official "X205 Owner's Thread"

Post here if you own an X205 and your experiences with it.

I have the $2499 version X205-S9359 that i paid $2345 for.
I like it the HD DVD drive does'nt work for reading anything lately but i'll chalk that up to a driver problem and if it persists i'll get on toshiba's butts and give them a good thrashing other. Performance is amazing i could use some faster HD's but i'm gunna sell the 2 it came with down the road and put in some SSD's when they drop in price and raise in capacity. Some design features the developers could have kept in mind. When allowing for 4 GB of RAM it should have shipped with Vista 64 especially with a 64 capable CPU. the ram should have been at 800 Mhz to match the CPU FSB. I figure i'll swap those out as well. and the HD's should be at least 7200 RPM in a choice of RAID 0. otherwise i'm very very happy with my lappy.

 

I'm actually getting the X200 (European version of X205) during September's next week. May I post in your thread?

 

I'm very happy with mine, although to be honest when some people talk about their experiences with it I feel almost as if mine under-performs. Even being so, it still tears through anything I throw at it. Speakers are shockingly effective and I have no problem using them instead of outside speakers. Keyboard feels nice and responsive. Hard drive size is great for a laptop. I'd like more, but I store all of my music/movie media on an external, so the only thing that's really eating away my HD space is games. I havn't tried to watch any HD-DVDs yet, so I'm not sure how that will go.

Overall I've had good experiences with this laptop.

 

As always, if anything, I'd say Hard Drive speed kills this lappy (5400 RPM sucks). Be nice if the hard drives were 7200RPM 8MB cache Raid 0... oh, one can dream, one can dream.

Still, a great laptop.

 

I'm very happy with mine as well. I got the 3959 - Just figured I'd go all out - though I'm not sure if its the best value for the money.

There have been some issues with the screen for some people... apparently one is made by LG and the other by Samsung... I've heard the LG isn't quite as good.


Gaming performance has been great - though I haven't played any brand new games... so far...

Guild Wars: Awesome - maxed out no problems
SimCity 3000: Awesome - Maxed out
Empire At War: Awesome - no problems
Neverwinter Nights 2: -CLose to maxed out - no problems -


The real test will be when World In Conflict comes out. I'm pretty excited about that.

Like others, I think the hard drive is the bottleneck in this one. Toshiba just came out with a 320GB hard drive that I'll buy for data - and then a lower capacity 7200RPM hard drive for programs and games. I don't think SSD's are going to be very cheap anytime soon.

The only thing I really don't like is the keyboard. I much prefer my old ZD8k as far as response, feel, and regonomics. It felt more like a desktop keyboard. I also don't really like the location of the delete key, and kinda wish Ihad some ports on the back.

Other than those nitpicks, I must say I'm extremely happy. This thing runs very cool!! It kinda surprised me actually. I played GuildWars last night fr about three hours and I didn't even use a notebook cooler - nor have I yet - and the air coming out was never more than warm.


Question: Which of the preinstalled software did you guys keep? I deleted everything except the Toshiba software (flash cards, various other utilities) and MS Office.

 

First I guess X200 people can post here i did'nt know european's got a different version. If you'd like to note the differences that'd be cool too i'm rather interested.

The HD space is a non-issue since i have 3/4 of a terabyte on my desktop which has turned into more of a file server since i've got the laptop and that system has an 8800 GTS 640MB

I've run almost everything under the sun on my laptop to stress it out and bring it to its knees.

Bioshock maxxed out
Oblivion almost maxxed out
3D mark 06
Quake 4 multithreaded enabled maxxed out
Pretty much valves library including:
Half life 2
HL2 lost coast
Counterstrike Source
*interesting sidenote with the factory shipped drivers setting the AA in CS:S to 16x i could see through walls albeit with almost unplayable framerate around 13 fps it was neat but even with the unfair advantage of being able to see through walls having a playable framerate was much more important and allowed me to play much better so i leave this setting at around 8x
Supreme commander is installed but will not run since i need the disk and my disk drive still is not working.
Final fantasy XI was a pain in the ass I had to get vista specific version of Play Online and had to update the drivers yet again.
I've run every single nvidia tech demo for 8000 series graphics cards even the Human head one which is meant to run on an 8800 Ultra and i was still amazed.
These tech demo's included:
Human head
Adrianne Lite - Meant for 8600 cards
Cascades Lite - same as above
Froggy Lite -same
Nvidia Smoke

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - hey its on the sticker right on the thing not my kind of FPS but I just had to try it on here.

Interestingly all the demo's came with the regular versions which all ran albeit a little bit slower.

Heat is also a non-issue since it spills out the sides and not onto my thighs when i actually have it on my lap. It is only warm never hot which is still good because i can use it to keep me warm in the winter underneath a blanket or something

Also in the future maybe you guys could name any possible upgrades yall are planning.
I was planning on upgrading to Vista Ultimate 64 bit edition around the same time i bought either 2 GB of 677 Mhz DDR2 ram or if I can swap out the origional ram buying 4 GB of 800 Mhz DDR2 ram to bring it up to the CPU's FSB of 800 Mhz i still don't know if the first 2 sticks are swapable i have'nt opened it up.
I also plan on switching out the two 5400RPM HD's for either two 7200RPM in RAID0 or 2 SSD's money and total HD-spaces are non-issues i'll save my pennies and sacrifice a kidney for performance anyday.

The monitor has'nt given me any problems save for the ocasional fingerprint smudges that happen on both the back and front. Oh and never accidently sneez on the monitor it's a ***** to clean. The sticker is starting to peel on the front but I likes it and i'll try and keep that on as long as I can.
Other than that the monitor looks beautiful. and the smudges are only visable when its on a black loading screen or something.

Edit: One last thing i've hooked this thing up to my 56" LCD DLP HDTV at 1080i resolution using the HDMI port and omg is it amazing. it does shave off a little bit on the sides and top and bottom.
Edit: this issue seems to have disapeared using the new bioshock drivers which is amazing in56" HD

 

I don't think this is avoidable - A computer monitor's aspect ratio is 16*10 whereas most Tv's are 16*9

 

I like the X205 very much (except for the bad HD Drive) I really don't any complaints 'cause my expectations for NBs aren't really high. I just want the things to work and play my games exceptionally well and play my Blu Ray and HD movies (hint, hint) good. I can't get over the sound of the speakers thou!!! The sound is incredible. I do however wish they could get louder. Eventhough the sound isn't as good, my XPS speakers get incredibly loud! I have to turn them down sometimes. So here is a breakdown of my likes and dislikes.

The keyboard: It types so I like it
The fingerprint scanner: It scans so I like it
The back cover: I like red so.... I like it
The GPU: It plays CC3 great so for now, I like it
The touchpad shortcuts bottom 3: I can program them they I like, so I like them
The speakers: I love them
The screen: It's bright enough for me and CC3 looks great on it, so I like it
HDMI: CC3 looks awesome on the HD screen! But then again, all of you 360 owners already know that.

What I don't like
The top 3 shortcut buttons on the touchpad are useless for me. I have to look to see if I can reprogram them like the bottom 3.
EDIT: I found out how to reprogram the top 3 so now I like the all shortcut buttons.

All the Day-umm bloatware!!!!!
Toshiba Tech Support. Bad, bad, bad, bad. They make Dell's Tech Support look like a Godsend. They are just awful. I could start a whole other post on my bad experience with their tech support but I just don't have the strength.


I like I said before, I like the X205. Once my drive get fixed, then I love.
I have to say I really like the X205. I'm typing on it right now and it's a joy to work with.

 

I just bought Titan Quest from steam and it runs well, aside from the technical issues from teh game itself.

I'm downloading World In Conflict - I'm really excited about this game... I hope it runs at reasonably high rate.

 

You mentioned that there are two different screens out there? How do you tell if which screen you have? Does having a Samsung screen fix the blue tint issue I've been having? Will Toshiba replace my laptop with the nicer screen?

 

Have any of you S9359 owners downloaded the Windows Ultimate Extra Dreamscenes? It's freakin' awesome, IMO. I'm going to try how to find out how you can take scemes from your favorite movie and stuff.

Umm oj, what the hell is Dreamscenes? Oh, you can have a video loop on your desktop and stuff. There's no sound. Now I know this probably will slow down the 'puter a tad but for the time being. I'm keeping it.

 

I bought the x205-S9349 about a week ago. It's my first laptop and I love it. The problem though lies in Vista. I have had nothing but headaches but you guys seem to be faring much better. Maybe I'm just unlucky. Half-Life: Source plays without sound and CS:Source won't even load anymore after I played it just once. Bioshock, one of the reasons why I bought this laptop, doesn't run either. And now some of my mp3's refuse to play. I'm about ready to dump Vista and install XP instead. Could this really be all Vista's fault or is it also the laptop? I'm convinced it's all software based. There don't seem to be any new drivers out there either.

The only "problem" I have with the laptop itself is the space bar. Sometimes if you hit it at the lower end of the bar it won't register.

 

It sounds like to me you are having a mixture of stuff. I would try to use the restore disk and put the NB back into "Fresh out of the Box" config.

The NB should at least play Half-Life without any problems.

I would get back with us if the "Fresh out of the Box" restore doesn't fix anything.

 

most things worked fine for me out of the box cept things that required the updated driver and the .inf file hack see the bioshock benchmark thread for details that would probably solve most of your gaming problems vista sucks but what can you do about it. the only outstanding things i've seen in vista are the aero interface, vista ultimates dreamscene which i use all the time but its still buggy, and DX10 i'm still keeping my desktop on XP but i've learned to cope with Vista.

 

Quick Updat:

The red "Satellite" logo on the front left seems to have gone off...
I'm not sure when it happened.

Anyone know if this is controlled by a driver? I hate to send my notebook in already.

 

There is an option called "Front Edge Logo" in the bios. You can turn the logo on/off there.

 

My X205-S9359 is a solid performer, the only things that bugs me is Windows Vista and the biggest gripe, the crappy screen.

It has a strong blue tint to everything which throws all the colors out of whack. Being an artist and photographer, this is a major problem for me. I've ran color correction software to fix the desktop colors so they look normal, but when I run games, the video card kicks it back to the normal color profile. I would be satisfied with the machine if not for this All Toshiba needs to do is enable monitor color temperature controls through the CMOS. For something that costs $2500, you'd think they'd throw in a decent screen.

There also isn't too much driver support for the system as of yet, I had to get the modded INF video drivers to get Bioshock to run.

 

THanks, that fixed it

 

Yup man, if you want to know about the X200, the "European X205", there isn't a lot. The "maxed" version of the X200, the X200-15K has a 2.4GHz Intel Coer 2 Duo T7700, compared to the "maxed" X205 2.0Ghz T7300. However, the X200 can be bought only with a 256MB version of the 8700M GT, while you can get an X205 with the 512MB version. The X200 has Vista Home Premium, the X205 has Vista Ultimate. The screen of the X200 is WXGA+ 1680 x 1050, and the X205's screen is XGA+ 1440 x 900. Also, the X200 has 300GB of HDD, but the X205 has 320GB. Both of them have HD-DVD drives (Although the X200-17H, a "smaller" version has plain DVD). I think thats all...

 

Yes, i can understand you very well. I have the 1440x900 LG/Philips screen and i also don't like the colours. The colours looked very pale. I had to turn on the digital vibrance (+20) in the nvidia drivers to make the colours more vivid.
Now the screen is pretty good. What i really like is that there is absolutely no grain unlike many other notebook screens. the white is actually white, no grey "film" over it

 

Well look at my X200. No HD-DVD drive, 1440x900, 240GB HDD (2 x 120).
Seems there are many different versions, but hey, i got a remote
See

 

Satego? What region did you get that from? I was reffering to the X20-15K, the "maxed" version of the X200. But hey, it's got a remote as well! =]

 

X200 and X205 really worth the money you'll spend on them... Amazing price for what you get...

 

I bought it in germany. Toshiba has a exclusive contract with "MediaMarkt" there, a big electronic mall.

 

Weired, and it looks EXACTLY like a Satellite X200 and X205. Maybe Germany's market has the Satellite series renamed to Satego. Maybe it means "Satellite" in German (I REALLY DON'T KNOW!). Are you German?

 

Yeah I'm german, some toshiba notebooks here are named "Satego", and some are named "Satellite". I don't know what policy is behind all this. Maybe we should ask Toshiba

 

So you are German and ofcourse you know that Satego doesn't mean Satellite in German. Those weired different names of actually same products on the market. Cars, electronics, software and games...

 

Well, i know that "Satellite" means = Satellit in german. Basically the same word, but without an "e"

 

Yeah, I'll search this Satego thing up and tell you if I find anything.

 

It appears (from some other forums) that in some parts of Europe, the Satego is the Satellite series renamed. Do you have Satellite models in Germany, or only Satego?

 

We have also Satellite series here.

 

That's very strange... Perhaps some Satellite models are renamed as Satego in your region...

 

If my base exchange carried the Toshiba X205-S9359, I would probably pick it up in a hearbeat. Right now, I'm going for a price match for the X205-S9349 for $1849. Do you guys think the X205-S9359 is worth the extra money ($650)? I probably won't be doing a whole lot of gaming since I'm going to school full time. I do want something that will work well when I do have the time. Sell me on this laptop guys and/or gals, I do like it very much, I would just like some more confidence I will love this thing.

Can anyone explain what the Intel 1GB Turbo memory is? Is that an extra 1GB ram or some feature to use the existing 2GB for loading games?

Edit:
Also, for those of you that have recently purchased one of these in the US with the HD-DVD, you can get 5 free movies (HD-DVD), a free all-in-one printer (after rebate), a free case or backpack (after rebate) and free 1GB hi-speed flash drive (after rebate).

June 18-Sep 30 for the case/backpack and flash drive
Aug 20-Sep 30 for the HD-DVDs
June 15 -Sep 30 for the printer. I just found the rebate and it is for select Epson printers and you get a $79 rebate, which will make only some of the printers free.

Printer/case/flashdrive rebate link - http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/toshibadirect.to?page=599_notebook
HD-DVD offer link (select "view available rebates) - http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Tosh...85943/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Sam

 

The X205 is really made for gaming (it is a gaming laptop), so it is up to you to choose.

The TurboMemory is (REALLY IM NOT 100% SURE, SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG!) placed to have usual processes running on it instead of the RAM, thus freeing up some RAM. Perhaps it is not something bad since the X205 comes with it! =]

 

Well, I found some info on it albeit, not much. It is a flash memory module. So my assumption is it is an additional 1GB of ram. It may be like you said, is used to run processes on it instead of system memory. This is a good thing! If nobody has anything else to add, I'll again assume (I do that a lot, huh?) it comes with 3 GB total of ram. Now that makes me wonder if the system can then only be upgraded to 3 GB of memory (not including the turbo memory).

Edit:
Ok I found an interesting article about why HP wasn't going to use it. Esentially, it is like adding a flash drive or SD Card to the system. So it seems it you would still be able to install two 2GB chips plus the turbo cache for a total of 5GB.

 

I'm another proud owner of an X205-S9359.

I was a little dissapointed by the sheer amount of bloatware on the laptop. Even after spending an hour cleaning it off the boot time still seems questionably long (took four minutes out of the box!). I'm currently planning on formatting the system, replacing the primary HD with a 200GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K200, one of the fastest notebook drives around. Anything to bring down that boot time!

I've also got a Toshiba Tecra M-7, and have come to learn with Toshiba that their specialized software just bogs the system down. It's unfortunate how much they really pre-load onto the system.

I'm still not really sure how I feel about Toshiba as a manufacturer, but it's hard to beat the featureset on the X205 for the price.

 

Yup man, if you want to know about the X200, the "European X205", there isn't a lot. The "maxed" version of the X200, the X200-15K has a 2.4GHz Intel Coer 2 Duo T7700, compared to the "maxed" X205 2.0Ghz T7300. However, the X200 can be bought only with a 256MB version of the 8700M GT, while you can get an X205 with the 512MB version. The X200 has Vista Home Premium, the X205 has Vista Ultimate. The screen of the X200 is WXGA+ 1680 x 1050, and the X205's screen is XGA+ 1440 x 900. Also, the X200 has 300GB of HDD, but the X205 has 320GB. Both of them have HD-DVD drives (Although the X200-17H, a "smaller" version has plain DVD). I think thats all...

the S9359 version i have has the WXGA+ 1680 x 1050 and none of the screen problems like some people on here are saying. and the extra 1 GB of flash memory is not like and exta stick of RAM its more like a tiny tiny SSD (solid state drive) that reads faster than the hard drive and loads maybe he most commonly used functions of your most commonly used programs through windows readyboost which will use any flash driver or memory stick you give it and asign to this task it will help speed up some applications loading but its not like a whole other stick of RAM and going up to 4GB required either XP or Vista 64 bit or else it will show up like around 3GB

 

Hmm - That's strange - I see the option for digital vibrance in the nVidia control panel - But I'm unable to select it.

 

Well with the stock drivers you won't be able to turn the digital vibrance on. Only with the laptopvideo2go drivers sadly...

 

Uoops... Sorry about the wrong info about the X205. Anyway, I'll also need the 64-Bit Vista for 4GB of RAM. Does this Intel Turbo Memory do anything REALLY good?

 

It's very unlikely that Turbo memory will give a significant performance boost when you have 2 - 4GB of ram.

 

wow ! Nice avatar Cold Soul !!

 

haha, yeah, conan all the way

 

Conan, the Barbarian... Sleek...

 

Stumbled into this one after seeing a thread about which notebooks are available with the 8700M. I've got my eye on a S9359 but have a couple of questions.

First, I see that the S9359's screen is at 1680x1050, but the Toshiba tour says it's capable of outputting up to 1080i to an external display. Is the card incapable of outputting 1080p aka 1920x1200 over HDMI? I understand that the screen itself isn't high enough resolution, however, if I want to play an HD-DVD on a 1080p screen... the card obviously has to be capable of putting out 1080p over HDMI/DVI. Personally, I'd prefer a 1920x1200 LCD on the notebook itself (I'm a graphic designer), but 1680x1050 will work... I can get over that. Just seems like a waste of an HD-DVD player if the hardware isn't capable of 1080p.

That's the only downfall I see to this notebook. Is this something that third party drivers might be able to support or is this locked by the hardware?

 

Woohoo! I got the price match for $1850. Now I have to wait until tomorrow to get the money back from Dell and I can order my Toshiba. Again, I wish it was the s9359, but I'll get plenty of use out of it. So I'm soon to be a proud (hopefully, HA!) owner of an x205-s9249

Has anyone reinstalled Vista direct off of a DVD so as to avoid the bloatware? Does Toshiba provide a driver disk with these?

 

Can someone who owns the higher end one with the tv tuner please tell me if the tuner and remote are exactly like the ones in this photo? Thank you.

 

Yes, those are the exact same that came with mine.

 

Welcome to the club ! Enjoy your new X205

 

Just as a warning since you are a graphics designer, you'll need heavy color calibrations on your screen to get it to look correct. I've got a X205-S9359 and the only thing that I don't like about it is the screen's color temperature. It has a strong blue tint to it. Mine is color calibrated, but the video card resets it when you run full screen 3d apps (like games)