Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650

Reviewed by: stephenbuss

08-28-07

Duration of ownership: 2 Years

Strengths: Don't buy Qosmio series from Toshiba, I can give you proof if you message me (sales receipt some pictures) . I would like nothing more then to make a impact on somebody considering on buying from Toshiba. Stick with your Desktop then with this cash burner that will malfunction shortly after the warranty does.

Weaknesses: -Huge Laptop, (larger then I had thought) -Very noisy fan or fans -Hot -The laptop scratches easily -About 5 burned out pixels right out of the box (new) -A lemon (again the F-15) Do a google search. The Nvidia Graphics chip that is soldered on overheats and makes the whole motherboard a complete pile of junk. -Speakers sounded terrible after 3 months of use -Battery life is awful. After 1 year of use the windows battery warning comes on after 5 minutes of being unplugged. -infrared only works with remote, not a true Infrared that can work with other devices -Heavy -Very poor customer support unless you plan to call overseas.

Overall Evaluation: WARNING This comment is for all Qosmio Laptops. I just got rid of my Toshiba F-15 AV-201 paper weight at the huge technology mall: Pantip Plaza, in Bangkok Thailand for 1,000 baht equivalent of $32.00 USD. Bought the Laptop NEW for $2,599.95 from CDW a couple years back. Well 1 Year and some change the Main Board fried, something to do with the embedded Nvidia graphics chip. A TRUE lemon. The Toshiba repair shop in Thailand said that the quality of parts on the Motherboard is not good in the U.S. and I should have bought it in Thailand. Now I am on a mission to let every one now about Toshiba. Just go to there web site and see if it is easy or not to contact customer support. No mention of this anywhere, just one big cover up. Vertical lines on the screen? not this laptop!!! P.S. I am on a crusade to let every one now about this lemon from Toshiba.

Reviewed by: elifd

Updated: 09-Feb-07

Strengths: HD DVD drive and external support, tons of useful connections, crisp and clear display, brighter than the competion

Weaknesses: Not portable at all, poor customer service.

Overall Evaluation: I have bought this notebook for its multimedia capabilities as a desktop replacement. Made a lot of research and side by side comparison with other media laptops with similar screen resolutions and display size before I made the purchase. The closest competion is from Sony (AR 190G) which has a similar display size (17-inch) and similar resolution (1,920 by 1,200) but Toshiba is still brighter, despite Sony's "Tru-brite" technology. If you are like me and like to watch movies through a PC, you are going to appreciate HK speakers with their deep bass and clarity. You also have the option to watch the movies on a bigger display, even in HD through HDMI out port, but my experience with that is limited. Toshiba has discontinued the production of this particular model (AV 650) for a time now, and first it replaced it with a newer model with basically more hard drive capacity (2 SATA drives with 120GB instead of 100GB), but that model is also discontinued. The reason I me...

Reviewed by: ldonofrio13

Updated: 11-Oct-06

Strengths: Clear 17" Screen. Powerfull desktop replacement, very fast and capable.

Weaknesses: Heavy. Does not come with preloaded Microsoft Office or other applications.

Overall Evaluation: I bought the computer with the intent to replace existing desktop and this was the right selection. A Targus ACP50US docking station is the ideal addition for the laptop. Sounds and looks great. Only issues are: Not to portable and expensive w/o software included. Otherwise this is the best selection for a Laptop!!!

Reviewed by: whinsch

Updated: 26-Sep-06

Strengths: 1080p capability; multiple video in/out connections; easy to use

Weaknesses: some design flaws; bios access

Overall Evaluation: Have used this notebook for about three months. Got it because it has just about everything you'd want in a full-size, desktop replacement. Video input in somewhat unique - you can use it to view content output from other devices.The screen and HD player make movies look about as good as it gets. The buttons for multimedia and volume control make playing easy. Only issue is buttons placed at rear of keyboard - front placement would have been more convenient.Sound from H-K speakers is great for a notebook.Two 100gb SATA drives with RAID provide lots of space. Too bad they are only 5400 rpm.One not so great feature is that you have to access bios settings through Windows - there is no startup access prior to the OS - as on other computers. Can be a problem if Windows is not working right. However, backup/restore is a breeze with included DVD: just boot from it and it restores everything in one shot (all pc's should have this).There is a slide switch on front for wireless on/...

Reviewed by: aronnyc

Updated: 13-Jun-06

Strengths: Good product

Weaknesses: Bad tech support

Overall Evaluation: I apologize in advance if this sounds like a rant. I write this not to vent but to warn future Toshiba customers that, if your laptop ever runs into problems, their tech support will drive you nuts.I also want to preface this by saying my product was the G15, but I'm also not reviewing the specific product, just their tech support.About 10 months after I purchased the Qosmio, I started hearing clicking and bleeping noises coming from the bottom left part of the laptop. I called up the tech support, and they told me to send it to a depot. I did that, and without a second look they said Toshiba was requiring all Qosmio G15s to have their systemboards upgraded. Two weeks later, it came back. Not long after, the noise happened again. I called up Toshiba tech support again, and they said to send it back to the Depot. I did that, and told them the systemboard's already been changed. They told me that Toshiba is asking them to only send the Qosmios off to have systemboard...