The laptop is a desktop replacement so it eats battery life! great multmedia machine, quite impressive when pulling it out for clients for powerpoint show. The best thing I like so far is that I can zoom my browser session to 150% and dont need to use reading glasses when on-line and don’t need to scroll sideways on the bottom scroll bar to see the whole web link or document.

I am not happy with Microsoft not doing the development work ahead of time and not being told ahead of time that the windows 7 home premium is really lame and offer me a reduced price upgrade path when i ordered the laptop. They should offer a $50 adder to get windows 7 professional and $100 for the ultimate version.

So which one? Acer is out there, cheap and well-configured; ASUS is well-received. For some reason I wouldn’t consider an HP. Toshiba, tried and true, it’s true, but nah for some reason. Then I see this Sony and others from the CW series. Heretofore, Sonys have been beyond my price point, but it looks like they want to capture more of the low end market by introducing this line. Looks nice, colors and all. Plus, it’s got everything I wanted: portability as it’s right around 5 lbs, a banging screen as you’d expect from Sony, 4 gigs of RAM which is more than I expected. I also expected and got good workmanship. There are a lot of crappy laptops coming off Chinese assembly lines these days.

The out of the box experiecne was perfect. Turned it on and I was ready to rock n roll. And so far, so good. I probably could have gotten more for the buck, a faster chip and a bigger hard drive, but I got what I needed and I got it fast so I’m not complaining.

None of this would matter if its features and performance lacked. First, it has a great screen. Text is sharp and colors are well saturated without being overdone. It gets plenty bright! Movies look great, too. I did not notice any smearing or stuttering when playing back DVDs, for example. Second, the keyboard is excellent. It’s quiet. The keys are well spaced and have a good feel. The keyboard also has zero flex. Third, it runs cool and quiet. The fan creates such a soft whir that it’s easy to forget it’s on and never distracting. The palmrest never gets uncomfortable, even after hours of typing. It stays cool, as does the underside of the unit.

I like that Sony places the speakers between the keyboard and the screen. It helps anchor the sound to the screen (some notebooks have the speakers under the palmrest or on the bottom). They’re not loud, but they are clear and get the job done. For serious listening, external speakers or headphones should be used. I also appreciate that all the most-used ports are along the sides; only the AC and ethernet ports are in the rear. The SD reader and indicator lights are at the front, easily accessible and visible.

The touchpad is sensitive out of the box and better after calibration. However, I prefer the use of a mouse.

I don’t play games, so I cannot comment on how well the unit might be for that purpose. However, Windows 7 gives this notebook a 4.9 on the Windows Experience Index. It boots quickly and loads programs quickly. I never feel as if I’m waiting on the computer…a good feeling!

One unique feature is a display off button beneath the screen. This is great for conserving battery life if you’re simply listening to music or using a projector or other external display. It’s also handy if you need to step away from the computer for a few minutes. I didn’t see a dedicated button for this purpose on any of the other notebooks I evaluated for purchase.

All in all, I love this notebook. However, I do have a few nits to pick. It took me over 30 minutes to get my Bluetooth mouse to work. While the radio is on by default, it does not accept connections. I had to dig deep in the manual to figure it out. Way too much work to add a device! It also bluescreened the second day I had it, locking up while I was checking scores on espn. That does not inspire confidence! I updated two device drivers and the problem has not repeated.

I also would prefer that the WiFi and Bluetooth radios not be tied to the same switch. There are times when it is preferable to use the Bluetooth but not Wifi in order to conserve the battery. However, this can be done through software.

Physically, this isn’t a tiny netbook. At 6 pounds, it’s not something I’m going to be schlepping on airplanes, but that isn’t what I bought it for. As always, the Vaio screen is lovely and bright, and widescreen. The ports seem to be well-placed. And the aesthetics are quite nice — it’s a brushed, fingerprint-resistant silver. It’s really quite fast (no choking or hard drive whirring while loading programs, etc.) and it’s extremely quiet. They keyboard took a little while to adapt to, but it’s nice and roomy, with space between the keys. The touchpad works well, and the DVD drive is also smooth and quiet. The HDMI port works as it should with my LCD tv.

I haven’t tested battery life as I don’t plan to use this as an on-the-go machine.

I didn’t know much of what to expect from Windows 7, and while this isn’t a Windows 7 review, it works smoothly on this machine. Most of my Windows XP software works, with a few exceptions.

As usual, Sony packs in way too much preinstalled crap on their laptops, and I really wish they wouldn’t, but I guess that’s the price of buying a machine like this. I do wish they’d include a disc to let you install this stuff, rather than requiring that you uninstall it. Surprisingly though, Google Chrome is one of the preinstalled programs, so it is good to have a decent browser right out of the box. One thing Sony doesn’t include much of at all is written documentation. Other than a tiny Getting Started booklet, all the documentation is on the machine itself.

Overall, I’m pleased with this computer so far. For the price, you are getting a near-desktop replacement that happens to be a laptop.

The body is “textured”, so fingerprints and smudges don’t show up; it still looks like new. There is no “ten key” keypad on the keyboard, which means that the keys are spaced with just a bit more room to make typing more comfortable. The keys themselves have a solid feel, and no rattle or wiggle. The touchpad is also texturized, not too glassy.

The screen is bright and crisp, a joy for watching movies. The “one touch web access without booting up” feature is nice, so it can act like my iphone I suppose — easy to quickly check email without having to power it all up.

I’ve used it while plugged in and on battery power, and it stays cool enough to rest on my bare legs.

The extra junk software about which others complain — just wipe out and reinstall the operating system before using it; the free stuff won’t re-appear.

PROS:
Textured body, solid keyboard, crisp screen. Good overall tactile “feel.”

CONS:
A bit heavier than others.

Overall, its a good product. It is my second VAIO, my work laptop is a Dell, and I’ve had WINBOOK and HP in the past too. So far, SONY appears to consistenly make a good product that stands up to wear and tear. I would recommend this laptop to friends!!

This laptop cames with 4gbytes of ram and you can upgrade it to 8gbyte. The first thing I did was upgrade it from Windows 64 home premium to Windows 7 RC, so far no big problems, maybe just a little hard work finding mic driver. The battery, yes, it is bulky, but it last at least 7 hours, the 12 cells, the one that left one inch below the notebook, but for traveling, you can get enough procesor power for almost 8 hours; nothing in this life is perfect, but this ones is good enought for my needs; so traveling between Japan and America was no problem.

Screen, excellent, even when it has glossy screen type, no reflections like HP screens or Dell ( i have one of each, and reflection is a major issue in them), so excellent screen.

The dvd, it is slot loading type, like Mac, but a little noisy. It gets stuck with some cd or DVD due the label. You can extract the DVD with the help of an presentation card or credit card.

Keyboard… no complains, excellent keyboard, i like the bakclite, in fact that was one of the major adventjes to buy it.
Movie player… no problems with HD movies and HDMI, works perfect. Sound, very loud, no complains. Camera, it gets dark when there is diect light pointing to it, but if the light is pointing to your face, no problem. Thats because the software adjust the exposure, so you can diable it anyway.

Eco mode, very nais, for the most task you can use the machine in multitasking and eco_mode, but if you are working with video o large photos, it is better to disable, anyway it is one click (touch-click) disable-enable.

The touchpad i realy do not like it. I think is better the one in HP, to sensitive for me, but i use a pen table, so no big problem anyway.

Free upgrade to windows 7, already waiting for official lauch to be shippend to my address.

Wireless: excelent range, no problem. USB-power without turning on… excellent! Runs cool. Hard drive: 320 GByte, good speed, no complain. Realy recommend it.

This is a fairly expensive PC, and I was hoping it would fit the bill as an “all day” traveling notebook, with a little more oomph than the average netbook, at more than twice the cost and almost twice the weight. It looks like this machine was designed for long battery life. The processor uses a little less power than previous Intel duo-core, and there is a software power “eco mode” that is designed for extending battery duration.

This machine currently works under Vista 64, with a free update to Windows 7/64 in the Fall. I have not given it a thorough workout, but my comments might help other prospective buyers.

Pros:
Nice screen, although running in eco mode is a little too dark for me.
Some of the utilities are informative and interesting. The notebook accelerometer has a 3D display that will show your heartbeat as the PC rests on your lap.
The HDMI connector works well, and the notebook is a satisfactory 720p DVD player when hooked with a digital TV.
The notebook seems reasonably responsive, although no more so than an average Windows XP notebook running with 1 GB of memory.
Seems to run fairly cool, with fan noise that is not obtrusive.

Cons:
If you’re a power-user, this could be a show-stopper: the (downloadable) SecurAble application says that this computer does not support Hardware Virtualization (it is also not mentioned in the BIOS setup.) This feature will be necessary for Windows 7 “XP Mode”.

The built-in microphone is unusable, it sounds like you’re gargling. For a traveling notebook, this is a major fault. Contrast this, for example, with the MacBook, which has an excellent microphone.

Speakers are poor. Together with the above, means you will will need an external headphone/microphone.

The touch-pad has a byzantine set-up, and uses special zones for gestures such as scrolling, which I find awkward and error-prone. I miss simple features like two-fingered scroll or right click on the MacBook. This may be a matter of personal taste and acclimation.

The 12 cell battery is huge, heavy, clunky, and rattles a bit. It will not last 8 hours under my normal use, even in “eco mode”. With a fresh, new battery, I did 2.5 hours of surfing, watching some streaming video, and preparing this document, using about 50% of the battery charge as measured by the Toshiba utility. I did not use the DVD drive.

The keyboard flexes too much while typing. Poor fit?

Thus far, I am not impressed with this PC. I do not think this laptop is $500 better than most netbooks I have used, and I have made a mistake in thinking it would be suitable for travel. So far, despite high $$ and poor ventilation/cooling, my favorite travel laptop is the MacBook running Windows on a virtual machine.

I purchased this laptop about a week ago, through tiger direct, for college use after my ASUS had failed (major hardware issues). So far, I am very impressed. There are better lengthy reviews on this model already (see Mad B’s for example), so I shall keep this brief.

Pros:
- Gaming: I am not an avid gamer, but it was important to me that my new rig could handle any new games that I would want to throw at it. To be clear, games on this machine run beautifully. The 230M is a true performer, and I had no problem playing Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 (demo) on this machine at max settings. I am confident that you would be able to play more demanding games with no problems.
- Windows 7 : Loving it so far. I have had zero compatibility problems with my favorite programs, and if you are buying a new laptop, you may as well get one with the latest OS.
- Full Keyboard : Just a nice feature to have, really.
- Speakers : Great for just listening to music or watching a movie. These speakers are plenty loud and aren’t tinny like most laptop speakers. (NOTE: There have been some reported problems with these speakers just not working suddenly. Before you assume it is a driver issue, turn off the laptop, take out the battery, and reinsert. This inexplicably seems to fix the problem. This has only happened to me once, but is a common issue with the A505 series.)

Cons:
- Battery Life : About 2 to 2.5 hours on a low power setting. If you are gaming, forget it. It is important to know this going in. If you don’t like to have your laptop plugged into the wall most of the time, then you will want to look into some other options. If you are like me, and this is more of a desktop replacement, then no issue.
- Finger Prints! : Don’t get me wrong, this laptop is very attractive…just pre-use. I am constantly wiping this thing down with a micro-fiber cloth after use, to keep it shiny. Not really that big of a deal though.

Overall, I’d give this a 9/10. If you can forgive the battery life and deal with the finger prints, you can enjoy a laptop that can handle itself pretty darn well.

Hardware:

The computer is sturdily built with high-quality plastics and has a secure feel, even while carrying it. The keyboard is of average size and not cramped at all. Most models of Toshiba laptops come with Harmon/Kardon speakers integrated and they are crisp and clean, although lacking some bass, but that’s to be expected from portable speakers. The monitor is a gorgeous 1366×768 widescreen TFT-LCD. Colors are accurate and text is sharp. The ATI Radeon graphics make simple work of video, but I haven’t tested 3D graphics yet. You might be dissuaded, as I was originally, by the 64-bit Windows Vista, but I assure you I have had no 64-bit compatibility problems with it. This is largely because the AMD Turion x2 processor is x86-64. This means it is capable of running 32- and 64-bit programs. Vista has two Program Files folders, one marked Program Files (x86), for programs running under that architecture. Take note of the USB/eSATA/Sleep-and-charge port. If you bought an external hard drive with eSATA, never again will you want to use USB. SATA is the same connection the hard drive connects to the motherboard with and eSATA just takes it outside. Buy an external disk with it, you will not be disappointed. Battery life seems good, estimating about 2 hours 20 minutes on a full charge. Future benchmarks will be added. Battery life can probably be extended by enabling Toshiba’s ECO mode, which leads me into the next section:

Toshiba Software:

New computers are often loaded with “bloatware”, stuff the manufacturer throws in like free trials and useless utilities or whatnot. While this computer was no exception, the bloat was minimal and it actually comes with quite a few useful utilities, such as the ECO utility. By pressing a button on the computer or enabling ECO mode in the utility, power consumption is automatically reduced especially while using battery power. The screen is dimmed, the decorative LEDs are switched off and the processor is allowed a little less power, all to squeeze out some extra time from your battery. Plus, you can track your computer’s power usage in real-time with the utility to see just how much juice it’s using. Note: the processor will run a little warm in ECO mode because the utility turns the fan off. The fan activates when the hard drive temperature reaches “50%” (as shown in the Toshiba Health Monitor – another useful program). There are many more Toshiba utilities of note: programs to assist you in connecting to a wireless network, hard drive monitoring to prevent damage, computer diagnostic tools, and many others which will help the user.

The only real con of note is Vista itself. I’m a longtime XP user and I also really like Windows 7 but Vista seems like the awkward cousin-in-law of the family. Possibly the most annoying thing it does is constantly nag you about permissions with UAC, but this argument is not something that is new to the internet. I will most definitely be upgrading to Windows 7 (which this and any other Toshiba laptop purchased between June 26th, 2009 through January 31st, 2010 is eligible for.

So far I’m really pleased with the computer and its quality. I will update this review when I have further benchmarks and information.

Toshiba revives its Qosmio gaming line with the high-end X505. It has everything from Blu-ray to an Intel Core i7 CPU, BUT…My Toshiba Qosmio X505 Q850 arrived today and I was very happy to set it up and could not wait to boot it up. To my dismay, I was totally disappointed in the WI-FI connection. it simply will not work unless I’m sitting right next to the router. In fact its so bad I might be returning this computer. At first I thought it might be my Router, but this is definitely not the case. I have a total of four other laptops in my home, 2 netbooks, a Mac Book Pro,and the Qosmio G25-av513, the Wi-Fi is working great in all of them. Each laptop was used in the same room I’m trying to get the Qosmio X505 to work, this room is not that far from the room with the router. I’m aware this is a desktop replacement ,but if I wanted to be a slave next to the router I would have just bought a Desktop computer. Any one else with this problem??? I will contact Toshiba Support on Monday to see if there is any help for this problem.

Other than that At $1,899, the Toshiba Qosmio X505 isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s a bargain compared to more expensive systems like the Alienware M17x and ASUS W90, especially considering that neither of those systems come standard with a fast solid state drive. The smooth Blu-ray playback make it a more compelling system. If you’re looking for a portable gaming rig that can serve as a home theater and costs under $2,000, the Qosmio X505 might be a leading choice if wifi connection is not important to you. So just 2 stars for me because connection means everything.