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Yes, you read that right, I finally got a Qosmio Q893! I came across one on eBay, and while I don't usually take chances on major purchases online, the store was kind enough to offer a 30-day return policy with paid return shipping, so for $880 & free shipping, I thought, why not?
Long story short, this was my best purchase ever! Not only was the seller kind enough to update all the drivers and BIOS before shipping (anyone who's ever bricked a PC with a BIOS update will understand the anxiety), but it turns out this Q893 is loaded with 8GB 1333MHz RAM! And though it was listed as used, except for a tiny scratch on the cover you literally have to be an inch away to see, this baby looks brand-new!
I've had the Qosmio for a week now, and it runs beautifully. Coming from an interim HP dv7, I'm amazed at the absence of bloatware! Yes, Toshiba does install their own utilities, but most of them are genuinely useful and stay out of your way. Compared to other OEMs, this is a remarkably clean installation of Windows, and it shows; even though the Qosmio's i5-460m is marginally slower than the dv7's i5-480m, performance is much snappier.
The screen is bright (I don't know whether the v2.90 BIOS update affected 945p screens) and colorful; the saturation is so good that, for example, viewing Google Art Project, it looks like you're looking at actual paintings! The keyboard is a joy to use, and the speakers...unlike other laptops that just output tinny sounds, these things make music! At high volume and certain frequencies, some of the keys do clatter, but I don't find that a design flaw; for good measure, I also ordered a keyboard protector off eBay. I haven't got it yet, and it may be a waste of money, but eBay gave me a $20 certificate for the Qosmio purchase, so it's not even my money. One thing I would change about the Qosmio is the hinge; while the Qosmio is made of stiff high quality plastic, because of its sheer size, there is some flexibility when opening/closing the screen; I would've used metal here instead. The AC adapter made a weird whistling sound the first day, but it's died down, so I guess it was a case of burn-in.
Any regrets? Well sure, I wish I had Blu-ray (I don't own any Blu-ray disks, but Blu-ray is dropping down in price enough that it's not an issue anymore), and a Sandy Bridge i7 would have been a nice boost as well, but for those I would have to pay nearly double for the Q8102x. I do have the LED backlit keyboard though, which I wouldn't have gotten with the Q8100x. I'm looking to see whether it's possible to get a Blu-ray drive and swap it.
Qosmio owners: be sure to upgrade your Nvidia drivers. I was using the v270.51 Beta and getting a benchmark of ~2200 on Furmark at full-res; after upgrading to v270.61, I'm getting ~2750, a 25% increase!
Bottom line, this is a fantastic laptop, and I'm so happy to finally be a Qosmio owner!
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Congrats! and Welcome to the club!
The Qosmios don't get much street cred, but I think they are great machines. Looking forward to more input from your experiences. -
X505-Q893 - I got one!!!
Discussion in 'Toshiba' started by a4500435, Apr 20, 2011.
