Official X500 Owner's Lounge!

[Rocafella]

I fiddled with other drivers like 196.86 and 195.xx and dox's latest driver, but after those kept giving me real high temps I reverted to toshiba's default drivers, 188.29. I get the same temperature readings though. Under load, I get to 94 degrees Celsius, which concerns me. (with dox's drivers, I got to 99 C). Using GPU-Z I'm getting 62 C right now on low clocks but sometimes the clocks inexplicably go up and the temperature rises with it.

[Ingvarr]

Took a pictures under keyboard on my X505-Q830.

There are two half-length miniPCIe slots, one occupied by WiFi card, another one is free (originally intended for Wireless USB judging from marking - I dont see antenna cable though).

There is actually third (!) full-length slot, intended for TV Tuner (!), but unfortunately greedy Toshiba didn't even solder a connector for it
So miniPCIe SSD are not possible...

Replacement of WLAN card is defenitely possible, but not with a good one - only two antennas, as I've expected. Good Intels like 5300 require three antennas.
Should be still possible to put something like 5100 one in, not sure how much better than current Realtek it would be though.

[Leebo]

Took a pictures under keyboard on my X505-Q830.

There are two half-length miniPCIe slots, one occupied by WiFi card, another one is free (originally intended for Wireless USB judging from marking - I dont see antenna cable though).

There is actually third (!) full-length slot, intended for TV Tuner (!), but unfortunately greedy Toshiba didn't even solder a connector for it
So miniPCIe SSD are not possible...

Replacement of WLAN card is defenitely possible, but not with a good one - only two antennas, as I've expected. Good Intels like 5300 require three antennas.
Should be still possible to put something like 5100 one in, not sure how much better than current Realtek it would be though.

Thanks for the info, Ingvarr. So the WLAN card can be replaced after removing the keyboard? How does the keyboard come off - is there a reference for disassembly anywhere?

I haven't had any issues with my wireles connectivity since I disabled the n capability (except being able to take advantage of the higher connection rates), but I haven't moved the computer too far from the router. I had issues, most annoyingly total loss of connection periodically, using n even when the laptop was very close to the router.

I think the X505 has a lot going for it for the money, but I am now considering the current Alienware M17x. If I go that direction it would be more expensive, but I think I'd like the RGB LED 16:10 ratio display. Using the DPI.text scaling in Windows 7 would be okay with the 1920x1200 resolution it has. I have a Dell Latitude for work with 15+" screen running at 1680x1050 and the text is a readable at 100% scaling, better at 125%.

Lee

[Compusmurf]

I fiddled with other drivers like 196.86 and 195.xx and dox's latest driver, but after those kept giving me real high temps I reverted to toshiba's default drivers, 188.29. I get the same temperature readings though. Under load, I get to 94 degrees Celsius, which concerns me. (with dox's drivers, I got to 99 C). Using GPU-Z I'm getting 62 C right now on low clocks but sometimes the clocks inexplicably go up and the temperature rises with it.

Holy crap. That's unreal. Are you sure nothing is blocking the intake vents on the bottom or anything???

I cleaned mine after running 24x7 since I owned it and got an easy 4 deg C drop. LOL.

My idle with powermizer is around 42C. Even overclocked running a stresstester, I don't think I went over 75. (Tho did max the power adapter out)


Ingvarr, nice pics. I could care less about the TV, but the WUSB would be grand! Finally upgraded my RAM to full 8Gb. Everest software, Sandra, etc show 4 mem slots, 2 filled. I'd have been happier if you'd have found the 2 mystery SODIMM slots. LOL Tho I think they are phantom from the chipset software.

[Ingvarr]

Thanks for the info, Ingvarr. So the WLAN card can be replaced after removing the keyboard? How does the keyboard come off - is there a reference for disassembly anywhere?

Peel off the plastic strip on top edge of keyboard - starting from right edge. You should make right edge to pop off first, little tricky, then slide the strip to the right and it will come off. Undo 4 screws under strip, slide keyboard to the left, lift the right edge, slide to the right, lift the left edge. Done.

I think the X505 has a lot going for it for the money, but I am now considering the current Alienware M17x. If I go that direction it would be more expensive, but I think I'd like the RGB LED 16:10 ratio display. Using the DPI.text scaling in Windows 7 would be okay with the 1920x1200 resolution it has. I have a Dell Latitude for work with 15+" screen running at 1680x1050 and the text is a readable at 100% scaling, better at 125%.

Lee

I had high DPI display for 1.5 years and have completely fed up with it. Surely, Vista/W7 has very good scaling support, but it still far from perfect. My main gripe was that entirety of World Wide Web is done for 96 DPI - and looks too small on 150 DPI display if you look at 100% browser zoom. If you set browser to higher zoom, it kind of works, but slower and, most importantly, makes raster images blurry(even with bicubic interpolation) - so they look a lot worse than on non-high DPI display at 1:1 pixels.
Also a lot of other raster apps dont zoom well.
I didn't want gaming laptop that could not surf the net adequately, that's why I am not buying displays with DPI above 100 anymore.
If you considering m17x, look and listen to it first. Its freakin' thick, very heavy, and fans are completely ridiculously loud, even on idle (with a lot of funny wind noises when load getting bigger )

[Leebo]

Peel off the plastic strip on top edge of keyboard - starting from right edge. You should make right edge to pop off first, little tricky, then slide the strip to the right and it will come off. Undo 4 screws under strip, slide keyboard to the left, lift the right edge, slide to the right, lift the left edge. Done.


I had high DPI display for 1.5 years and have completely fed up with it. Surely, Vista/W7 has very good scaling support, but it still far from perfect. My main gripe was that entirety of World Wide Web is done for 96 DPI - and looks too small on 150 DPI display if you look at 100% browser zoom. If you set browser to higher zoom, it kind of works, but slower and, most importantly, makes raster images blurry(even with bicubic interpolation) - so they look a lot worse than on non-high DPI display at 1:1 pixels.
Also a lot of other raster apps dont zoom well.
I didn't want gaming laptop that could not surf the net adequately, that's why I am not buying displays with DPI above 100 anymore.
If you considering m17x, look and listen to it first. Its freakin' thick, very heavy, and fans are completely ridiculously loud, even on idle (with a lot of funny wind noises when load getting bigger )

Thanks for the info and your opinion.

I have a current generation M17x now with the 1440x900 display which isn't very good in my opinion compared to the X505 1920x1080 display. I got it from Costco, so I have the 90 days to return it. Costco didn't have the M17x with 1920x1200 RGB LED display, and they haven't offered a build to order program for Alienware yet. They do offer build to order for HP Laptops.

I haven't pushed the M17x very hard. I like the keyboard, form factor and build quality. The weight is a little more than the X505-Q879 I have which is not an issue for me, and I haven't noticed a problem with fan noise under light loads. The touchpad buttons take very high effort to activate and the touchpad action is not as nice as the X505.

I might stick with the X505-Q879 and use the savings compared to the M17x to get some other goodies like a big LCD monitor for the desk. The laptop replaced a desktop that had reached the end of its life.

Lee

[freedom16]

Nice picture Ingvarr, quite difficult to get to those parts sometimes. + rep point.

[Amnesiac]

Had a look in the shop at one of these today, and I have to say, they are really. I'm thinking of buying one, my only problem is that on inspection the screen wasn't great and the screen was flexing easily...

[phasechanged]

Just ordered one, X505-865 is what coming on Wednesday.

Will post up my little review then. Returned my G60 to best buy to get it. Didnt like the little 16' screen.

[kredit]

well,after a few months with the x500 I can safely say that all that toshiba crapware is good for nothing.Ive slowly eradicated it from the system after freezes,locdowns and stalled shutdowns. Not so unpleasant and typical of a windows OS but am near nirvana with this great machine! What else is up folks? Kinda quiet round here. HAs everyone already upgraded?