Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV Models

I got my Qosmio x775-3DV78 in today. It looks exactly like the pics taken in this thread for the 7272:


http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/590773-qosmio-x775-q7272.html


Do we want a consolidated thread to discuss Qosmio x77X notebooks, or should we have separate threads for each model?

If anybody has any questions about the 3DV78, feel free to ask. I'm fully charging the battery and the Nvidia 3D glasses before I start anything up.

 

I know people will probably be interested in the temps when idle and gaming. Probably a good thing to do for your own knowledge.

Maybe try HWmonitor and run in background. Can give people an idea of the temps.

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

Usually it seems like all variations of a certain model get grouped up so it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to stick this with the x770 models especially since the main difference is the screen res, but my laptop got taken to FedEx today and is on its way back to Toshiba so I wont be maintaining my thread really anymore. If someone wants to merge them go for it. I hope you enjoy your new laptop.

 

Finally!
Well I have some questions
1)How's the build/keyboard/audio quality ? Any keyboard flex ?
2)How much battery life you can get(on both heavy and normal tasks)
3)Are you overall satisfied with it ? any major drawbacks ?

 

I recieved my X775-3DV78 on Wed. It is a nice piece of hardware....

Initial impressions-

1) Crapware- Not burdened- but there are URL links to Netzero, Amazon and others... it would have been nice to have Toshiba include an uninstall advertising option. That said, the system is relatively clean.

2) Fit and Finish- Love it or hate it, the design styling is what it is... most pictures fail to capture that the red accents are metallic... so the thing looks a bit better in person than these preview shots show... but as a co-worker commented, there is no doubt that this is a gaming laptop.

3) 3d- The 3d is not configured on by default- one must run the nVidia Vision wizard to enable this (not that it is a bad idea). After the wizard runs it shows a demo of a few screenshots in 3d from some popular games and it looks very impressive. Some flicker appears in some of the images- but upon further analysis, it turns out these screen captures are 1024x768 and not the native HD 1080p resolution of the panel... when the images are viewed without scaling (to full screen) the flicker artifacts disappear. Batman Arkham Asylum looks good- with volumetric fog using the PhysX capabilities... the frame rate is ok... but could be better at native resolution....

But...

While nVidia supports 3d YouTube with Firefox... there is a problem... If you install firefox and proceed to configure YouTube3d, one will find that the display driver is too old to support YouTube3d. There is no updated 3d driver from Toshiba. If you use the driver wizard on nVidia's site, they declare you should get your driver from Toshiba.

Also-

3D Mark numbers were ok... but... the app suggested that the drivers were out of date... so I think this needs to be brought up with Toshiba...

4) Battery life- Most impressive... but not in a good way. With Eco mode enabled, playing a 3d bluray on a fully charged battery will drain the battery within 30 min... I have only done this testing on the first charge-cycle and its far from conclusive...

5) Processing Video- Transcoding BD disks to my ipad- this system is faster than my Q6600 desktop with an nvidia 9500gt. I am using Aiseesoft's ripper which is CUDA enabled... I get a bit more than twice the speed with the x775 than with the Q6600 based desktop...

More to come...

 

Oh- a few more (that hit me just after hitting "post.")-

Sound- These speakers are unbelievable... they do not compare to my Klipsch Promedia 4.1 setup, but this is loud, rich, and decent sound- not just for a laptop... If you dont already have external speakers or a stereo, you may want to hold off and see if the built-in sound does it for you...

The Realtek drivers seem up to date. I got a warning during the install of Arkham Asylum that there are known driver issues with the Realtek chips.. and after researching it, it may stem from a 2009 era driver that was not fully DirectX9c compliant... I didnt have the problems reported by others using the Realtek chips during the game's launch in 2009.

The Dolby mode is, in my humble opinion, best left off. It doesn't add to the quality of sound or experience- and I could hear it de-emphasizing dialogue in a few tests I ran.

Heat- I use this with a Targus lap-chill mat... the heat is there during Cuda-based bluray transcode (as expected), but generally has not been a major issue... if you are doing productivity stuff, this will be fine... games, 3d bluray, transcoding, rendering, etc... it will get hot. I will try to get something a little less subjective when i can spend more time with the laptop (I have work this week so I have only had a few hours). The palm-rest doesn't get hot at all regardless.

 

I'm just bummed that toshibadirect.com and amazon.com are both advertising this as having Optimus when it doesn't . The Intel HD graphics are nowhere to be seen.

 

Ya they screwed up. The 3d version doesn't have optimus.

 

My problem is I bought it at Microcenter. Microcenter's description didn't mention Optimus anywhere, but I was going off stuff I'd read elsewhere that made me think it would be there. So Microcenter is going to say THEY didn't say it had Optimus and want to charge me a restocking fee if I decide to return it. I might have a bit of bargaining room since they DO say it'll get 4+ hours no the battery, which is about twice what it'll actually do without Optimus.

This really stinks.

 

Just say it doesn't get 4 hrs battery because it doesn't have optimus. No restocking fee since false advertising on battery hours.

 

Couple of notes...

-Keyboard Flex - virtually non-existant. I don't get flex when pressing keys. When pressing the hull around the keys, it flexes a "smidge", but that's pressing on the hull right next to the key.

-Monitor Attachment - The monitor wobbles when touched/pushed. It's not stationary like other high-end laptops, which saddens me.

-Battery Life - I haven't tested yet, but I wanted to reply to Gizmo's comments on Battery Life while watching a Blu-Ray movie. I read through the available docs for the laptop on Toshiba's support site last night and it recommends not watching Blu-Ray movies without being plugged in. That's probably how they get away with an average battery life of a few hours. I'm testing battery life right now with very low usage (just leaving a download running on wifi). It's estimating 1.5 hours of battery life (not in Eco mode). Once it runs out and I charge it all the way back up, I'll test again under the same conditions in Eco mode.

-Just to confirm, the Intel display adapter is not listed in device manager. It just lists the 560M.

-Sound - confirming the earlier report... the sound is the best I've ever heard from a laptop. I watched some movie trailers and could actually hear the bass. I'm not an audiophile, but I have a bit of taste when it comes to sound. Hell, I paid $150 for my powerbeats earbuds and I have a rockin sound system in my vehicle. These speakers are very pleasing. I'd estimate they're about 4-5x better than the speakers in the HP Envy 17 with the Beats label.

-Display - Cons first: I found the display to be a bit dark for my taste, but it's nothing to get worked up about. The display drivers are far out of date. You can't view some of the videos on 3dvisionlive.com and you can't view ANY of the videos on YouTube 3d. I posted about it in their support forums:

Qosmio X775-3DV78 Video Drivers Too Outdated (7 Ve... - Toshiba Forums

Having provided my cons, I believe they're both fixable with updates from Toshiba. Aside from those, the screen is straight brilliant. I was on the fence about whether I'd really appreciate 3d, but I wanted to try it out. I've used it for one day and I'm hooked. The best way to describe playing 3D games with this laptop is like I'm looking through a window-like portal into another world. I'm even playing it with old games like the original Everquest and it's incredible. A 3D world that was always presented to me in 2D has now become truly 3D-looking. I haven't viewed any Blu-Ray movies yet, but I've played some other movies and they all look great. Blu-Ray will probably blow me away. Toshiba just needs to release up-to-date drivers.

I wasn't really worried about it, but I feel for you guys that were expecting Optimus and didn't get it. It really should be in here...

-I'm still getting time with this fella, but I'm pleased overall. I was getting incredibly bored with the gaming scene. I finally found something that makes me excited to game again... 3D.

 

Posted some of this in response to discussion on the 7272 thread, but wanted to share good info here, since it's specific to the 3DV78:

I have the 3DV78 and I gamed on it for over 12 hours yesterday. The only heat felt was on the actual fan, itself. I felt no extra heat on the keyboard area at all. It's actually pretty amazing how well the fan works. I also have to mention how quiet it is. It's near silent. You can hear it, but I've never seen a laptop with the low sound and great performance combination like this laptop. I wish I would have thought to take some temperature readings about 6 hours in, but I never felt heat, so it didn't even come to mind. The next time I have a long game session, I'll try to remember to record temps.

All in all, the 3DV78 (and likely the rest of the X77X lineup) is becoming sort of a wonder laptop for me. It's exceeding expectations in every regard: performance, audio, video (minus the need for Toshiba to release new drivers), and heat control.

Addition for this post and specific to the 3DV78:

I looked at the available downloads on the Toshiba support site for the 3DV78. It has Intel display drivers and Intel Wireless Display drivers available for download. I downloaded them both. Both failed, claiming lack of hardware. I fully expected the Intel display drivers to fail, but the WiDI failure is very disappointing. I fully expected to use this feature and had no idea it wasn't included. Not a dealbreaker for me, but still disappointing.

 

Then how about viewing angle?

 

Ok, after gaming for many hours, the high temps for all cores were high 60's Celsius. Is this good or bad? I don't know. All I know is there isn't a single part of the laptop that I touch (I've felt all around it) that feels anything more than just slightly warm.

Viewing angle? What do you mean exactly?

 

High 60s is extremely cool. How did you measure the temps? What game were you playing and on what settings? [CPU up to high 70s is good [80s is getting a bit hot but still safe], GPU should be in the mid 60s to mid 70s [depending on game], no higher].

For a more accurate way of measuring the MAX temps, use HWmonitor. Very small program that runs in background while gaming. Gives BOTH CPU and GPU temps.

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Viewing angle means instead of looking directly at the screen, start closing the lid slightly while looking at it and see at what point the screen is no longer legible. Also, view the screen from the side and see if you can still view the image ok.
If your having difficulty viewing images from such angles, that is ok. This is expected of most laptop screens. However, some screens are better than others.

Good luck

 

I measured temp with "Core Temp" app. I was playing Everquest with 4 accounts logged in. Granted that's an old game, but 4 games running on max settings with shadows is still pretty hefty. I'll use the app you mentioned and try it again.

As for viewing angle, the point where the screen went illegible was the point where I could barely physically see it anymore.

 

Played half and hour of Portal 2 on default graphics settings and native 1080p resolution... max performance windows power scheme. HWmon shows CPU cores max temp was 168f (76c) for the hottest core... 156F (69c) for max temp of the coolest core. GPU max was 143F (62C). This was in an air-conditioned room (67F) and with a notbook lap cooler from targus (USB powerd, two fans).

 

Those are pretty good temps. Looks like a very cool machine.

 

RED FLAG:

I ran 3dMark11 last night and in the middle of it, the laptop just died. I couldn't turn it back on. It was still plugged in, but the light showing it's plugged in was dead, as well as the charging battery light (two lights that are always on when it's plugged in). I took the battery out, put it back in, no luck. Did this several times.

So I got up this morning to call Toshiba support and turned the laptop over. I had it sitting in my lap and I was looking to see if the number was on the laptop. It wasn't, so I pulled the battery to look at it. Wasn't under there. I put the battery back in and POW... there was a pop sound and a light came from within the laptop (I could see it from the middle heatsink opening on the bottom. I pulled the battery and put it back in again. Same thing. Scary!!!

The kicker? My laptop works again after that. I'm going to call Toshiba later today to check out what the h is going on.

 

Ouch!

Where did you buy it from? I would call Toshiba, but if it were me I would also consider returning/exchanging it.

 

Bought it from Amazon. It no longer sparks when I remove/replace the battery. I'm still going to call Toshiba, but I haven't had a chance, yet. No more problems and I'm not really sure I want to run 3dmark11 again. heh

 

I have a question for you. I just ordered this x775-3dv78 but they don't say nothing about its screen or webcam. Does this laptop have glossy screen or matte? I hate glossy screen coz it reflects everything at my store. my previous laptop which is msi gt680r and it had glossy screen. I couldn't play games or watch movies on it coz I could see my face reflected on screen all the time. Also, how is webcam resolution? It only says 3d stereoscopic webcam nothing more.. Is it like dual 1.3mp webcam as toshibadirect representive say or is it better?

 

It's a glossy screen.

I don't know about the webcam

 

omg... that's a bad news.. does it reflect your face so bad like msi glossy screen? I really hated msi gt660r and gt680r coz they had glossy screen and I always got bothered by it... I kept looking at my reflected self instead of what's on screen... I hope this one doesn't reflect as bad.

 

Update on my laptop after the sparking mentioned earlier:

Just last week, I let the battery totally discharge. My laptop went dead, as expected, so I plugged it back up, expecting to let it fully charge the battery. After plugging it back in, I noticed the power lights didn't come on, as well as the battery charging light. Oh great, I thought. So, I started troubleshooting... I changed outlets, I took the battery out and put it back in, I hit the power button (which resulted in a flashing red light saying it was out of power), I let it sit plugged in for hours, I let it sit not plugged in for hours with and without the battery. No luck. Dead laptop.

Called support, told them about the sparks and the latest problem. They had me send it in.

Toshiba's repair process consists of either sending you boxes to send your laptop in for free or the alternative, which is taking it to a UPS store, yourself, and paying something like $20 for Toshiba to pay UPS to send it to them via next day air or something similar. I opted for the free shipping/box, which arrived 2 days later. I sent it out on Friday and I received an e-mail notification today, Wednesday. I live in northeast Louisiana and the repair facility is in Louisville, KY. It probably arrived yesterday and they're just now getting to it.

I will update here when I have some news, but it's looking like my power supply died.





Alternate question to you guys: Has anyone read that the Bluray unit on the laptop doesn't burn Blu-Rays!?

 

I just got some BD and BD-RE media to try... will post on that soon.

That said- trying to work though Toshiba customer support to get any insight on an updated driver was an exercise in pure frustration.

 

So after having mine for a month now I wish I hadn't bought it. It's a great computer, fun to game on, awesome to type on, nice screen, etc. But the 3D has become kind of useless to me. The more I've used it the more I get headaches and queasiness. It was really mild at first and only happened if I used the 3D for a long time (1+ hours). Now it only takes about 20 minutes and I feel kinda carsick.

It's a shame, I really love this computer otherwise. Anyway, I put it on Craigslist for $1600 but so far no one's even e-mailed about it.

I guess I could just keep it and forget about the 3D, but that was one of the main reasons I bought the big stupid thing. Without that I could have gotten something a little smaller and, more importantly, something with Optimus or hybrid graphics that lasts more than 1.5 hours on a charge.

Live and learn, I guess.

 

Too bad it didn't work out for you. I do agree the 3D screen is probably not worth it; I personally would not want a 3D screen was I would not use it. You may be able to sell it on this forum (under the sales sub-forum). I've never sold anything on here so I have no idea how it works.
NBR Marketplace

Is it possible to disable the 3D and use it in "2D" mode only? Maybe that will vastly improve battery life.


Good luck and keep us updated.

 

everything I've read about this laptop is great, I almost decided to buy it but then I read the incident with the power and that left me with doubts. perhaps this is an isolated problem or someone else has the same thing happened?
I wonder what you think about this laptop from Alienware M17x R3. which would you choose?

 

Depends on how much money you have. If you have near $2000, then get the m17x with the ATI 6990m. That GPU is way faster than the GTX 560m. Of course, this means no 3D screen [as the m17x-3D is 560m only also].

Overall, I know the x775 has been getting positive reviews. But I think the better bargain is to get the q7272/q7270 laptop as it is the best bang for your buck, imo. [if 1600x900p is ok with you]

Good luck


**EDIT**

I know some have been worried about the Sandy Bridge Qosmio running hot. Found a review of an Alienware m17x.R3 from a prominent tech-site. The Temps speak for themselves; they are a bit cooler, but looks to be within 5 degrees of the Qosmio.



http://www.anandtech.com/print/4458

 

well I need a 1920x1080 FHD display... what about Sager\Clevo Laptops?

 

SAGER/CLEVO laptops offer a good value for extreme gaming laptops.

They have their advantages and disadvantages. Almost every member on NBR forums will praise them, but I urge you to do your own research before making the final decision. The problem with tech-forums is that people will always push their brand over others. People are biased; this also applies to my own advise.

Like I tell people, look into: HP ENVY-17, ASUS G73/74, Toshiba Qosmio, MSI 17" laptop, SAGER/CLEVO, Alienware, and any other high performance laptops.

Good luck

 

this Qosmio X775-3DV78 has a 1920x1080 native resolution FHD?

 

Ya. The 3D versions of the x775 have 1080p FULLHD.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=2000002985

 

ok then... so go for it... thanks... BTW the power issue described by "darkeros", you think that is an isolate problem?

 

Update: After having my laptop sit in their depot for 20+ days in "Repair in progress" status, I called and started complaining. Their excuse was that parts were backordered. I told them I didn't really care and wanted either a new laptop or my old laptop sent back so I could return it. They sent me a brand new laptop. =) Customer service was always very helpful and courteous, but they're not the fastest bunch, ya know, bureaucracy and all.

They didn't ask for anything to be sent back to them, like the 3D glasses. They just sent the brand new un-opened laptop. So now I have an extra pair of the 3D glasses, saving me $100, because I was going to buy an extra pair to watch movies with females.

The new one is sitting here charging up. Let's hope we have no problems with it, but so far, their customer service response gets an A. Not an A+, because the + would mean they proactively sought me out to fix my problem, so probably no one will ever get an A+. =p

 

I hate to say it, but RTFM. You're supposed to go through a routine to adjust your vision to 3D over time. Otherwise, you get experiences like you had. Not the product's fault.

 

If your new laptop is good, make sure to upgrade your warranty to Express or On-Site before the 30 day mark.

Good luck

P.S. - zendik, you should still be able to use the Qosmio in non-3D mode, giving your screen 120 hz 2D mode.

 

My optometrist says it's because I have poor binocular vision caused by uncorrected, now uncorrectable, amblyopia, like many people who are made ill by 3D. Because my brain learned long ago to largely disregard input from my left eye, it takes a great deal of effort for me to perceive 3D effectively, and because of that it will simply never be comfortable for me to view 3D for extended periods.

In case anyone is wondering what amblyopia is, or having similar problems with these new 3D machines, the optometrist demonstrated it for me. He had me look at the full eye chart and read it with my left eye. I could barely read any of it. Then he covered up all of the chart except one letter on the SMALLEST LINE and I could read it easily. Move to the next letter and I could read it with the rest of the chart covered. Show me the whole word and it blurred. Show me the whole line and it's just static. My eye SEES fine, but my brain simply doesn't process the input. It's caused because my vision is so unequal between right and left eye. This is the thing that causes kids to have to wear eye patches to retrain the brain to "trust" the weak eye. Unfortunately he said that anyone over 8-10 years old is just broken forever.

So, no, not the product's fault. But not mine either. Thanks for assuming, tho.

 

If you have a X775-3DV78, please call Toshiba and place a request that they update the Ndivia display driver to at least a major version release or two behind the latest available release. We've reportedly had a lot of people say they've called in. The more, the better.



Side note: I tested and confirmed the Blu-Ray burner works. No special apps, it works just like a DVD with the windows built-in burner. I'm actually using a BD-R right now as a live file system. 25GB BD-R reports 23.3GB free space.

 

hows the performance? i wanna buy Q7272 around next month, would u recommended me to this laptop? thanks..

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, as I'm typing, my laptop is installing Nvidia's 285.27 BETA driver, released today, 09/13/2011.

I'll report on quality/stability after install and reboot.

 

So far, so good. Games work, YouTube 3D works, 3dvisionlive.com photos and videos work. I don't have any DVD's or Bluray's near by, or I'd test that, but everything else appears to be working normally.

 

Hey guys, i've got a X775-3dv80, basically exactly the same as the 3dv78, so maybe i could get some suggestions. I have a serious problem with my GPU throttling back mid-game. My fluid framerate will suddenly drop to 5fps for 30 seconds or so then speed back up. This link to a review talks about exactly what happens to mine. Scroll down toward the end of the article, the subtitle is THE BAD. Please let me know if anyone knows why this happens.

http://lgponthemove.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-impressions-toshiba-qosmio-x775.html

 

Supposedly the 1.10 BIOS removes the Throttling issue. HOWEVER, the 1.10 BIOS was released for the original x775 Qosmio [before the CPU update]. You can try going back to the 1.10 BIOS, but no guarantees it will work [try at your own risk]
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/modelContent.jsp?ct=SB&os=&category=&moid=3132478&rpn=PSBY5U&modelFilter=X775-3DV80&selCategory=2756709&selFamily=804517

Another option is using "ThrottleStop" [google it]. Use at your own risk.

If the above don't work, I would seriously consider returning it for a refund. I would not put up with any throttling issues.

 

I used throttlestop to disable the BD PROCHOT function (bi-directional processor hot) which enables the GPU to signal the CPU to throttle back. There was noticeable improvement, but there are still framerate drops. Today Toshiba tech support contacted me and said that NVIDIA would be releasing a firmware update for the GTX560M within a few weeks that would address this issue!!

 

WOW! Now that's good news! Thanks for letting us know Mjustin
When it is released and you get around to updating the GPU, let us know what you think.

 

Hi. I'm thinking about getting a X775-3DV80 but I have some questions before I make a final decision.

- It says it supports max 8GB of memory. Doesn't Sandy Bridge i7-2670QM support up to 16GB or more? (Confused)
- Does it have Nvidia Optimus?
- Will I be able to switch out the current CPU with an Ivy Bridge CPU when it's available? (I know heat can be a concern but is it doable?)
- Been reading about the throttling issue. Is this fixed with the newly released GPU driver?
- Worth an upgrade over my m17x R1? (specs in my signature)
- Finally, is this a high-end laptop or should I look somewhere else?

Thank you.

 

1. 8 GB Max for Toshiba laptops. They use HM65 chipset; I think other manufacturers use PM (or something).

2. 3D version has NO optiumus. Only Non-3D have optimus; I believe [not 100% sure] this issue is the same with Alienware.

3. No. Cannot upgrade to Ivy Bridge. This applies to ALL manufactures, not just Toshiba; Intel stated only highend desktop motherboards would have upgradability.
Ivy Bridge’s Backwards Compatibility Explained

4. Supposedly from another member on here, Toshiba contacted this member and stated nvidia is releasing a firmware update for the GTX 560m that will address the throttling issue. As of right now, I would rethink the purchase until the firmware is released. Of course, can be bypassed with ThrottleStop.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/592879-toshiba-qosmio-x775-3dv78-2.html#post8117621

5. Sure, why not.

6. Qosmios are mainstream gaming laptops; ie: come with gaming competent GPUs [GTX 560m], but NOT extreme highend GPUs. Highend = GTX 570/580; Radeon 6970m, 6990m]. If your spending near $2000 or more, go with Alienware or SAGER. Of course, you probably won't get the 3D screen for the Qosmio price, but that's the trade off.


Good luck

 

Update to this--- In the meantime, waiting for the GTX560M firmware update, I have also disabled the C1E, EIST, all the C-State function that I could, set the multiplier to turbo, and all throttling-framerate issues seem to have vanished, haven't seen any since. Of course I prefer the update to do this, I should not have to do all this just to have it function like its supposed to, but I am much happier now.