Official X500 Owner's Lounge!

[ChiroVette]

And maybe a lot of this is opininion, coming down to the individual taste of the reviewer. I think I said something to this effect in a couple of other threads, or maybe even this one.

Reviewers are paid to take a microscope to whatever they are reviewing, whether it be games, laptops, desktops, TVs, or whatever. They have to ferret out every stupid little flaw, and I have found that sometimes this means that some of the things they criticize are things that the average and even hardcore enthusiast would barely notice, if at all. Things like the screen being "a little too dim" could simply mean that this guy evaluated twenty-five gaming laptops in the last 6 months and this one was a little dimmer than the ones costing five grand! lol

Seriously, haven't you ever read reviews of products you own, such as the latest games, and found that you could barely notice a lot of the issues the reviewers cite and sometimes cannot even notice them unless you really try?

To me, the key in evaluating reviews is two-fold:

1. Read a as many different reviews as time allows or that exist and try to look for all the common denominators. If ten reviewers, for instance, say that the G73JH and the Qosmios have keyboard flex, then it probably does. But, I have read only a few reviews that actually cite this as a viable concern. Another example is the sound quality of the Qosmios. Most reviews that mention the sound say the laptop sounds great! One guy even said it would fill up a large living room and act as a stereo replacement. High praise! Yet one review, and ONLY ONE, which I posted in this forum, said the sound was tinny and not very good. That was, coincidentaly, the one from this site.

2. I try to look at the "tone" of the criticism. If the reviewer mentions it in passing, not making much of a big deal out of it, or even sometimes coming right out and saying it is a very minor problem, then perhaps this is a good issue not to worry about very much. Your "slightly dim screen" reference might be just such a niggle. You have to ask yourself, if a guy who is going over the laptop with a fine-tooth-comb to find every stupid little thing wrong (because that's his job) and even his words are almost dismissive of it, is this something that you and I, who are not looking to launch space shuttles for NASA with our new laptop, need to even worry about?

Hey, now that was one serious run-on sentence. Yikes!

[a4500435]

Well, if I hadn't seen the Q890 in person, I definitely would have agreed. Problem is, I have seen it, and it's not just "slightly" dim.

But most of your other points are valid.

[ChiroVette]

Yeah, but you don't know if that is an issue with the settings or not. Keep in mind, you were testing out a demo model that probably ten thousand people have had their hands on. Who knows what was accidentally changed, it the thing got knocked around, one of the LCD bulbs is out, someone kicked down the contrast, reduced the brightness, anything.

[Compusmurf]

a4500435, I don't have a problem with the screen. I don't even keep it at max brightness, I did calibrate it with a spider calibrator. It adjusted the color some. I actually watched my first blueray movie on it the other day. Avatar. Very nice, very clear and the sound (with good headphones) was very very good. I can't say anything about the speakers themselves. Limited to low vol dings, mail alerts, lol. everything involving sound I use headphones for as not to disturb others near me.

My ONLY complaint with the screen, again, is the IMO, extreme high resolution with this small of a screen. Without increasing your text size or without reading glasses, it's absolutely too tiny for me to read with my 40+ yr old eyes.

Chirovette, you're spot on with how one should look at reviews. Many times, a reviewer is PAID by the company for reviewing their products. There's no way it'll be fair and unbiased, just no way.

About the keyboard comment. I've been touch typing for many, many years and am very picky about my keyboards. Has to have a low travel, slight concave keys, etc. Whereas some are audiophiles (not I, 1/2 deaf in 1 ear) or look for extreme perfect screens, (again, not I, I have to use my glasses to read the text on the screen now), I care about my keyboard and how it feels to me. I also can't stand touchpads (mine's disabled on purpose). hahahahaha.

So you take every owner which has their own personal 'quirks', read everyone's comments to see what they like and dislike and if there's not obvious hardware issues you cannot overcome, then see how you feel on their comments and try it for yourself. I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect machine for everyone.

If you're going to be traveling tons and are looking for light weight.... ah, hope you have back support. It's a heavy machine.

[ChiroVette]

Ha!

Compusmurf, right now I am lugging around a cinderblock with a screen in the form of an old 17 inch Dell XPS Gen 2. So weight is not an issue to me! Actually isn't the Qosmio one of the lighter of the solid-rock-gaming-rigs? Not that I care, to be honest. I am over 40 as well, and I have my native resolution on the XPS set to 1900 X 1200 and I love it. The icons are perfect size, the text is readable, and it is great for gaming...OOOOOLD GAMING! lol

GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas run awesome on it, fully maxed! Ha, yes, I am a total GTA fanboy!

I have my 20 inch CRT monitor set even higher, 1920 X 1440!

Anywho, Comp, you told us how avid a touch-typer you were in your last post, but never finished the thought. In other words, how do you feel about the Qosmio keyboard?

[Ingvarr]

GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas run awesome on it, fully maxed!

So they do on X505, even with 250M, no big deal.

[a4500435]

Regarding the keyboard on the x505, does anyone think something like this might help?

Keyboard Cover Skin Toshiba Qosmio® X500 X505 Series - eBay (item 260649147623 end time Sep-09-10 19:21:08 PDT)

Never seen one of these in use before.

[Ingvarr]

Regarding the keyboard on the x505, does anyone think something like this might help?

Keyboard Cover Skin Toshiba Qosmio® X500 X505 Series - eBay (item 260649147623 end time Sep-09-10 19:21:08 PDT)

Never seen one of these in use before.

I tried this, it it was completely useless.
Due to keyboard construction (no gaps between keys) it would not even stay in place, and also will smudge the screen if you try to close the lid. Overall, with this skin it was even worse than without it, so it went to bin an hour after unpacking.

[ChiroVette]

So they do on X505, even with 250M, no big deal.

What does that have to do with the rice in China? I was making a joke about my laptop being old. I might as well have said that Pac Man or Tetris runs smooth and perfect on my XPS! Would you have come back with "OMG like Pac Man runs perfect on the X505, too, dude!" if I did? *eyeroll>

A4500435, I doubt it. If anything, I would guess that would make it worse because it would add more resistance to keys with already very short "throw" or movement and it would even further reduce the feedback to your fingers as you type. There is simply nothing that is going to make up for the fact that each key has a very short distance to travel when pressed. This is either a great design that we have to get used to or it is a terrible design that people will complain about until laptop manufacturers go back to the old style keyboard.

From what I have been hearing, however, it is probably going to be the former and not the latter, because many people are saying that once they get used to the chicklet style keyboard that it is great.

[Compusmurf]

"Anywho, Comp, you told us how avid a touch-typer you were in your last post, but never finished the thought. In other words, how do you feel about the Qosmio keyboard?"

Actually, if you scroll back a few posts, I said the keyboard sucked. probably could get used to it if I tried hard enough. Humans are pretty adaptive....

But I use a BT Logitech Dinovo keyboard for everything..... Without going back to the old IBM "clacker" keyboards which I've always loved, I find my DiNovo to be the next best thing. Tho, it wouldn't double as a bludgeoning weapon like the old IBM monster would. You could hurt someone with them!