Today's gaming and entertainment laptops need to cram the most cutting-edge processors, blazing graphics cards, a ton of storage space, and a gorgeous display into a notebook that can catch the eye of picky multimedia mavens. Toshiba set out to do just that with its 17-inch Qosmio X775-3DV78, and took it a step further by throwing in a 3D-enabled display and a pair of Nvidia's active shutter 3D glasses. But gamers and entertainment afficionados don't just want power, they also want great style, and they want it all at a decent price. So does the $1,899 Qosmio X775 satisfy?
Design
The Qosmio X775 is wrapped in Toshiba's X2 Fusion finish, which covers the X775's lid and deck in row after row of asymmetrical, horizontal textured stripes. The stripes have an interesting way of reflecting light and do a nice job resisting fingerprints, but the look may be a little too aggressive for some. We have a bigger problem with the color choices. The chassis is a bright reflective silver that gives way to red. It looks a little tacky.At the top of the deck, you'll find the X775's Media Control Bar, complete with power, Wi-Fi control, 3D, play and pause, and volume controls. The bar also has an Eco Utility button that reduces the system's overall power consumption at the cost of performance. Flanking the media bar on both sides are two harman/kardon speakers topped with silver covers that look like they would be more at home on an alien spaceship than on a laptop. The system's keyboard, number pad, and media bar all have red backlighting. A red strip of light also runs across the top of the touchpad and is used to indicate when the pad is active or deactivated.
Weighing in at 8 pounds and measuring 16.3 x 10.8 x 2.4 inches, the X775 is one of the larger 17-inch desktop replacements on the market. It's bigger than Dell's XPS 17 3D (16.3 x 10.5 x 1.5-inches), but weighs about a pound less. The X775 is a lot chunkier than HP's Envy 17 3D (16.4 x 10.8 x 1.2-1.5 inches and 7.5 pounds). Still, the Qosmio is nowhere near as large or heavy as ASUS' G74SX-AS, which measures 16.6 x 12.8 x 2.3 inches and tips the scales at 10 pounds.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The X775's keyboard is a mixed bag. The keys are well spaced, which made typing easy. Using the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, we managed to type 63 words per minute with a one-percent error rate, the same as with our desktop keyboard. Unfortunately, the keys are flat and smooth, making them feel slippery. The directional keys are also crammed between the keys and the number pad. It's a shame because there is more than enough room to push the keyboard and number pad farther toward the edge of the X775's deck. We also noticed some flex on the layout, especially below the keyboard's undersized space bar.The 3.7 x 2-inch touchpad on the X775 was accurate and responsive. Unfortunately, the pad often picked up our palms brushing against it as we typed, resulting in an annoying amount of accidental input. Toshiba also includes a button that allows users to disable the touchpad, which is a welcome addition if you are a gamer who likes to use an external mouse.
Display and Audio
The X775's 17-inch 1920 x 1080, 3D-ready display is simply gorgeous. A trailer for Bellflower and a Blu-ray of Green Hornet looked amazing. Colors were especially vivid, making images seem to pop off the screen. We especially liked the Qosmio's wide viewing angles.The harman/kardon speakers on the Qosmio X775 crank out some nice audio of their own, but the real heavy lifting is done by the subwoofer located on the bottom of the notebook. Movies sounded great, and any music we played sounded as if it was coming out of a dedicated stereo. On Lil' Wayne's "A Milli," bass hits were accurate and smooth, with no detectable distortion at 80-percent volume. Turning the volume up all the way easily filled a room, but it did impact the quality a bit.
The X775 includes Waves MaxxAudio, which has three presets for music, movies, and web. If you really want to get the most out of the system's speakers, MaxxAudio also allows you to tweak a litany of sound settings. You can also enable or disable the Qosmio's Dolby Audio Enhancer, but we found that doing so seemed to reduce the subwoofer's effectiveness.
Heat
The X775 managed to keep its cool during our testing. We streamed a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes and measured a temperature of only 85 degrees on the system's keyboard. Temperatures were even lower on the touchpad, getting only as high as 81 degrees. The underside of the Qosmio was a bit hotter, measuring 83 degrees, but for a 17-inch desktop replacement, those temperatures are like ice.Ports and Webcam
Toshiba packed the X775 with all the ports a multimedia system could need. On the right side you'll find two USB 2.0 ports, microphone and headphone jacks, a security lock slot, and the unit's tray-loading Blu-ray drive. The left side offers a third USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port, as well as HDMI and VGA out, and an Ethernet jack. The front lip of the Qosmio holds its 5-in-1 card reader.
The X775's 3D stereo webcam provided quality images in both bright and dimly lit areas. A utility allows users to adjust the webcam's display resolution. When we turned the resolution up to its max of 1280 x 720, the image looked great, with no apparent visual tearing or pixelation. You can also record 3D videos and images with good results. In fact, the 3D videos we recorded looked deeper than anything we saw on Blu-ray.
The webcam also supports 3D playback through Nvidia's 3D Vision software. To start 3D webcam playback, enable 3D Vision, open the webcam app, and click the 3D playback option. Each time you start the app you'll be given the option of calibrating the image to change the 3D depth perception. Once calibrated, the webcam provided excellent 3D images.
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