X505-q8100

When newegg gets the q8104x in stock, you can buy it for $1899 + NO TAX.

Newegg also has the q888 in stock (1080p) for $1650 + NO TAX (but has GTS 360m card).

If you can't wait, Toshibadirect has the q8104x for $1799 ($100 off) + TAX.

If you can really wait, Newegg should eventually get some 896/898 refurbs in. They would probably go for at least $200 off the original price.


Good luck and keep us updated.

 

IF Wal-Mart gets the 8104x back in stock, they're showing a price of $1684. I've found a new q888 at Buy.com for $1412 + no tax + (very cheap overnight shipping). Though again, the 360M, while better by far than my current 9600M GT in my HP HDX, is a step down from the 460. Also, doesn't it have heat issues, at least in comparison to the 460?
I wish my side-by-side test had ended differently, as I'd be all over the q8102 otherwise.
I'd have sprung on the 8104x that J&R has up for $1899, but I emailed them a question about the unit and their policies and got back a reply that was wierd: "Due to the time of year, we don't have anyone assigned to answer questions by email. Please call us." Er, time of year? It's March. It sounds like an auto-reply that was left over from Christmas -- and if it is, the fact that it's still running in March doesn't speak well for them.

What a headache.

 

Ya the GTS 360m (imo) is a bad card produced by nvidia. It's basically an OVERCLOCKED GTS 260m (thus the overheating issues).

Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

The GTX 460m runs MUCH cooler and much more stable, and is why a lot of manufacturers have it stocked with their lappies (also imo).

For 18.4" screens, Qosmios pretty much have the market. I really can't find anything else that compares and is available right now for purchase.


Good luck and keep us informed

 

how can i get silence multimedia keys of the laptop's left side? "beep" voice is not so nice..=)

 

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

 

thank you so much

 

Well, the decision was sort of made for me. An unexpected plumbing bill has, shall we say, lowered the funds available for me to buy this laptop. So, with the new much lower limit in place, I had to go with the on-sale x505-q8100x from J&R. Had a discount with them, so the final price shipped is less than the price showing on their website. Not optimal, but in comparison to the HP HDX16T I'm using, the cpu is still a massive improvement -- and obviously the GPU is a huge step up.
At this point, I'm kind of glad i didn't order the 8104x, because I'd have been in a world of hurt when the plumbing problem happened. Ironically, the cost of the plumbing repairs/re-piping plus the 8100x totals to about the price of the 8104x.
So, I guess I'll post a review of the 8100x once it gets here. Thanks, all, for chatting and listening as this process unfolded.

 

Sorry to hear about your plumbing issues, I know it's not cheap.

The q8100x should still surpass your expectations (excluding screen, though 945p is only 1 resolution below 1080p). Remember it's a i5 dual-core, but it has 2 threads per core; so it "emulates" a 4 core CPU. The GPU will kick butt, and you get it all for a pretty decent price (sounds like you might get the q8100X for almost half the price of a q8104X, darn good deal).

Looking forward to your review. Good luck

 

It was a good price, because of the discounts.
I hit Notebookcheck.net and looked at the benchmarks for the i5-2410 vs. my existing p8600 and against the i7-740 and the i7-2630. While the 2630 is clearly the winner overall, ironically the benchmarks even on the multi test stacked the i5-2410 pretty well against the i7-740.
The display, well, I can work with it. Again, Notebookcheck.net had a sobering DPI chart. I realised something: nothing was going to compare to my 16" 1080p display, the DPI is just ridiculously high. So I went back to my older Toshiba, which was 17" and 1440x900, which I had no trouble with -- and it had a slightly lower DPI than the 1680x945 in the 18.4". I figure I can make it work. Not going to lose sleep over it.
What a stupid week, though. Smacked with a $700+ plumbing bill. (sigh) I hate unexpected crap.
Anyway. Just confirmed that the Q8100x shipped, so it should be here tomorrow AM -- I paid the extra (I kid you not) $1.60 to get it 1-day air, guaranteed AM delivery. Cannot praise J&R enough for their shipping options and the costs of each one.

 

After a week and half of harassing ToshibaDirect I have finally received my refund. End up going with Acer AS8950G (Newegg/Amazon just got it in stock 2 days ago).

Almost the same specs, 1080p screen, lighter and it cost me $230 less ($1499 on Newegg, no tax, free 3 day shipping).

 

I just ordered a Q8104X from NewEgg for $1799.

It was a little higher than my planned budget (1500-1600 range) but the fit with my desired spec was too good to ignore. I knew I wanted the 2630QM with a decent amount of memory (as I do a lot of multi-tasking while developing with many apps/IDEs running simultaneously) but also a decent gfx card (for the occasional game) and a large 1920x1080 screen.

I have 3 24" 1080p on my desk and so the 1080p was important because when I 'dock' I want to drive 2 of them from the laptop if possible without desktop resolution changes messing with my icon layout!
I currently have them all driven from my main desktop machine using a GTX 260 (2xDVI) + a good USB graphics adapter (1xDVI) and I am hoping the USB graphics adapter will work from the Q8104X.

For many years I had nothing but laptops (mostly older Thinkpads) but I have been desk bound for a while so I am hoping the newer laptop will pleasantly surprise me.

I'm planning to investigate whether I can install Win7 Ultimate on the Q8104X as a dual boot with the existing home premium and use it for work and play while traveling, at my desk and around the house and garden. It will be interesting to see how the performance compares to the 2 year old i7-920, and even older (but overclocked) Q6600, under my desk. If everything works out the 920 can take over the devt server role of the Q6600 which will get handed down to one of the kids and replace one of their really old Athlon 64 3700+ based systems.

Sorry...didn't mean to witter on in my first post, must be more excited than I realised about the laptop.

 

Congrats!!!

Make sure you do a review of the Qosmio q8104X. I'm sure there are many people who would like to see it, including me.

 

Walmart just got another shipment of Qosmio q8102X laptops.
Walmart.com: Toshiba Black 18.4" Qosmio X505-Q8102X Laptop PC with Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor and Windows 7 Home Premium: Computers

This will probably be one of the last batches of x505s.

 

Im regretting not going for a 8102x or 8104x. but i guess I just just upgrade the 8100x for now

 

Newegg just got in another shipment of the q8102X @ $1509

Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Qosmio X505-Q8102X Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 18.4" 6GB Memory DDR3 1333 640GB HDD 7200rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M.