Video Hands-On With the Refreshed Toshiba Qosmio X505 Plus Toshiba Media Controller

Along with a slew of other Core i5 laptops, Toshiba announced a refreshed– and cheaper– version of the Qosmio X505, the 18.4-inch gaming rig that won our Editors’ Choice award and was one of our favorite notebooks of 2009. First off, the design hasn’t changed at all, although the starting price has dropped from $1,499 to a more wallet-friendly $1,199.

Although the X505 has already been available with Core i7 processor options, it will now be offered with Core i5 processors as well. The graphics are getting a boost, too: it now has an Nvidia GeForce 360M card (it was Nvidia’s 250M card before).

Users can opt for one or two hard drives, and mix and match HDDs and solid-state drives. For example, one configuration has a 320GB 7,200 rpm hard drive, while another combines this drive with a 64GB SSD. Some configurations will have 6GB of RAM. DVD and Blu-ray drives are both options as well. And, of course, the X505 still  has that full HD display.

The Qosmio X505 will range in price from $1,199 to $1,899. Check out our hands-on video of the X505, and stick around for the part where we demo Toshiba Media Controller, which we told you about yesterday.