Toshiba Qosmio X775: Toshiba's Gamer Grows Up
by Dustin Sklavos on August 17, 2011 12:25 AM ESTBattery, Noise, and Heat
The major update with the Toshiba Qosmio X775, beyond just being in a smaller chassis than its monster predecessor, is the GeForce GTX 560M. NVIDIA's 500M series supports Optimus graphics-switching technology top to bottom, and even though Toshiba only ships the Qosmio with a pitiful 48Wh battery, the 560M should let it eke out a decent running time off the mains.
Now that's what I'm talking about. This is the future, folks, and is probably a good reason why NVIDIA's 500M series has seen as many OEM wins as it has. Even being able to switch the graphics in the M17x R3 using the Radeon HD 6970M, NVIDIA's much cleaner Optimus approach runs wild over the competition. The battery Toshiba equips the Qosmio X775 with is embarassingly small, yet it still provides nearly four hours of running time, heretofore unheard of in a gaming notebook.
That said, we did run into a little bit of trouble with Optimus. While the technology generally runs well, for our 720p playback test we had to specify the IGP be used instead of the 560M. If the 560M provided a substantially better experience, that might be a good idea, but Intel's HD 3000 generally does a good job at decoding H.264 content and thus the default ought to be doing that work on the IGP.
In terms of heat and noise the Qosmio X775 was a surprisingly well-behaved guest, but at least some of that is going to be due to the battery design. The battery actually sticks out of the bottom (despite not being extended), tilting the notebook upward and allowing air to flow through. I generally prefer a tilted notebook, and you really shouldn't be running a gaming notebook on your lap if you can avoid it, but I can see where some users are going to take issue with it.
The CPU runs a bit toasty, but mercifully none of the major heat issues really translate to the end user's experience. The hottest point on the surface under load is the left side of the keyboard, but it's not uncomfortable, and the palm rests thankfully don't get too warm. Meanwhile, fan noise is a low whoosh under load, easily ignored given the system's performance.
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SlyNine1 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
"...the clock has gone up 100MHz to 775MHz..."You mean 675 to 775.
Just trying to help out my favorit review site. Thanks for the great reviews and keep up the good work!
SlyNine1 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Never mind. My bad lol.danjw - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
No SSD option, plus an extra pound to get a decent resolution display. 2 hard drives? What a waste. My question is are the hard drives user replaceable? So I could pull out the dead wait and install an SSD?danjw - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
err, dead weight.JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Yes, you can swap the HDD out. Also, since the HM65 doesn't support RAID, that at least means you don't need to worry about doing a RAID0 to non-RAID downgrade first (a problem I've encountered on some MSI models).rallstarz - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Any word when your review of the Mythlogic laptops is coming out? Thanks!JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Writing as we speak... hope to be up by Friday.rallstarz - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Great! Thanks! Looking forward to it.Solidstate89 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Although it's not a gaming laptop, is there any chance of you guys doing a review of the new Dell Precision notebooks? Especially with the option of the IPS panel on the 15" M4600.Heck, I've got the TN panel version and its black levels are at least as good as the E-IPS monitor I use for my desktop. I figure it's a perfect way for you to get over all these disappointing screens Dustin, by reviewing a laptop with a good one ;)
Hrel - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I can't even start to consider this with that screen. I kind of understand skimping on lower end laptops, under 700 bucks. Even under 1000 to a certain degree. But this is among the worste 900p screen I've ever seen. Most of the time I consider 900p to be "good enough". On a 1300+ 17" laptop though... Whatever screen Clevo is using, is the minimum I expect.GTX560M is fine for a 15.6" laptop, I get it, heat constraints. But I expect more in a 17" laptop. From my perspective 17" is too big to be something you carry around everywhere anyway. So it's probably acting as a desktop replacement. Which means it needs to be able to play every current game at 1080p at max settings at over 60fps. Idk, maybe that can't be done for 1500 or less yet on laptops; but I'd never consider getting a desktop replacement if it can't be.
The other thing I consider required is 2+ hdd bays and 4 RAM slots. Again, it can be done in 15" models, 17" should be a piece of cake.
Fuck Blu Ray; that is all.