The new Qosmio X5050 is clearly leaps ahead of the previously launched X305. The X305 has been discontinued and Toshiba was left without a specialized gaming platform. Design wise, Toshiba thankfully dumped the stripes for some subtle gray crosshatch with metallic red accents. Something that bothered me was the system was glossy. That included the keyboard too. It kept on picking up fingerprints, smears and smudges. If you had it, you’d keep wiping it off to keep it sparkling clean! The keyboard is large and has well placed keys. The only odd factor is the short spacebar. But this has been done to accommodate the media controls that are located to the left of the keyboard. From these controls you could control the media transport controls, mute and a touch sensitive volume control. There is also a button to open the system’s Eco mode, which helps conserving power, lowering screen  [...]