Toshiba Qosmio F750-10Q - CNET UK
<div readability="132.925058054"> <p>At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Toshiba Qosmio F750-10Q is just like any other laptop. It has a 15.6-inch screen, a flashy design and packs some decent components under the hood. This machine has an ace up its sleeve, though -- it can show all your glorious 3D content without you needing to wear silly glasses. </p><p>The F750-10Q can be yours for around £1,300 when it's released in August.</p> <h2>Red is the new black</h2> <p>The F750-10Q seems to have borrowed its looks from Acer's Ferrari-branded laptops. The outside shell is a deep red, with a slightly ridged effect. It makes quite a statement and will certainly help the F750-10Q to stand out against the plethora of black laptops clogging up meeting rooms. The plastic shell didn't flex much under our Hulk-like poking, and the F750-10Q generally feels like a well constructed machine. </p> <div align="center" readability="7"><img src="http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/i/product_media/40001320/image6/440x330-6.jpg" /><p><b class="v1">The red lid isn't half eye-catching.<br /></b></p></div> <p>The keys on the F750-10Q aren't the isolated type we like so much, but they're pleasingly wide, and satisfying to type on. We certainly wouldn't expect to feel any discomfort when using this keyboard. Carbon-fibre-effect plastic surrounds the keyboard, making it feel very butch. </p> <p>A decently sized trackpad can be found left of centre. It has a rough finish that makes it easy to slide your finger around. Above sits a little button that allows you to disable the trackpad if you find yourself accidentally moving the cursor while typing. </p> <p>Measuring 380 by 38 by 254mm, and weighing 2.9kg, the F750-10Q isn't the most backpack-friendly machine around -- better to leave it securely at your desk, rather than risk a hernia.</p> <p>Audio specialist Harman Kardon has provided the speakers, so we were hoping for some ear-splitting noise. While the sound was certainly an improvement on the dismal, tinny audio we've heard from many laptops, it wasn't quite the din we'd hoped for. You'll definitely want to keep the F750-10Q hooked up to some decent speakers when listening to your tunes or watching movies in which Keanu Reeves explores the entire spectrum of human emotion.</p> <h2>2D or not 2D?</h2> <p>Everyone needs a party piece. For us, it's swallowing loose change. For the F750-10Q, it's displaying 3D content without requiring you to wear any ridiculous specs. </p> <p>Rather than using active-shutter glasses, which show different images to your left and right eyes to achieve a 3D effect, the F750-10Q tracks your eyes' position using the webcam, and then sends two different images to each eyeball simultaneously. It's also capable of displaying 2D content at the same time as 3D -- you can be working on a normal document and have a 3D video open in a separate window. </p> <p>Although you don't need to put glasses on when you want to watch 3D material, the eye-tracking system means that only one person can see the 3D effect at a time, so don't get your mates round for a 3D film fest. You also have to maintain a fairly fixed position in front of the laptop. The webcam will track slight movements of your bonce, but don't try lying down comfortably to watch a film or you may see a distorted image. </p> <p>When we were sat correctly, the demo material we saw delivered a decent 3D picture -- decent, but not fantastic. There was still a noticeable double image at times as the camera fought to get a lock on our faces. That's disappointing, as we were seeing content designed to show the F750-10Q's 3D capabilities at their best. </p> <p>You can play your 3D Blu-ray discs on the F750-10Q and output them to a compatible 3D TV via HDMI, if you don't want to sit and watch them on a 15.6-inch screen.</p> <div align="center" readability="9"><img src="http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/i/product_media/40001320/image8/440x330-8.jpg" /><p><b class="v1">The Harman Kardon speakers are better than the ones you'll find on most laptops, but they still won't cause your ears to bleed.<br /></b></p></div> <p>We're looking forward to seeing how the F750-10Q handles 3D gaming. First-person shooters will benefit most from the 3D effect, providing plenty of depth as you line up your next headshot down the scope.</p> <p>The F750-10Q's components should enable some decent gaming action. The machine packs a 2GHz, quad-core Intel Core i7-2630QM processor with 6GB of RAM. There's also a meaty Nvidia GeForce GT 540M GPU inside. </p><p>We'll see what kind of performance those chips deliver when we get the F750-10Q in for a full review, but we'd expect it to cope with most of the latest games without too much trouble.</p> <h2>Outlook</h2> <p>The Toshiba Qosmio F750-10Q certainly makes a bold visual statement with its blood-red shell and macho carbon-fibre effects. But, while the hardware under the hood promises decent performance, we're not convinced about the machine's 3D system just yet. Once we can give the F750-10Q a proper perusal and introduce it to our mean group of benchmark tests, we may feel differently, so check back soon for a full review.</p><p>Edited by Charles Kloet </p> </div>
