit, which I fully intend to do anyway.

Another two complaints I have with the construction are with the power supply. The power supply comes in two separate cables, as many laptop cords do, one cable plugs into the wall and plugs into the power-brick. The power brick then plugs into the laptop. One problem is that the four-pronged male tip that plugs into the laptop has to be forced into the connector or it tends to hang. In fact, even fully inserted, it hangs just a little bit. It really doesn’t feel like it makes a very solid connection to me and because of its size and weight, I worry about the stability. It seems to me that it is a little bit more “vulnerable” of a connection than I am comfortable with for an AC jack. Another problem I found is on the other end of that same cord, the part that is hard-wired into the power-brick. It looks and feels a little fragile, and even when I first got the unit brand new, I noticed that the outer portion of the built-in connection is a tiny bit loose and a few millimeters separated from the brick. This may, in fact, be a safety feature to allow more flex, I don’t know, but it feels a little stiff and not as flexible as it might if it were just a straight, soft, rubber-insulated wire going into the power-brick, instead of a larger and harder rubber outer protector. I have the feeling that this is a definite weak point in the power supply and could be a future source of problems down the line. I have had some experience with the built-in power-brick wire becoming separated from the power brick in my old XPS, and it is of concern to me. I think that if I still have this laptop in a year, that I am going to literally call Toshiba the day before my warranty is set to expire and tell them that my power brick died and to send me another one, even if it is working fine. I just don’t trust this power brick to last far enough outside the warranty for my peace of mind.

Honestly? I think if I had ordered the Q898 for around $2,000.00—all the Qosmios have the same chassis, in case you didn’t already know—I would be a little pissed off with the build quality of the laptop. However, spending only $1,149.99, I honestly cannot grumble about the build quality. It would be like going into White Castle and getting pissed off because your forty-five cent hamburger isn’t the same quality as the gourmet burger joint that charges you ten dollars and serves you succulent Black Angus burgers. On the other hand, if I had spent the two grand, I think I would have more than a right to complain.

The unit feels solid enough overall, and even the rubberized, flexible plastic of the cover and bottom chassis don’t feel at all delicate, but in the spirit of “You get what you pay for,” let’s just say that this unit is fine, more than fine, in fact. If this were a four thousand dollar laptop, like an Alienware or a Sager/Clevo, I would be screaming bloody-murder.

One thing I love about the craftsmanship is that the chassis is designed to give you very easy access to the memory and both HD bays. I also checked to verify that yes, indeed, the second HD bay comes with the connector built in. Good news for anyone who wants to add another standard hard drive or perhaps an SSD. I know this was a problem in some of the earlier Qosmios that had only one hard drive, and no way to connect a second one into a completely useless drive bay.

Craftsmanship and Build Quality Score: 8.0/10 (again, I would have taken off more points if this were the high end model or if I paid as much as I did for my old XPS Gen2.)


Keyboard:

Okay what a wonderfully pleasant surprise the keyboard is on the Qosmio. Because I am an aspiring novelist, writing on my laptop is every bit as important to me as gaming. I was—well let’s just say more than a little worried that my new laptop was going to be a one-trick gaming pony. The truth is that the keys are nice and large, comfortable, and easy to use. As an aside, I can touch type, albeit not with my fingers in the classic home position, and I am having a little trouble orienting myself on this laptop, because the keys are so close together and are a little larger than your standard keyboard keys on both a regular full sized desktop and laptop. I can still touch-type on this, don’t get me wrong, but every few seconds of intense typing I find I have to look down at the keyboard to re-orient my fingers on the keys before I can go back to touch-typing.

So while I am not a fan of the “chicklet style” keyboards and would still prefer to have regular keys, I am really enjoying typing on this unit, far more than I thought I was going to. Oh, and this may be one of the areas that the Qosmio is superior to the Asus G73JW and JH. The “travel” of the keys is very satisfying. You can really feel them moving up and down a far longer distance than I thought they would. One of the problems with touch typing on a chicklet keyboard, at least for the five minutes I played around with a G73 in Best Buy, is the travel was so short creating little or no feedback from the keys to my fingers, and I was not always certain a keystroke registered unless I saw it on the screen. The Qosmio keyboard actually feels meaty when you type. I will say that the keys press easier than your standard PC keyboards, both laptop and desktop, but this is not a bad thing. I have only done about an hour of total typing on the Qosmio, and my gut feeling is that once I get used to it, it will be just as easy, perhaps even easier, than a standard keyboard. Maybe the bean-counters and engineers who came up with the chicklet keyboard actually knew what they were doing and this is the next big thing? Only time will tell.

One semi-serious complaint I have about the keyboard is the size of the space-bar. It is way too small for my taste. Look, laptop space-bars are not usually very large to begin with. The desktop keyboard I am typing this review on, for instance, is huge, the size of six full keys. My XPS Gen2 space bar is the size of about five full letter keys. The one on the Qosmio is an absurdly small three-and-a-half keys long. Now, to be perfectly fair, this is not as big an issue as I thought it was going to be, and, yes, I am getting used to it pretty quickly. I mean, when I first saw it, I was like “You have got to be friggin’ kidding me with that little weenie space key! What the hell were you guys thinking?” And I assure you that I used a different F-word than the one in the previous sentence. Since it isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, and it is not the liability it seemed at first to be, I am only going to dock the keyboard half point for it. Honestly, though, with a laptop that can accommodate an 18.4 inch screen, I don’t think I am being too unreasonable and irascible when I say the space bar should be larger.

Keyboard: 9.5/10


Mouse-pad:

Okay, I have to be brutally honest here. I don’t like the mouse-pad at all. Don’t get me wrong, it has a state-of-the-art feel and looks really nice, low profile, and even slick. It is designed differently than most mouse-pads I have seen in that it is not recessed into the unit. I am used to being able to feel the outer border of the mouse-pad while I am typing, particularly when I am dragging the cursor to another part of the screen. Instead of bumping into the outer lip in every direction, which alerts me to the fact that I cannot drag anymore and have to re-center my finger, I find that the cursor just stops moving because I am dragging off the mouse-pad and onto inert surrounding area. Look, in theory, it is a nice idea, and it definitely adds to the pleasant aesthetics of the laptop Hell, there is a really cool, thin, red LED bar above the mouse-pad that runs the entire length of the pad. It lights up when the laptop is on and along with the System Control Panel, amber indicator lights, and backlit keyboard makes for a stunning visual presentation. It looks really neat to have the mouse-pad completely flush with the chassis, but it is annoying as all hell while I am typing.

This could have been easily remedied by perhaps making the mouse-pad a lot larger. There certainly is plenty of room on the base of this chassis. Also, I would have preferred that they made it more palpably obvious when you are off the pad rather than just having the cursor stop dead on the screen while I am still dragging. Now in Toshiba’s defense, the tactile dynamics of the mouse-pad is different from the surrounding glossy chassis, and if you are “feeling for it” you can tell when you are off the mouse-pad and onto the non-reactive chassis. The pad feels almost a little abrasive, which somewhat salvages your ability to feel when you are and are not on the pad. The problem is that by the time you realize it, you are already off the pad. This may take a little getting used to, but I still find it to be somewhat problematic.

Mousepad Score: 7.5/10.0


Interface/Connectivity:

Let’s start with the basics: The unit has a robust four USB ports, one of them doubles as an eSata port. A nifty feature is that this unit allows you to sleep and charge any devices that charge via USB. One disappointment is the lack of USB 3.0 support. I would give Toshiba a pass on that had they included it in the higher end models as an extra feature, and I will not take off points for not having at least one USB 3.0 port on the Q893, but I think it is inexcusable not to include at least one USB 3.0 port on a laptop that costs upwards of $2,000.00.

Moving on, the front of the laptop has a multi-card reader, which is really nice for those of you who have USB cameras, Playstation 3 saves, smart phones, and a plethora of other memory card utilizing devices. It also has five System Indicator Lights and a WiFi on/off switch. The right side of the laptop has a microphone and headphone jack standard, two of the four USB ports, an RGB Monitor port, the DC-in jack, and security lock slot. The left side of the laptop has the other two USB ports—the combo eSata/USB port is located here, a network port, the optical drive, an ExpressCard slot, and a handy-dandy HDMI Out port. So if you want to game on your laptop and use a nice big screen TV you can also do it, and the good news is that the lappy will output full 1080p to an external monitor. In addition, and this is a nice feature—well, sort of—the system has the ability to output in 3D. So on the chance that one in maybe a thousand of you has a 3D TV or monitor and the glasses, you can play 3D games on this laptop. It is a little disappointing that the monitor in the laptop isn’t capable of 3D, but whatever.

On the top of the screen is a webcam and an internal microphone. Conference calls anyone? I tried out the webcam for this review and I have to tell you that the picture is surprisingly nice. It rivals the large, bulky Logitech unit that I have. The video is crisp, clear, has nice colors and contrast, and is overall a sweet little bonus for those of you who feel like camming.

The system Control Panel to the left of the keyboard got a lot of negative press from the pro reviews, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. The reviewers claimed that they kept hitting the flush buttons by accident while typing. Look, I have pretty large hands, which helps to make me a good guitar player, and I have to be honest and say that NOT ONCE have I accidentally pressed one of the System Function buttons while typing, no matter how fast. I have absolutely no idea what kind of big, fat, clumsy elephant-paws these writers have that they kept hitting the buttons by accident, but I had no problems with this whatsoever.

I love the amber indicator lights on the front of the laptop. This thing has an indicator light for everything. I bet I can even program it to tell me when I need gas or when my oil is a little low in my car! In addition to the lights on the System Control Panel buttons and the webcam indicator, the visible amber LED lights on the front of the chassis are very convenient. From left to right, you have AC power, On/Off light, Battery light, Internal Storage (HD) light, and a memory card reader light.

In addition to USB 3.0 support—which, as I said, I will not take off points for simply because of the price of the laptop—I would have liked to have seen a few hard media buttons on the front of the laptop for CD/DVD playback, volume, etc.

One disappointment is the button that opens the DVD drive. It is poorly placed on the tray and it is often a little frustrating to both find and open. I am sure a little getting used to it would help, but the tiny little flush button is quite small and I practically have to dig a fingertip into it in order to get the tray to open. Toshiba needs a more prominent open-button on the DVD.

Interface/Connectivity Score: 9.5/10.0


Running Temperature:

So far the PC runs really cool even while gaming. I have the settings on Spider-Man Web of Shadows, Fallout 3, Burnout Paradise, and a few other games set really high and the unit has never gotten very hot at all. The unit, in fact, has stayed so cool, that I have not even felt the need to check the internal temperature while running games and multi-tasking. I had honestly expected the laptop to run a lot hotter, and the reason it isn’t is because it has the GeForce 460m, which is a much cooler running card than the Radeon 5870. It gets somewhat hot once in a great while, but no cooking eggs on this laptop.

Running temperature Score: 10.0/10.0


Support and Warranty:

I called tech support the day I received the laptop because I had a question about restore disks. It was after midnight on Thursday night by the time I called them and they still picked up the phone right away. The person in tech support spoke decent, but not great English, and was able to help me. I thought that the restore discs were accidentally left out of my box, and was disappointed to find out that Toshiba does NOT include System Restore discs with their computers anymore. Booooo! The tech support person reassured me that the partition on my computer includes the information to do a full system restore without the discs, but I am, of course, of the mind that you should always have restore discs in case your hard drive crashes and you cannot format it. I was told that the discs would cost me $30.00 if I wanted them, and I told the tech person that this was absurd, no thank you, and I would make my own DVD’s, which I did as soon as I hung up the phone. I know that blank DVDs are inexpensive, but I think that it is a little shoddy not to give free system restore discs on a brand new PC, regardless of the presence of system restore capabilities built into the stock hard drive.

A more serious problem I have with Toshiba support is that I believe a one year bumper-to-bumper warranty is irresponsible and cheesy. What does that say about your faith in your own computers that Toshiba would give such a lackluster warranty? I am of the belief that all laptops, particularly the gaming rigs that are prone to having issues because of all the high end tech they squeeze in under the hood, should have three year all-inclusive warranties. Even Asus gives at least two years for their various G73 models, and found it in their dear corporate hearts to throw in a full year of accidental damage protection as opposed to Toshiba’s anemic warranty.

Support and Warranty Score: 6.5/10.0


Sound Quality:

The sound quality was a pleasant surprise. What I did was to compare the sound in the built-in speakers as well as the output volume into a decent quality set of ear-buds side-by-side with a laptop I know sounds truly awesome, that being the aforementioned XPS Gen2. Honestly, I have never, in my entire life, heard a laptop that sounds as good as my old dinosaur of a Gen2, and unfortunately, that includes the Qosmio. Side by side, I will say that the XPS sounded noticeably better. What I used to test the sound was San Andreas installed on both PCs. I used the internal radio stations of that game because it has the single most diverse selection of musical genres I have ever heard in a game, all in CD or at least MP3 quality. I listened to them one at a time, and side by side. Now you have to remember that the XPS has a built-in subwoofer and the Qosmio doesn’t. So the bass was definitely better in the XPS, but I will tell you that even the Qosmio was able to “shake” my table at full volume, particularly with bass-heavy music like the Rap and Funk stations. The sound of the internal speakers of the Qosmios are still quite impressive, and had I not had my XPS right next to it, and really went through the sound for a good twenty minutes on each laptop, going back and forth and comparing them for this review, I would never have even given the sound a second thought on my Qosmio, because it is that good. The sound is rich and full, and I am simply not willing to take off any points because the speakers could not match my XPS Gen2. Quite frankly, I had no realistic expectation that it would.

What I did find disappointing in the sound, however, was that the output of the headphones was more than just noticeably different. The XPS put a ton of power into my little ear-buds and simply blew the doors off of the Qosmio, sounding like a concert hall or rock concert by contrast. I never realized just how good the headphone-output of my XPS was until I compared it to the new Qosmio. I am going to assume that I have a discreet sound card built into the XPS Gen2 and it is not integrated like it is in the Qosmio. Because while the headphone output to my ear-buds was fine, even very good from the Qosmio, it was a real ear-opener to hear it falter next to an almost six year old laptop. Again, however, I am not going to take off any points for this, because it is not a legitimate comparison. If the Qosmio is a Caddilac, then even adjusted for five plus years of newer and superior technology, the XPS Gen2 was a Ferrari for its time…and I guess in some ways it still is. Who’da thunk it? I guess that almost six years of new technology is not enough to completely compensate for the stellar and masterful craftsmanship of my massive dinosaur of an XPS laptop. Again, let me re-state that if I were reviewing the $2,000.00 Qosmio, I would take off points for the sound quality, but not more than a point. I am only going to take off a fraction of a point for the fact that I was a little disappointed in the output volume of the headphone jack, even though it was still more than satisfactory.

Sound Quality: 9.7/10.0


[Screen Quality and Video:

Okay, if the build quality and craftsmanship were where this laptop began to show signs of its price point, this is where the notion is driven home like a bludgeon. Let’s start with the fact that the resolution is 1680 X 945. I am of the belief that 1080p in a laptop at this stage of technological sophistication should NOT be an option. It should come standard with ALL new laptops the way that A/C comes standard with all new cars. I honestly believe that the days of 1080p being a premium feature should be LONG OVER and the truth is that the present market bears me out on this. Look at how so many of even the low end non-gaming laptops have 1080p as standard. It is absurd to the point of the phone company deciding that it will now start charging again for using touch tone rather than rotary dialing. Once upon a time, the phone company did charge extra for that, and by the same token, laptop manufacturers had to charge a premium for a full 1080p monitor, but those days should be long gone. One final note on the resolution: It is well documented that the 1080p Qosmio screens are too dark, so from that standpoint I actually sought out the very resolution I am complaining about in the Q893.

Moving on, after adjusting the colors, gamma, brightness, contrast, and tweaking the visuals, I was able to get a really nice picture from my 945p laptop. I have no complaints in this department. What I find to be absolutely inexcusable, however, is the viewing angles! Like 1080p being “standard,” it is my opinion that the days of crappy viewing angles should be long over with current technology. Sadly, this is not the case with the Qosmio. Lateral viewing is more than passable, I would even say good, but increasing the vertical viewing angle was so bad that I was, and still am, shocked. Move your eyes any higher than straight-on level with the monitor and the color begins to fade and wash out as immediately as you go up, and I am talking inches here. Moving my eyes downward even a few inches so that I am looking just a little bit up at the screen presented with horrible distortion, I kid you not! Thankfully you almost never need to view a laptop from a low angle unless you are a midget with no phone books to sit on.

This is unpardonable. This is not the early part of this century where horrible viewing angles were the price you paid for LCD monitors whether they be on a laptop of a desktop. The technology is just too advanced to even begin to accept such lackluster viewing angles. Toshiba really needs to give their monitor manufacturers a kick in the pants, because this is one issue that I flat-out refuse to give the laptop a pass on, even with the low price-tag. This is just unforgivable, and if you will permit me yet another reference to my old XPS, I never realized how good I had it with that screen. I was comparing the two laptops side by side, once again, to review the visuals, and the clarity of the XPS didn’t change until I was practically at 180 degrees above the top of the screen. To further beat the proverbial dead technology horse, five years ago, I can understand why a screen like the one on my XPS would be only found in premium laptops, but not now.

Screen Quality and Video Score: 5.5/10


Performance:

Well, I have no idea how fast the Qosmios are with the i7, but nothing I have thrown at this machine has even challenged it. Look, I have had one or two Internet Explorer crashes, but that is WinBlows, and not a Toshiba issue. I have even opened two and three games at the same time—something I can do because I use No CD cracks on all my games so as not to scratch the discs—and nothing I throw at the machine causes any graphics or performance issues at all. Now, granted, I am not doing Auto CAD or photo-editing, which are tasks I would truly expect the i7 to give me a noticeable performance increase over the i5. Gaming, however, has not been an issue, well other than Fallout 3 freezing up on me and not being able to run yet, but again, I more than suspect that this is a Windows problem and has nothing to do with the hardware on this laptop. There are known issues with freezing in Fallout 3, and I am going to just have to track down the problem. I have run all the PS2/PC GTA games, and they, of course ran smoothly (duh!) being between six and eight years old. However, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Burnout Paradise, Prototype, Blur, Ghost Busters, The Incredible Hulk, and a ton of other games all run at the highest possible settings without a single hitch, no doubt a testament to the GeForce 460m GPU.

I am going to update this review when I go over to my friend’s house this coming week. He has some sticky games he is going to give me that are very new, and even Crysis, the original game which was programmed so poorly that it sputters and hisses on even the best systems. I am also going to order Metro: 2033, which is a known GPU buster and will add the specs on how that runs as well.

So far, however, the closest I was able to come to even challenging the system was opening up three games, several other Windows programs, and a ton of IE windows. Even doing that only seemed to challenge the Physical Memory, and I am going to assume that is because the system has only 4 GB’s of RAM. The CPU usage stayed pretty low no matter what I threw at it, though I will have to spend some more time seeing if I can bottleneck the system a little bit tomorrow, and if there is any new information, I will update this review.

Performance Score: 9.5/10.0

Value:

This is where the budget Qosmio really shines. There isn’t a gaming laptop to be found at the thousand dollar price point—well, a thousand dollars plus a hundred and fifty to be technical. The Q893 is more than just a bargain it is a steal at the price. Sure, it doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive, no 1080p monitor, a -poor warranty, the i5 processor instead of the i7, no SSD, and no USB 3.0 support. But is it really worth between $400.00 and $850.00 to start adding in those features, with the exception of USB 3.0, I mean? I personally don’t think so. In addition, if I were in the market for a laptop at that price range, there is no way I would even consider the “high-end” Qosmio. Once I got to about $1,500.00 and above, it would be all Asus G73, baby! At the $2,000.00 price range, I would be looking at an entry level Sager/Clevo. But I cannot stress enough what an absolute felonious steal the Q893 is.

Value Score: 10.0/10.0


Overall Score: 9.3/10.0

Note that this is not an average. An average of all the scores would give a score of only about 8.8/10.0, and I honestly feel that the flaws of this laptop are so outweighed by the virtues, if for no other reason than the price, that I weighed it’s failings lower than just a raw average. While the screen is my biggest disappointment with the unit, and the thought of having to look straight on at the screen and not move up or down even a matter of inches makes me a little queasy, it is still not enough to detract from the insane value of this laptop.


Final Thoughts:

I hope you will forgive me using my old XPS Gen2 as a baseline for comparison with the new Qosmio, but I tried to only compare them in arenas that made sense and to shed some sober light on some of the flaws of the Qosmio as a series, not just the Q893. However, that said, I paid $3,500.00 for my XPS when I bought it from Dell over five-and-a-half years ago. When adjusted for inflation, that would be around $5,000.00 in today’s money. That laptop was simply the best of the best when I bought it back then. It blew the doors off of anything that even Alienware was making at the time, and was the ONLY laptop with the GeForce 6800Go in it, which was a card that even desktop PCs hadn’t exceeded yet. Think about that for a second. So I can understand and not fault the Qosmio, which really is a medium end gaming laptop series, for not measuring up in build quality, craftsmanship, screen quality (to a certain point!), sound quality, and other features that are not cutting-edge-technology dependant. I cannot stress this enough, but if you are looking to spend around a thousand dollars for a laptop and want the most bang for your buck, look no further than the Qosmio Q893. If, on the other hand, you are looking for the added features I listed above, then I would caution you against any of the Qosmios and point you toward the Asus G73JW for anything around $1,500.00 and an entry level Sager/Clevo once you are around the two thousand dollar range.

 

Thanks for the review! It's almost as big as the Qosmio itself. I don't have the time or energy to comment it right now, but it sounded very fair to me and I am glad you like your new laptop, besides some issues. It's impressive that it runs so cool, but I guess heat will become more of an issue after a prolonged gaming session, and I don't think you had the time for that yet. The keyboard is matte, right? It's good to know that it's a good keyboard, I thought that was one of its weaknesses. Does it feel too heavy compared to your old XPS?

What a great buy. Enjoy it!

 

Wow, just wow. Awesome review. Honest, descriptive, and very fair and evenhanded. I'm definitely in line for your future novel.

I definitely agree with most of your points. One thing I would probably fault Toshiba more for is the absence of USB3.0, because the connector really isn't that expensive.

I glad you like the aesthetics of the Qosmio. So do I, but your extraordinary prose was far beyond a cursory description, and really made it seem like I had the laptop right in front of me. I completely agree with your 'hot girl' analogy. To me, the Qosmio is a beautiful work of art, like an Aston Martin, or Audrey Hepburn. Or Audrey Hepburn in an Aston Martin. That'd complete my life.

About the hinge mechanism, I've read that it's pretty stiff in the beginning, and gets better after a few weeks or months. The lack of a locking latch may see odd to you, but it's actually another one of those fads that all the laptop makers adhere to. At my local Fry's, there are about 20-30 laptops on display there, including Alienwares, Asus G73, etc. and not one has a latch. The power brick is a different matter, probably not as important to me because I don't intend to unplug it often, but to someone constantly on the move, that could present a problem. I'll have to see for myself.

I'm really surprised and elated that you love the keyboard so much! Toshiba definitely deserves credit for listening to its customers and switching to a matte keyboard. The typing experience improved tenfold. I agree with you about the short spacebar, it's pretty visually jarring, but after spending ~30 mins with it, I realized that it really doesn't make much difference, because during normal typing the thumbs will normally rest on the spacebar anyway.

The touchpad is one of the conundrums of the Qosmio to me. There's all the space in the world to put a large touchpad on the Qosmio (you could probably fit a small Wacom tablet on there...actually, that's a great idea), so it's definitely surprising that in reality it's not much bigger than the one on my 7-year old Satellite. I suppose that Toshiba reckoned that gamers never use the touchpad anyway and decided to save some space on the circuitry underneath. It's something I can get used to, but will definitely remain abit puzzling.

On the connectivity side, I definitely think USB3.0 should have been included, as I said above. The Qosmio slightly redeems itself by having eSata and ExpressCard, but the former will probably be replaced by USB3.0 anyway. The ubiquity of USB means it will only become more important as more and more devices utilize it. So while USB3.0 doesn't really matter right now, it will in the long term. I suppose one thing which helps is that currently USB3.0 connectors don't seem to be living up to their full potential of 4.8Gb/s either, so there's room for improvement there still.

The temperatures were no surprise, with the cool i5 and 460M the Q893 could quite possibly be the coolest gaming laptop out there.

The gripes with Tech Support were understandable, but baseless in my opinion. No one includes Restore Disks anymore, not Toshiba, not Asus, not HP, not anybody. It's lousy, but it's another fad every manufacturer adheres to. Quadzilla told me it takes something like 3-4 hours and 6 DVDs to make the Restore DVDs for the G73JW. Personally, I don't think it's worth the trouble and would rather just do a clean reinstall.

The sound comparison is interesting. To me, 20 mins of side by side comparison tells me that the difference is small enough to possibly fall under personal preference. Regardless, I'm impressed with the XPS's performance. Maybe tweaking the Dolby Control Panel might improve the Qosmio's sound for you. The weaker headphone output is a bit of a surprise, but not very important to me since I was already looking into a USB DAC and large hi-fi headphones. I probably wouldn't take such a setup on the go, and would just rely on earbuds and the speakers. I take it you're not hearing any hiss on the Q893's headphone output either?

Your point that 1080p should be standard is well taken. Some people prefer the lower res, but I agree with you that 1080p should not carry such a high premium. Unfortunately, it does. Blame the manufacturers again. I'm very happy that you like the picture quality. The only thing I would say in reference to the viewing angles is that in practice, most other screens aren't much better. You look at the specs of, say a G73, and go "Wow, look at those angle measurements!" In reality, because you're so close to the laptop, moving your head just a few inches equals a pretty big angle range. I'm going to go on a rant here and say that's it's criminal that IPS LCD screens aren't more common in laptops. There's no reason IPS should be restricted to $3,000+ HP Elitebooks when there are 24" IPS monitors for less than $300.

Since it's getting very late, I'm just going to say that I agree with the rest of your review (it's the truth). Just two points:

*Using your XPS as a baseline actually puts alot of the current generation of laptops in an uncomfortable light. With a 7-year old laptop myself, I have to say that from a purely craftsmanship point of view, the average laptop of 5+ years ago probably beats out the average laptop today. In that respect, Toshiba hasn't fallen nearly as much as some of the other makers.

*The Q893 is such a good deal that I'm starting to think that even with $1,500+, I wouldn't spend the money on a G73JW or Sager/Clevo. Yes, they have Blu-ray and all the other goodies, but the defining spec for me is an IPS screen. Until IPS starts filtering through the market, I just can't see myself justifying a $2,000+ laptop (which BTW is what the G73JW-3D will cost). The improvement of an IPS over the ordinary TN panel would be far greater than i5>i7 or even Sandy Bridge. IPS really should become the standard, and the first laptop maker that realizes this is going to have a major advantage in the market.

Thanks to your review, I'm pretty sure the Q893 would more than suffice for me until that happens, which according to my sources should be sometime on Dec. 22, 2012.

 

Great Review.

Congrats.

+Rep
^^

 

How many laptop makers use USB 3.0? I know Asus does and they have it on their mobos as well. I think the only companies that will add 3.0 are the ones that use it on their mobos.

 

Thanks guys!

@a4500435, a few things in response: To clarify, I was not complaining about the lack of a locking latch, just mentioning it in passing while talking about the mechanism on the lid. In that review, I was making an effort to be as thorough as possible with describing everything I saw and experienced, not complaining about a lack of a latch.

Also, keep something in mind about why I used my old XPS as a baseline: I was NOT expecting the Qosmio to live up to the craftsmanship, sound quality, and even the monitor clarity of a $3,500.00 laptop (adjusted for inflation, let's say it would really be $5,000.00, again) only illustrating what you should be able to realistically expect from a laptop that costs a grand and one that is literally five times more expensive! I believe I even mentioned that in the review, that had I paid the kind of money for the Qosmio that I did for the XPS I would have the right to be pissed off at the quality. By the way, I DID NOT take off any points because the Qosmio did not have the craftsmanship of a five thousand dollar laptop lol. The only thing I took off points for (giving it a crafstmanship score of 8.0/10) were things like the lid snapping shut, the feel of the latch when I open and close it, the fact that there was a little too much "rubberized plastic" making up the main chassis for my taste, and the issues I listed about the power brick. Believe me, had I docked the Qosmio just because its construction couldn't hold up to a laptop that costed five grand in today's money, I would not have given it an 8.0 for that set of parameters.

As for the monitor's viewing angles, I am going to have to stand my ground on that one. There is simply no Earthly way that my monitor from almost SIX YEARS ago (and I don't care what the price of the lappy was back then) should be this much better than a brand spanking new one. Craftsmanship versus dollars I'll give you. Sound I will also concede (and I did! Look at the fact that I gave it a 9.7 even though it really coudn't hold its own against my old laptop) but not LCD issues like that. My point is that the technology today is so much better than it was five years ago that I honestly believe that the newness of the LCD monitor should absolutely offset the price differential compared to an antiquated LCD of five years ago.

And by the way, this is not a subtle thing the vertical viewing angles. I have seen it just sitting up a little straighter while gaming and had to re adjust the monitor even with subtle postural changes. That is wholly unacceptable in 2010. The technology has simply come way too far to give the laptop a pass on this particular issue based on the price. It would be like buying a new house that costs less than one next door and finding out that it has no indoor plumbing and an outhouse instead of a bathroom. lol Well, okay, that is an extreme example, but I think you take my point.

Oh and to answer your question, a4500, I detected no hiss in the headphones, I will give a listen again.

Please don't confuse the fact that I juxtaposed two completely different classes of laptops, albeit across an almost six year technological divide, to mean that I was expecting the Qosmio to compete in those arenas. I was not, and I am pretty sure that the final scores I gave in each category bear this out.

Oh and one more thing: I hope this NEVER happens to you, but tell me that you think that restore discs should not be included when your hard drive crashes and you cannot get to the boot sectors needed to reinstall the OS, much less get your PC up and running again and need to buy a brand new HD to start all over. And, no I DO NOT care that "nobody is giving restore discs" anymore. I would take off points for ANY pre-built PC I purchased that did not come with restpre disks for that reason.

The reality is that computer manufacturers buy discs in bulk. It probably costs all of thirty five cents to create restore disks and they can (and should) mass produce them for their computer lines. It is unforgivable, in my opinion, not to include restore discs in the price of a new computer no mater what the price-point. They are, quite honestly, far too easy and cheap to provide not to offer them free of charge.

 

Speaking of that hissing sound. Strange events allowed me to discover something. Today I wanted to see what it would be like to bring my Q885 to school. (I have relatively short days )

While sitting in the car waiting for class, I remembered I had a FM transmitter for my MP3 player.
I plug it in and I start to rock out on YES for a half hour.
I had it maxed out and I turned off the music. I could hear a strong hissing sound! Only when I touched the track-pad! Didn't make the sound with the speakers, just with the transmitter plugged in.

Quite interesting.

 

I'm in no way disagreeing with you. I'm simply saying that, unlike the laptops of OVER HALF A DECADE AGO, screen quality is no longer a guarantee at any price point, and is actually pretty much all over the place. Just look at MSi's offerings.

And you're right, technology today is so much better than it was before. But it's not being used in laptops. Almost all laptops use TN screens, and all of them have vertical viewing issues, including the G73s and MacBook Pro. Some are better than others, of course, but only IPS actually solves that problem. The argument used to be that IPS was way too expensive to manufacture. With desktop IPS screens going under $300 a pop at Amazon, I just can't believe that's the case anymore.

Lol, this DID happen to me, and let me tell you, all the restore disks do is reformat your HD to factory settings. In that situation you gave above, all you can do is find a recovery utility and hope that your HD is still readable. That's why I don't set much store by Restore Disks...there's no reason why I should keep 6 DVDs worth of bloatware when I just need the Win7 disk and an internet connection to get driver and utility updates.

 

wow, what a great review.. I was actually looking into buying the Qosmio within the next couple months and I believe I'm sold after reading this

 

Thanks, Blitzkrieg88. I think you are going to like this Laptop overall, and as I said, for the money, you cannot beat it!

Well now you're kind of splitting hairs.

Seriously, I would be perfectly happy with a Windows 7 disc and a usable Windows key, even an OEM, but there is none included, not even the one or two OS discs. Oh and speaking of splitting hairs, it was FOUR recovery discs, and for the record, I have a bunch of flat little empty paper CD/DVD holders, so it isn't like four recovery discs take up an inordinate amount of space in my CLOSET! lol

Seriously, you want to sell me a freaking computer? Give me my stupid discs in case my HD crashes. Bloatware or no, it is a good insurance policy against HD failure.

@Richard, I wouldn't take the sound from an FM Transmitter too seriously when reviewing any sound. I have an iPod and an FM transmitter for it, and the FM transmitter basically transmits on a lower band unused FM station, The problem is that the sound quality of the transmitter itself is inherently horrible. Because it is a wireless device and not a very good one at that, your standard music app wireless transmitter is going to transmit a ton of noise including static and hiss.


Review update #1

I am going to hold off adding this to the review, but I encountered another problem. Since I started reallty configuring the system this past weekend, yesterday was the first day I brought it to the office with me. Now I do office coverage, so I am in a different office all the time. Yesterday I was in a very bright office with a lot of long flourescent bulbs overhead, and I want to tell you that the glare was almost intolerable. Now usually I am not in office that bright, but still, I could literally not believe how bad the glare was indoors. I had never used it in such a bright environment, and now I am wondering if this laptop will be even usable outdoors during the day. I am not going to add this to the review post yet, because I am in a different office today and next week, but I am going to try putting the laptop through its paces over the next seven days or so in different lighting environments including outdoors, in the sun, in the shade, in cloudy weather, and in rooms of various brightness. I willl post how it goes.

 

quite comprehensive and excellent review. thanks a lot. its always good to hear what an average user think rather than relying on a critical review. i m desperately waiting for uk release but dunno when its gonna happen. by the way anyone has any idea about uk prices. cant see it on toshiba europe website and uk website dont even have those models listed on their site.

 

I just use a USB flash drive loaded with a copy of Win7 and the key that comes with the laptop. But you're right, if they have the disks they should include them. I've just learned to live without them, that's all.

Ahh, welcome to the world of the glossy screen. This has nothing to do with the screen quality itself; it could be the cheapest Acer or the most expensive Alienware, nothing's going to look good under bright lighting. Here's a G73 for example:


And that's just a cloudy sky. The only exception would be the MacBook Pro, which has an anti-glare coating, but that's only effective to certain extant.

 

Apple managed to include an excellent display with good viewing angles in the iPad. I would pay a couple of hundred dollars to upgrade a Windows laptop to a display with that quality (not thousands mind you). Why don't companies offer it?

 

Because
a) Good IPS display of that size is about 800-900 USD (judging from HP part prices)
b) Companies who release "pop-grade" laptops tailor them for general audience which does not care so much about screen quality to pay so much. Companies who release high grade laptops already provide quality screen option.

 

A very good standalone 23 inch LCD display can be had for a couple of hundred dollars. Why should a smaller laptop version cost so much more?

 

The quick answer is that it shouldn't. The more complex answer is that laptop manufacturers are trying to cram as much power and performance into their laptops as they can to compete with one another on price point, CPU speed, GPU, and other more "tangible" features. The fact is that the vast majorority of people who buy laptops probably wouldn't give so much as a passing thought to a low or poor quality screen. People like us are in the minority, to be honest, so laptop manufacturers would rather save whatever amount of money (as small as it might be) on a lower quality, highly reflective screen than the standalone desktop equivalent than cater to a comparative few people who have a problem with this issue.

 

You could be right. I think the new MacBook Air MacBooks may put this theory to the test. From what I have read (have not seen one yet) they have excellent displays but only Core 2 Duo processors.

 

Something like this would probably be best; it wouldn't help the viewing angles, but it would cut down on glare:

Official Site of ViewGuard® Products including Privacy Filters & Screen Protectors for Laptop, Notebook & Desktop Computers; LCD Screens; Mobile Phones; PDAs and More

FYI, the new MB Airs have C2D CPUs because they couldn't fit anything else in there. Even so, it's $1000+.

 

Higher pixel density, a lot stricter requirements on thickness, weight and power consumption. Eg its easy to make IPS screen that is 96 PPI, 4 cm thick and consumes 50W. A lot more expensive to make one that is 144 PPI, 0.5cm thick and consumes 20W max (without compromising on visual qualities too much).
Same as with all laptop components - eg compare prices on laptop CPU/GPUs with desktop ones.

 

It could be done, there's just no demand for it. We may be angry, the sad fact is that most people don't have screen quality on their minds while buying a laptop. Otherwise, manufacturers like MSi would go out of business.

And even if IPS really is too difficult to manufacture in a laptop size (which I don't believe for a minute), what's wrong with the other high-quality LCDs panels, like the ones in Apple's MacBook Pros? I'm no fan of Apple or their exorbitant pricing, but I have to say their screens are among the best in the laptop business. Why is that? It's not even their screen, it's a Samsung panel!!!

Anyway, one thing I've been meaning to ask you ChiroVette; how are you getting along with the 1680x945 resolution? I know it's a big drop from 1900x1200, but in practice, are you finding it a hassle or a big downgrade from what you're used to?

 

Bump...I'm interested in the answer.

 

I am too!

By the way, Chiro, is this the XPS you are talking about?

 

Yep, that's the one, Andanzas!

To be honest, it really feels like a step backward to me. I am "getting along" just fine with it, but I would be lying if I didn't say I missed full HD resolution. Also, I was re-formatting my XPS and installing some drivers and such on it for my sister, and I had the two PC's side by side, and did some comparisons again. Honestly, the XPS makes the Qosmio viewing angle look absolutely pathetic. The windows icons seem too big to me, and the XPS screen holds up really well in almost ANY lighting, while the Qosmio is just horrifyingly reflective. I am finding that it is worst when I am playing games with dark scenes, such as sandbox games that have day and night. During the "night time" or in caves and dark places, games are almost unplayable even in decent but not too bright external lighting. It really adds an annoyance factor to gaming that I could live without. I also find that I am unconsciously raising the volume sometimes to get more oomph and bass than the system is capable of giving me, something I never had to do with the XPS, but the sound is still very good.

Look, overall, I am happy wth the unit, and I will still grade it on a curve because of the knockdown price of the lower end unit. However, I would be quite pissed if I paid upwards of two grand and had these issues. The Qosmio is a great laptop for its price-point, and an absolute beast of a gaming rig. I just wish that as far as resolution, viewing angles, and sound, I didn't feel as if I had taken a giant step backward.

 

Thanks for the reply. To be honest though, it doesn't sound like you've ever used a glossy screen before. Almost all laptops are like that now, and reflections are always terrible. Your XPS was one of the last mainstream matte displays before the glossy fad caught on in 2006. It wouldn't be so bad if they at least applied an anti-glare coating, but only the MBPs and HP's EliteBook have them to my knowledge.

I'm looking into getting an 18.4" screen protector, those apparently work well to reduce reflectiveness.

 

That might be something to look into. Thanks for the information and for all your help the last month or two while I was making my decision. All complaints aside, I love the laptop. Anyway, I am adding to your rep. I have no idea why I haven't done so already. It is something I should have done weeks ago!

 

About time! You should add to his rep... and to his bank account, if you ask me.

 

I didn't.

lol

 

Well, if anyone wants to donate to my X505-Q893 fund, they're more than welcome. Please check out my Aston Martin and Citation X funds as well.

BTW, there's a new video ad on the Q893's Amazon page...it's strange that Toshiba says the Q893 is exclusive to Amazon, when J&R has it as well.

Amazon.com : Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q893

 

Thats one detailed review. I will also probably get this baby.
Since I will be moving out of USA, all laptop warranties are same to me (1 year).
From what I have experienced, if anything has to give, it will give within a year, with exception of DVD drive which usually lasts 2-3 years.
That said, even dell uses Toshiba DVD drive.

I have a question regarding second HDD bay.
Do we have to remove DVD drive to fit the second HDD(like in other laptops), or does this baby have 2 standard hdd bays!
If so, I will buy a 50$ 500GB 5400rpm HDD for my data, and install all games etc on primary HDD.

That said, a question about partitions.

How much is usable partition space? I reckon around 430GB.
I plan to partition it like this
1. C: for windows and stuff = 70GB
2. D: for Programs and games = 250GB
3. E: For videos and stuff = 100GB GB
New 500GB HDD will take my data ( I will put My documents over there).

 

I honestly forget the usable partition space, because I have installed an absolute ton of games on this beast, but I think I remember it being a good deal more than 430GB. I can help you with the drive question. The second bay is a dedicated HD bay that comes off with a couple of screws. It is EMPTY and does indeed have the connector in place, so all you need is a HD and a cradle. Some members have reported that the bypassed the need for a cradle by folding up some cardboard and it supposedly works just fine, if you want to go that route. THe second HD bay can fit a regular HD or SSD, just to let you know, and is NOT dependant upon removing the DVD drive for its use.

 

Thats lovely! When you say "cradle" what is it?

EDIT : I think its a metal plate to ensure the HDD does not move about.
I guess a card board to tightly ham the HDD in place will do as well.

I found some satellite caddy's on ebay for 7$ odd. But can't find one which says Qosmio X505


And I guess when you mean regular, we mean the regular SATA 3.0 2.5" HDD either 5400/7200 rpm
Since it will be a data disk, I plan to get a 5400RPM disk.

 

Is there a possibility to OC the cpu in q893?
Please run hwmonitor and paste temps of this laptop.

BTW Is toshiba x505 frequent visitor in service?

 

If you use cardboard, make sure you monitor HDD temp tightly.

Metal is used in original caddies to assist heat-dissipation. The cardboard will trap heat in the HDD on the contrary (its good heat insulator).

 

I guess then I will stick to a caddy. It costs around 10$ on most online sites. That said, can you point me to some caddy's which the Qosmio can use?

 

Hey

Found a German test on the Toshiba qosmio x500, and even if i dont understand German the the numbers is the same on every languike. I am interessted in this laptop but it seems the screen is very bad, can anyone who own this laptop verify this?

Thanks in advance

Hardwareluxx - Test: Toshiba X500-13R - groß, schwer, schnell

 

Actually all laptops below 1200$ with those glossy 720p+ screens are pretty much same.
High quality LED backlit screens still cost a lot of money, and if you want a good laptop screen in a budget, buy apple. Be aware that you will get a mediocre graphics card for 1100$ odd

 

That's not the Q893, that's either the Q896 or Q898 with 1080p screen. The 1080p screen is indeed dim, but some people have said that in a dark environment, the brightness is adequate. For that money though, a G73JW would be a better option.

 

Many thanks for your inputs guys. Yes the G73 seems to be a much better option....for the money, but here in my country its without blueray.

Could someone explain to me why the screens in laptops is so bad?, i mean todays TVs both plasma and led is very good even the cheap models, not to meantion the screens of the new mobilphones like HTC and Samsung, but laptop screens....well

 

I just got my Q893. Ordered it from Amazon and had it delivered to my country (Nigeria). However, after it's been on for a while, i get a system warning "a problem with the cooling system has been detected".

Now i'm quite tech savvy and i've checked the fans and they are both working. Also monitored the temperatures of the CPU and GPU and they're quite normal. I've cleaned the fans and heatsink with compressed air no dust seeing as this is a new laptop.

Anyone have any idea what could be causing this issue.

 

This honestly sounds like a problem requiring some form of tech support, because I have the very same laptop, obviously since I reviewed it in this thread, and have not had a single heating issue and I use it a ton. You definitely need to call Toshiba tech support. Hopefully it will be a driver or software issue, but it honestly sounds to me like a hardware problem you are having.

 

Can't do that cos there's no toshiba support in my country. However ran it for the better part of the night playing devil may cry 4 and the GPU temperatures were ok (at least i think 79 - 80 C is ok). The fans seem to be working properly. Checked online and it seems this fault is common with toshiba laptops; something about a faulty sensor.

 

@cyberpsi

I would like to buy this laptop from amazon usa but when I choose my country from the list there is an information they don't send this item international.
What have you done they send it to your country?

 

I made use of a shipping service. Ordered it and had it delivered to the shipper's address who then shipped it to my country

 

The Q893 has dropped another $40 dollars on Amazon to $1109; it's now actually cheaper than the Q892 on Amazon.

Amazon.com: Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q893 TruBrite 18.4-Inch Laptop (Black): Electronics

EDIT: According to the thread below, Amazon was selling the Q893 for $899 yesterday for a Lightning Deal. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/expired-deals/1051123/

 

noooooooooooooooooo
I ordered the 892 for 1050$ at buydig!

899$ is a steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel

 

WHAT?! F*(#! T_T <----(me crying profusely)

 

It's on sale again!!! Go for it!

Yay! Yay! I got it! Cool! $900 and free 2 day shipping, lol.

 

So did I. I want to thank the person who made the review it sold me on this laptop. I was 30 seconds from pulling trigger on a gimped referbished asus g73 from bb. I checked deal site again saw the Q893 for 899. Did not even think twice about it. I am so excited using the Q893 as my new main computer.

Also anyone have any luck finding were to get a caddy for second drive bay? Going to get a SSD drive to use as the windows/boot drive.

 

O_O



T_T

Are you guys for real? Is this some kind of cruel joke? What's the reason behind a "Black Friday/Cyber Monday" weekend sale? huh? HUH?!........Well I hope you guys enjoy your big for nuthin laptop that can't game when it's unplugged from the wall outlet. And good luck trying to install the latest Nvidia verde graphics driver. Welcome to the club boys....

 

Jeez, I didn't get it either, but I'm not a sore loser like you Jacob. It's not anyone else's fault that you don't know how to work a computer.