Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650 - AVPC Laptop

A very capable and useful notebook

Posted Sep 26, 2006 - 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/off. This can be turned off too easily because of its position. Inclusion of Bluetooth makes use of more wireless devices (cell phones, mice, etc,) convenient. The size of the notebook is a bit large and hefty, but not too bad for all that's packed into it. I basically use it as a desktop for my lap in my recliner. This is the best I've seen in a full-size notebook.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?

Comment about this review

Toshiba G35AV650

Posted Oct 11, 2006 - 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!!!

83% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?

Comment about this review

Bad tech support

Posted Jun 13, 2006 - 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 upgraded even though I had specified my problem. Two weeks later, the laptop came back, and the noise was still there. I called tech support a third time. This time they sent an onsite technician over. It took him 10 seconds to figure out that this was a problem with the hard drive, not the systemboard. He requested Toshiba to send me a new hard drive. It arrived a few days after, and an onsite technician came to install it. There's a 60G and a 40G, and Toshiba had sent him a 60G. That's fine, but after this was all done, I found out that it was the 40 G that was broken. So, I called tech support yet another time (by now it's three months after the problem first occurred) and told them to send the technician a 40 G. A week later, the technician came, and find out that Toshiba had sent him a 60 G. I called tech support yet again, and told them about my problem. This time they sent the 40 G but the technician couldn't get the laptop to recognize it. He called Toshiba and they said I would have to send it to the Depot. They told me they'll send me a UPS box to put it in. After the technician left, I googled the problem. Turned out that I had to just go into disk management, format the new drive, populate it, and it's working fine now. Took me 15 minutes to figure that out, and the slightly more tech savvy would've figured this out anyway. Oh, and the UPS box never came.

77% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?

Best deal in full feature Media laptop

Posted Feb 9, 2007 - 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 mention this fact is that you find very decent deals on this machine these days as it has been out of production for a while. You can not find similar deals on the replacement model (AV660) as it has been recently discontinued. And for that reason the price difference between AV 660 and AV650 is not justified at all (which is basically for a slight bigger hard drive capacity anyway). Overall I am satisfied with my purchase, but for people who plans to carry this notebook with themselves most of the time should be aware of the heft of this laptop as well as its size. The other downside is their mediocre customer service and the endless hours you have to spend over phone to get a high level tech support.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?

Comment about this review