Toshiba X775-Q7170 review: Toshiba X775-Q7170

Just in case you're getting tired of all the attention being paid at the moment to ultraslim, ultralight laptops, it's time to take a look at the other end of the spectrum. The Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7170 is about as far from an ultrabook as one can get, with a 17.3-inch display, giant 7.5-pound body, and dedicated multimedia controls.

6.9

Toshiba X775-Q7170

The Good

The <b>Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7170</b> is a midprice big-screen gaming laptop that comes from one of our favorite high-end laptop lines. It includes a powerful GPU for gaming.

The Bad

The plastic design looks and feels dated and a bit cheap. Serious gamer and multimedia types would likely spend a bit more for a 1080p screen and Core i7 CPU.

The Bottom Line

With the recent emphasis on better materials and design across all laptop segments, the gaudy, plastic Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7170 delivers decent performance, but not a look to match.

It's also easily the most garish-looking laptop spotted so far in 2012. Not that this should be surprising news -- the Qosmio X775-Q7170 looks identical to the even more expensive Qosmio X775-3DV78 model we reviewed last year. If there's ever been a laptop in need of a visual upgrade, this is it, unless you're into dorm room chic.

For $1,049, you get a decent set of specs, highlighted by a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M GPU, along with an Intel Core i5 CPU, 6GB of RAM, and a 640GB 7,200rpm hard drive. An Intel Core i7 CPU wouldn't be out of the question, and serious gamers will probably want to trade up to something with a 1,920x1,080-pixel display, rather than the 1,600x900-pixel one here (the same goes for HD video viewers).

As a reasonably priced desktop replacement, the X775 has things pretty set on the inside, but there's a lot to overlook on the outside -- which is a shame, as the world needs more decent, entry-level big-screen multimedia laptops.