Toshiba Laptop – Hands on

Toshiba Qosmio Laptop – Hands-On Review

First Impressions

The Toshiba Qosmio x505 is a very powerful, gaming-oriented laptop—though it’s not quite a desktop replacement. For the price, it offers impressive performance.

That said, the amount of bloatware and crapware pre-installed is staggering. The hard drive is advertised as 500GB, but after formatting, only 477GB is usable (this is normal). Out of that, Toshiba wasted about 27GB on bloatware (although 1-2GB likely goes to Windows OS). This leaves only 453GB available.

At startup, the RAM usage for all Toshiba’s pre-installed bloatware reaches 1.4GB, and the boot time is over two minutes—an agonizingly long wait.

Edit: I installed Windows XP 32-bit, and the boot time decreased to about 40 seconds. However, Toshiba does not support Windows XP or any other 32-bit OS, so you’re on your own if you go down this path. See my July post for guidance—it took me more than 16 hours to get it working.

Computer Specs

Model: Toshiba Qosmio x505 (Red/Black)
CPU: Intel Core i5 M430 2.27GHz
Screen: 18.4″
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 500GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit
Price: $1,099 + $47 shipping
Purchased From: J&R (www.JR.com)

Note: J&R’s customer service was disappointing. I paid $47 for overnight shipping, but they delayed the shipment by several days.

Windows Experience Index

Win7 64-bit (June 2010):

• CPU: 6.7
• RAM: 5.9
• GPU: 6.8
• HDD: 5.9

Win7 32-bit (February 2011):

• CPU: 6.4
• RAM: 7.1
• GPU: 6.8
• HDD: 5.9

Compared to my old desktop, this laptop’s performance is underwhelming.

Included Accessories and Software

Included Goodies: None.
I expected USB adapters, VGA/HDMI adapters, a screen cleaning cloth, or a car power adapter. The package contained only the laptop and its gigantic charger. There wasn’t even a Windows 7 CD.

Included Software: Microsoft Works.
Most of the pre-installed software was bloatware.

Hardware Review

Performance Index: The Windows Experience Index scores a lackluster 5.9. For $1,200, this is disappointing. With the same budget, you could upgrade your desktop into a powerful machine.

Dead Pixels: None. I got lucky here.

Screen Quality (1-10): 5 (downgraded from 6).
The screen is too bright and overexposed. Adjusting brightness and contrast helps, but the controls are buried in the NVIDIA software—hardly convenient.

TouchPad Quality (1-10): 3 (upgraded from 2).
The touchpad’s rough texture makes cursor movement jerky, especially with sweaty fingers. Uninstalling the touchpad drivers improved the experience slightly.

Quick Multimedia Buttons: Poor placement. You’ll often press them accidentally while typing. The worst offender is the “Start Player” button, which launches Media Player when you least need it.

Sound Quality (1-10): 8 (upgraded from 6).
Uninstalling Toshiba’s sound utilities significantly improved audio quality.

Keyboard Quality (1-10): 7.
The keyboard itself is decent, but the layout could be better.

Webcam Quality: Poor.
The webcam produces overly sharp edges and dark images unless the room is brightly lit.

Slimness (1-10): 2.
This laptop is gigantic and heavy, which was expected for its screen size and power. Still, “portable” isn’t the right word.

Power and Battery

The power adapter deserves its own section. It’s enormous, earning descriptors like “gigantic,” “humongous,” and “brick-sized.” Customers on Toshiba’s website agree: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/adet.to?poid=366631

The battery lasts about three hours on a full charge but takes two hours to recharge—not ideal for longevity. Test conditions included installing drivers, browsing the internet, and rebooting four times with screen brightness set to 6/8.

Design and Features

Design (1-10): 9.
The red backlight against the black chassis is striking, especially in the dark.

Boot Speed (1-10): 3.
Even after removing some bloatware, boot time was 105 seconds. The slow HDD drags down performance.

Nice Features:

• Quick toggle for the touchpad.
• Backlit buttons and sleek design.
• Quiet operation at low capacity.
• HDD anti-shock protection.
• eSATA port.
• Wireless LAN toggle.

Bloatware

The most frustrating aspect of this laptop was the pre-installed software. Here’s what I removed:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader: 209MB
• Toshiba Online Backup: 2.2MB
• Amazon Links
• Google Toolbar for IE
• Norton Internet Security (demo): ~200MB
• Microsoft Office Student 60-Day Demo: ~350MB
• Various adware and gaming platforms
• Unnecessary Toshiba utilities

Conclusion

Pros:

• Big and powerful.
• Excellent gaming performance for a laptop.
• Good speakers.
• Decent battery life for its specs.
• Doesn’t overheat.

Cons:

• Tons of pre-installed bloatware.
• Poor driver support.
• Mediocre sound card.
• No support for 32-bit OS.
• Lack of accessories in the box.
• Gigantic power adapter.
• Heavy and bulky.

Overall Rating (1-10): 6.

Full Specifications

Display: 18.4” Widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD
Resolution: 1680 x 945
Memory: 4GB DDR3 (expandable to 8GB)
Storage: 500GB 7200RPM HDD
Processor: Intel Core i5 430M (2.26GHz, Dual-Core)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M (1GB GDDR5)
Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD±RW Dual Layer Labelflash
Connectivity: eSATA, HDMI, VGA, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit LAN
Weight: 9.7 lbs
Battery: 12-cell Lithium-ion
Webcam: Integrated