Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop Review
Overview
Toshiba may not be a name you associate with Gaming (well I didn’t, sorry guys!), but they have been making laptops for a long time, so they should know a thing or two don’t you think!. So what happens when Toshiba uses all of their knowledge to build a Gaming laptop? The answer is this; the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop
As this was a review sample the Qosmio actually came in a laptop bag with the power connectors and not much else besides the Quick Start Guide, so there’s not much to see here I’m afraid…
At the time of writing the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop is reatiling for around £1,600 and comes with a 1 year warranty.
* N.B. The X70-A-10W has been superseded by the X70-A-11W/12W, but the only change is that the 11W/12W comes with Windows 8.1 pre-installed instead of 8.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of Toshiba
| Processor |
type : 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 clock speed : 2.40 / 3.40 Turbo GHz 3rd level cache : 6 MB |
| Operating System / Platform |
Windows 8 64-bit (pre-installed)
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| Design Colour | colour : Precious dark silver finish with hairline pattern and aluminum red design highlights and red illuminated Qosmio logo in LCD cover, black keyboard |
| Solid State Drive | capacity : 256 GB |
| System memory |
standard : 16,384 (4,096 + 4,096 + 4,096 + 4,096) MB maximum expandability : 32,768 (2x system memory slots are accessible by end-user and 2x by Authorised Service Provider (ASP) only) MB technology : DDR3L RAM (1,600 MHz) |
| Hard disk |
capacity : 1 TB drive rotation : 5,400 rpm |
| Blu-ray Disc™ drive |
compatibility : CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R(SL), DVD-R(DL), DVD-RW, DVD+R(SL), DVD+R(DL), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-R(SL), BD-R(DL), BD-R (BDXL), BD-RE(SL), BD-RE(DL), BD-RE (BDXL), CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, BD-ROM maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM, 6x BD-ROM/ Write: 24x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 10x HS CD-RW, 10x US CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-R(Double Layer), 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+R(Double Layer), 8x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM, 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R(Double Layer), 2x BD-R (BDXL), 2x BD-RE, 2x BD-RE(Double Layer), 2x BD-RE (BDXL) type : Blu-ray Disc™ rewritable drive (BD-RE) with recording, rewriting and playback support, including DVD Super Multi drive functionality |
| Display |
size : 43.9cm (17.3”) type : Toshiba TruBrite® FHD TFT High Brightness display with LED backlighting and 16 : 9 aspect ratio internal resolution : 1,920 x 1080 response time rise + fall (Typ.) : 8 ms |
| Graphics adaptor |
type : NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 770M with CUDA™ Technology and NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology memory amount : 3,072 MB dedicated VRAM. Available graphics memory can be expanded using system memory, through TurboCache™ technology: up to 10,878 MB with 16 GB system memory installed as shown in the NVIDIA control panel, and up to 19,070 MB with 32 GB system memory installed, (with pre-installed 64-bit Windows® operating system). memory type : 192-bit broadband and GDDR5 Video RAM (resp. Video RAM and system memory combined) connected bus : PCI Express® |
| Internal video modes |
The following internal video modes are supported: : resolution : 1,920 x 1,080 |
| Interfaces |
1 × external monitor 1 × RJ-45 1 × headphone (stereo) 1 × external microphone supporting Sleep-and-Music 1 × Multi-Card Reader (supports SD™ Card up to 2 GB, miniSD™/microSD™ Card with adapter up to 2 GB, SDHC™ Card up to 32 GB, SDXC™ Card up to 64 GB and MultiMedia Card™ up to 2 GB) 2 × USB 3.0 2 × USB 3.0 supporting USB Sleep-and-Charge 1 × HDMI-out supporting Ultra HD format and 3D feature 1 × integrated 2.0MP FHD Web Camera (1,980 x 1.080) with built-in microphone |
| Expansion | 4 (2x are accessible by end-user and 2x by Authorised Service Provider (ASP) only) × memory slots |
| Wireless communication |
Compliancy : Wi-Fi™ Network Support : 802.11b/g/n Manufacturer : Intel® Wireless Technology : Wireless LAN Version : Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 Manufacturer : Intel® Wireless Technology : Bluetooth® 4.0 + LE Version : 4.0 + LE Manufacturer : Intel® Wireless Technology : Intel® Wireless Display and Miracast™ ready |
| Wired communication |
topology : Gigabit Ethernet LAN speed : 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T |
| Sound system |
supported audio format : 24-bit stereo speakers : built-in 4x Harman Kardon® speakers with 6 watt of music output, enhanced by DTS® Studio Sound™ manufacturer : Conexant (CX20751-11Z) |
| Keyboard |
keys : 87 Windows keys : Yes special features : Frameless black tile backlit keyboard and 10-digit numeric keypad |
| Pointing device | type : Clickpad with multi-touch control gestures supporting various scroll, zoom and launch functionalities at your fingertips. |
| Battery |
technology : lithium-ion maximum life : up to 3h30min (Mobile Mark™ 2012) |
| AC adaptor |
input voltage : autosensing AC adapter (100/240 V) for worldwide usage output voltage : 19 V output current : 9.5 A |
| Physical dimensions |
W x D x H : 418.6 x 272.5 x 29.6 (front) / 44 (rear) mm weight : starting at 3.4 kg |
| Warranty | 1 year European Carry-in incl. local Pick-up & Return in the UK & Ireland. Toshiba also offers a large range of services to upgrade your standard warranty, please have a look at our website www.toshiba.co.uk/services to find the right service for your product. |
| Bundled hardware | AC adaptor |
| Bundled software |
DTS® Studio Sound™ McAfee® Internet Security (includes complimentary 30 day subscription) Microsoft® Office 2013 (1 month trial for new Microsoft® Office 365 customers) TOSHIBA Desktop Assist TOSHIBA Display Utility TOSHIBA Eco Utility™ TOSHIBA Function Key TOSHIBA Media Player by sMedio TrueLink+ TOSHIBA PC Health Monitor TOSHIBA System Settings |
| Security features |
HDD password on request slot for Kensington Cable Lock supervisor password user password |
| Special features |
ENERGY STAR qualified computer Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® Technology HD Audio support SM BIOS compliant |
| Certification | The manufacturer declares that this product complies with the following directives and regulations for the CE-marking. Responsible for CE marking is Toshiba Europe GmbH, Hammfelddam 8, 41460 Neuss, Germany. |
* Additional details available here
First Impressions
First impressions were marred a little as the laptop came in an old school style briefcase/laptop bag (not shown, obviously!), not the best first impression for a Gaming Laptop. Also when extracting the Qosmio from the bag the weight and the size of this beast was soon apparent. At 418.6 x 272.5 x 29.6 (front) / 44 (rear) mm and at over 3.5kg this is one big and weighty laptop. Let’s hope it packs a punch to, and it certainly should if the specifications are anything to go by.
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The top/lid of the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W is covered in a dark grey textured surface, that actually looks quite nice, it also sports a smart Qosmio logo too. This is not for you though, this is for the person looking at the back of your screen, shame as the Qosmio logo illuminates red when powered up! Always thought this was a little strange, but many laptops have the upside down logo feature. Around the edge of the Qosmio we find a smart red metallic strip adding a little extra bling to the overall look.
Looking at the Qosmio from the front there’s not much to see other than the three red LEDs found at the far right of the chassis, these are Power, Battery and WiFi indicators. Also you can see nearer the centre the in-built Multi-Card Reader.
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On the left side we find the Blu-Ray drive along with two USB 3.0 ports and a network port, at the back we find a security lock slot.
On the right we find audio ports (Microphone/Headphone), two more USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out, D-Sub (Analogue) out, some exhaust ports (in fact these are the only exhaust ports) and finally the main power socket.
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Opening the lid of the Qosmio allows you to take a good look at this Gaming laptop for the first time, and it looks good too! The keyboard area is covered in the same dark grey material as the lid with its textured (dimpled) finish. There’s a small grey Qosmio logo in the bottom left of the area (unfortunately, no illumination here!). Also above right you can see the various endorsement that the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop has, personally I’m not a lover of stickers and would rather see these stuck somewhere else! 😉
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The keyboard is a standard laptop affair with varying keys moved and added in different positions, there is a always a compromise somewhere. The main one that was apparent to me, was the fact that an additional key (FN) had been added to the left of the space-bar. This means that the space-bar has now been shortened and is unfortunately a little further from the WASD keys. Another oddity was the size of the cursor keys, these have been shrunk by around half and squeezed in beneath the right shift key. These keys do sometimes get used in Gaming, and in general use I found them to be a little awkward.
The touch-pad, found off to one side on the left is surrounded by a smart red edging strip. It obviously has the basic operations of a mouse with the back left and right area (see image above right) used for left and right clicking.
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Beyond the keyboard area we find a large mesh section, this area sports the Qosmio’s Harman Kardon Speaker setup. This area features 4 built-in Harman Kardon® speakers with 6 watt of music output, enhanced by DTS® Studio Sound™. Now that sounds pretty impressive! 😉
In the right corner we also find the Qosmio’s power button, this smart looking button also illuminates when powered on (red obviously!).
Powering up the Qosmio for the first time also reveals the illuminated keyboard, which looks really cool (come on we’re all a sucker for a bit of lighting, especially red, good choice Tosh!). The one thing that I did notice quite quickly though, is that the illumination goes out when the keyboard is not in use (to provide better battery life I guess). I would be nice if this could remain on, or the cool-down of 1 minute changed to a higher number, 5 minutes would be better. But I couldn’t find a way to do this…
The underside of the Toshiba Qosmio is, as expected an uneventful affair, other than the four rubber feet and a handful of ventilation holes there not much to talk about.
Testing Methodology/Setup
As notebooks/laptops often come pre configured with a host of specific settings and with a wealth of (often unwanted) software installed, for testing purposes we test the notebook as is, as it comes out of the box, or in this case the bag! This is after all how most users are likely to use it. Although Graphics Card Drivers are updated if necessary. The Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W came pre-configured with Windows 8.0 64 Bit.
The following games were used during testing:
- Battlefield 4
- Lego: Marvel Super Heroes
- Remember Me
- Batman Arkham Origins (benchmark)
- Metro Last Light (benchmark)
- Unigine Heaven (benchmark)
Hardware Performance
Let’s start off by taking a look at our benchmarks, to allow us to gauge what Gaming Performance Level the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W offers. It’s also worth noting that a Notebook/Laptop will never offer the same level of performance when compared to a similar priced Desktop. Sorry guys that’s just how it is…
| Notebook Model | Batman Arkham Origins | Metro Last Light | Tomb Raider | UNiGiNE Heaven | 3DMark (Fire Strike) |
| Gigabyte P25 | 68.00 | 23.00 | 27.10 | 440 | 3370 |
| Toshiba Qosmio | 67.00 | 24,67 | 26.00 | 438 | 3242 |
| MSI GS70 Stealth | 55.00 | 17.00 | 19.80 | 311 | 2402 |
The Toshiba Qosmio puts in a good showing in the benchmarks thanks to the capable Nvidia 770M GPU, the same GPU as used by the Gigabyte P25. The Qosmio managed to win the Metro Last Light Test (which is strangely the most intensive!), it lagged slightly behind the Gigabyte in the rest of the tests. You can also see here how much more powerful the 770M is (as used in both the Toshiba and the Gigabyte) when compared to the 765M found in the MSI GS70 Stealth. I would say that the 770M is the lowest specification GPU you would want to go for when choosing a Gaming Laptop/Notebook with a 1080 screen.
The good news portrayed in the benchmarks was also proven in the Gameplay, with all games played ran at their Maximum settings (with minimum FPS still above 25). Even Battlefield 4 was playable online with the settings set at Ultra!
Of course the down side to this (there’s always something right!?) is that this thing gets warm and it needs to exhaust all of this heat. Therefore there’s a fair amount of noise from the fans that are blowing the hot air out of the right side vents. Herein also lies an issue, as this vent is actually very close to your mouse hand (assuming you’re right handed of course), which means that your hand is constantly bombarded with this heat (good for toasting marshmallows perhaps!) while Gaming. It would have been better if this vent (remember it’s the only one) was on the other side, or better still at the back.
The screen is also worthy of special note, it’s the best screen that we have seen with the recent round of Laptop/Notebook testing we have done. It’s colourful, bright and clear with a glossy front (not so good for reflections!), but the overall image is very good indeed. The sound is also very good, with the sound produced from the 4 (yes that’s right 4!) Harman Kardon speakers giving a surprising amount of clarity and decent bass too!
Battery life was average with our test of running Unigine Heaven constantly while not plugged in lasting just over 1 hour! As we have stated before these Gaming laptops (powerful that they are, and we need them to be!), really do need to be plugged in while Gaming.
Final Thoughts
So can Toshiba make Gaming laptops then? The answer is a resounding yes! I have really enjoyed my time with the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop
First the most important thing about a GAMING laptop is that is needs to be able to run the latest Games (like duh!), without having to turn too many of the Graphics Settings down. Toshiba have chosen the right GPU here for their Qosmio; the Nvidia Geforce GTX 770M is very capable (for a mobile GPU), coping well with many of the Games and Benchmarks that were thrown at it! The Intel Haswell Core-i7 4700MQ is also powerful enough to ensure that the GPU is not kept waiting. The 16GB of RAM is almost overkill, but we wont complain about that. This combined with the excellent storage setup of a single 256GB SSD coupled with a 1TB HDD, means that you OS is fast and unlikley to run out of space, and it will take quite a Steam collection to fill that 1TB Hard Disk. As far as performance goes the Toshiba is very good, very good indeed.
Add to this the good looking chassis, ok I know it is big and I know it’s heavy but considering what the Qosmio delivers I think I’ll forgive it a little. The screen is also very good and is the best seen in recent months, providing a very clear and bright, colourful image via it’s slightly glossy display.
So is there anything wrong with it? Well part from the physical dimensions and its weight the only other thing that could be improved is that exhaust port on the right side of the chassis. Unfortunately this blows hot air all over your mouse hand (assuming you’re right handed) while Gaming. This would be far better on the other side or at the back. Other than that, nothing…
So Toshiba seem to have pretty much nailed it then. A good looking, great performing True Gaming laptop with a great screen. I don’t even feel that it’s expensive with a street price close to £1,600, just check over the Technical Specification above if you don’t believe me.
Unfortunately at the time of writing the Toshiba Qosmio X70-A-10W Gaming Laptop has been returned to Toshiba, and it will be truly missed (sniff, sniff)…
Verdict
| Design/Quality |  |
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| Performance |  |
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| Value | |
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Many thanks to Toshiba for providing this sample for review
