Top 10 Gaming Laptops – February 2012

This list is based on actual or estimated gaming performance, factoring in the hardware specification (particularly the graphics card) relative to the laptop’s size.

Feb Update: Although AMD has released very promising 28nm products for the desktop, all of the dedicated laptop graphics cards are still using the old 40nm process, so regardless of Nvidia’s and AMD’s inventive naming schemes there are very little changes in the current 600M and 7000M-series GPUs. The GTX 580M and Radeon HD 6990M will remain on top for a while longer, since their 28nm successors have not yet been given release dates.

Intel’s final (most likely) Sandy Bridge update before Ivy Bridge is now widely available and all new Intel-based laptops ship with CPUs that have been given an upwards clock frequency adjustment of about 200MHz while retaining the same pricing. The new processor models in the high-end (quad core) segment are the Core i7 2670QM (replaces 2630QM), 2760QM (replaces 2720QM), 2860QM (replaces 2820QM) and finally the Extreme Edition Core i7-2960XM, which replaces the 2920XM.

Current Alienware Coupons:

1. Take an additional $50 off any Alienware laptop configured at $999 or more (that would be pretty much all of them) with the coupon code: BHW1L0MX0D?MCX

Shortcuts

Top 10 17″+ Gaming Laptops
Sub 17″ Gaming Laptops

17-Inch +

1. Clevo X7200

If you are looking for the most powerful laptop in the known universe, there is no doubt that the Clevo X7200 is it. However, you will have to account for the fact that this monster is just barely a laptop–it uses desktop processors, so you can equip it with a hexa-core (12-thread) desktop Core i7 Extreme Edition and up to 24GB of triple-channel full-size DDR3 RAM. On the graphics side you can configure it with dual Radeon HD 6990M’s in CrossFireX or Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M GPUs in SLI. The most powerful mobile GPU solutions on the planet in combination with desktop processors make this laptop’s performance unbeatable, but its battery should mainly be thought of as backup power with a 60 minute life span. Other than that it also has room for three hard drives or SSDs in RAID 0, 1 or 5. It’s a large, heavy, and if you want all the bells and whistles, very expensive machine, but this kind of performance comes at a price.

——————————————————————————————————————————

2. Alienware M18x

The Alienware M18x is now available with dual Nvidia GTX 580M graphics cards in SLI or dual AMD Radeon HD 6990M GPUs in CrossFireX. Simply put it’s an exceptional gaming laptop that will handily defeat quite a few gaming desktops in terms of frame rates and visual bliss. Either of these solutions will let your games run at the 18-inch display’s native 1080p resolution with most or all of the details maxed out. It can also be equipped with other GPUs in CrossFireX/SLI or a single video card. It comes with a choice of 2nd-generation, quad core Intel Core i7 CPU, the fastest of which is a factory overclocked i7 Extreme Edition that runs at 4GHz in Turbo Boost mode. Other features include USB 3.0, 1600MHz DDR3 memory, the usual AlienFX back-lighting artillery, as well as optional WirelessHD that lets you stream lossless Full HD video and audio to an external HDTV or other setup. The base model starts at $1,999 and includes a 2GHz quad core Core i7 and a single GTX 560M.

Alienware M18x Price Comparison:
	$1999.00
	$2049.00

Note: When ordering from Dell, use the coupon code BHW1L0MX0D?MCX to take an additional $50 off the price tag.

——————————————————————————————————————————

3. Alienware M17x

The M17x has also been given the GTX 580M treatment, although this smaller (relatively speaking) Alienware gaming machine can only house a single GPU configuration. Pretty much every component in the M17x is configurable. There’s a choice of high-end Nvidia or AMD GPUs, up to 16GB of RAM, various quad-core Core i7 processors, 1600×900 or 1920×1080 panels and dual hard drives or SSDs in RAID 0. It is also available in a 3D version that includes the mandatory 120Hz panel and Nvidia 3D Vision kit. The base model ($1,499) includes a GTX 560M, but from a price/performance perspective, the Radeon 6990M upgrade is very attractive. This GPU is neck-and-neck with the GTX 580M and considerably faster than the GTX 560M. Unfortunately it is not eligible for an Nvidia 3D Vision upgrade.

Alienware M17x Price Comparison:
	$1449.99
	$1499.00
	$1699.00

Same as the above: Use the coupon code BHW1L0MX0D?MCX for an additional $50 off from Dell.

——————————————————————————————————————————

4. MSI GT783

MSI has updated its 17-inch GT780 twice–once with the Nvidia GTX 570M (GT780DXR/DX) and now an even more powerful version with the GTX 580M is available.  Most of them ship with the new quad-core Core i7-2670QM. The GT780DX. It comes with a multi-color backlit keyboard designed by SteelSeries that resembles those from Alienware. What makes this and other high-end MSI laptops a little more interesting than the rest is the TDE (Turbo Drive Engine) feature that automatically overclocks the laptop by up to 30%. It also ships with 12GB of DDR3 and either plenty of hard drive storage or an SSD/HDD combo.

MSI GT783 Price Comparison:
	$2279.00

——————————————————————————————————————————

5. Clevo P170HM

The 17-inch Clevo P170HM is sold by several different boutique gaming brands and can be configured with either of the two fastest mobile GPUs ever–the GTX 580M from Nvidia or the HD 6990M from AMD. It can also be equipped with a range of quad-core Intel Core i7 processors. In combination with the fastest single-GPU graphics solution on the market and (in its class comparatively) lightweight chassis (8.6lbs) this is a very desirable laptop. If you don’t want to pay a premium for the fastest of everything, you can also opt for the base configuration, which includes a capable GTX 460M. The EON 17-S has four memory slots with room for up to 32GB of DDR3 1333MHz or 16GB of DDR3 1600MHz. Moreover, it has room for dual hard drives or SSDs that can be configured in RAID 0 mode. Or you could use an ultra-fast Vertex 3 as the boot drive and a secondary 7,200rpm hard drive for storage.

——————————————————————————————————————————

6. ASUS G74Sx Republic of Gamers

The Asus G74Sx is a high quality gaming laptop; reasonably cool and quiet, and not as bulky as many 17-inch desktop replacements tend to be. Moreover, it is relatively inexpensive compared to the closest competitors, but still delivers more than decent gaming performance thanks to the new GTX 560M GPU from Nvidia with higher clock speeds and better power management compared to the GTX 460M that it replaces. The G74Sx is also available in a 3D edition called G74Sx-3DE, which is equipped with an Nvidia 3D Vision kit and a compatible 120Hz panel. Both the 3D and non-3D versions have 1920×1080 resolution screens.

ASUS G74Sx Prices:
	$1399.99

——————————————————————————————————————————

7. Toshiba Qosmio X775

Qosmio is Toshiba’s premium entertainment brand, so the most surprising aspect of the X775 is the affordable price point for the entry models. For less than $1,200 (at this writing) you get a capable desktop replacement with a Sandy Bridge Core i5 CPU and more importantly for gamers–a GeForce GTX 560M to take care of your gaming needs. There are other and considerably more pricey configurations available though; some with quad-core CPUs and 3D kits, but the base model should hold up pretty well in just about any game thanks to the solid GPU.

Toshiba X775 Price Comparison:
	$1099.99
	$1199.99

——————————————————————————————————————————

8. HP Envy 17 / Envy 17 3D

HP has updated its premium Envy lineup with an entirely new design and partly new hardware, including a very impressive speaker system with a physical “Beats Audio” volume knob. The result is an exclusive machine with lots of customization options including a 3D version with similar hardware but a 120Hz, 3D-ready display. Both versions ship with the new(ish) AMD Radeon HD 7690M with 1GB of GDDR5 and a range of Core i7 or i5 CPUs. This hardware is quite impressive considering the thin and (for a 17-inch laptop) lightweight chassis that surrounds it.

HP Envy 17 Price Comparison:
	$1249.99
HP ENVY 17 Customizable Notebook PC
	$1449.99
HP ENVY 17 3D edition Customizable Notebook PC

——————————————————————————————————————————

9. HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition

The quad-core edition of the HP Pavilion dv7t is another interesting option for gamers–not least because of the level of performance it offers for the money. You can order it with a range of 2nd-generation Core i7 CPUs, and the graphics as of 2012 are handled by a still unspecified Mobility Radeon GPU (which is actually an HD 7690M that differs very little from the previous HD 6770M. Nevertheless, this is still enough to give the dv7t and it’s 15.6-inch counterpart the dv6t plenty of gaming power considering the highly affordable (in relative terms) price tag. It’s important to note that the 7690M is an optional upgrade though, and an absolute must-have if you want to call it a gaming laptop.

HP dv7t Quad Price Comparison:
	$899.99
	$999.00

——————————————————————————————————————————

10. Dell XPS 17

The latest revision of the Dell XPS 17 desktop replacement came with some major upgrades – most importantly the latest Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs. Another nice perk is an included 3D Vision kit from Nvidia (optional), powered by a capableGeForce GT 550M or the faster GeForce GT 555M GPU (same as the M14x). As usual with Dell, there are lots of upgrades available although the base configuration is quite powerful. But if you want a gaming model, the GPU upgrade to a GT 555M is highly recommended.

Dell XPS 17 Price Comparison:
	$799.99
	$1239.00

——————————————————————————————————————————
Up to 15.6″

1. Clevo P150HM

When it’s fully tricked out in the GPU department, the Clevo P150HM is the fastest 15-inch gaming laptop on the planet at this writing. It is known under different names and built-to-order by Origin PC, Sager, AVADirector a number of other gaming PC specialists. What makes the P150HM special is that it’s configurable with either one of the two fastest GPUs on the market right now–the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M or the AMD Radeon HD 6990M–and also a quad-core Intel CPU all the way up to the Core i7-2920XM Extreme Edition. It can also house up to 32GB of RAM. This hardware puts it a step ahead of all of the competition in the 15-inch segment today, no matter if compared in gaming performance or raw processing power.

Read our full review here.

——————————————————————————————————————————

2. MSI GT683DXR

The new GT683DXR from MSI is generously equipped with very powerful hardware for its size. It has the new GeForce GTX 570M, which is a big step up from the GTX 560M. It’s also equipped with the standard-issue quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM as well as 12GB of RAM. Just like its bigger brother the MSI GT780 it also comes with MSI’s proprietary overclocking technology TDE that boosts the CPU/GPU clocks by up to 30% with the push of a button.

MSI GT683DXR Price Comparison:
	$1519.00

——————————————————————————————————————————

3. Alienware M14x

The M15x has been decommissioned in favor of a the more portable M14x, so if you want the Alien head logo and all the extras that come with an Alienware laptop, but prefer a more portable version than the M17x, the M14x is a much more convenient alternative. Like all laptops from Dell it can be customized with a wide range of components, including a number of different 2nd-generation quad-core Core i7 CPUs with eight threads. In the graphics department, there’s an Nvidia GeForce GT 555M with either 1.5GB or 3GB of video RAM. This one isn’t quite as fast as some of the alternatives in the M15x, but it comes in a more portable package. Other options include a 1600×900 WLED panel and a fast 256GB Samsung solid state drive. The M14x also comes with the latest and fastest 1600MHz RAM.

Read our full review here

Alienware M14x Price Comparison:
	$1099.00
	$1219.99

When shopping from Dell, use the coupon code BHW1L0MX0D?MCX for an additional $50 off.

——————————————————————————————————————————

4. Asus G53SX

We have been listing the G53SW here for quite a while, but now that the updated G53SX is widely available we are simply replacing it with the new model, which by and large is the same laptop but with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M instead of its predecessor the 460M. The newer GTX 560M is not much of an improvement on the 460M–although it has higher clocks and the same power consumption it has also been given a smaller, 128-bit memory bus (this is covered in our review). The Republic of Gamers’ G53SX remains one of the most interesting options in the 15.6-inch segment, not least for its attractive price tag. It is more or less a 15-inch version of the 17-inch G7x series and comes with a 1080p display, a quad-core Intel CPU and a backlit keyboard, but unlike the 17-inch model this one has no dual hard drive option. Yes it does (thanks reader ‘ErrOr’ for pointing this out in the comments).

G53SX/SW Price Comparison:
	$1215.00
	$1218.89
	$1249.99

——————————————————————————————————————————

5: HP dv6t Quad Edition

HP’s Pavilion dv6t is the more portable version of the dv7t, and just like it’s bigger counterpart, the Quad Edition of the dv6 comes with a choice of the latest quad-core CPUs from Intel as well as a Mobility Radeon HD 7690M GPU from AMD (optional upgrade). This graphics card is not a major upgrade over its predecessor the HD 6770M, but the pricing is unchanged and it all adds up to an affordable yet powerful 15.6-inch laptop, capable of playing all the latest games without breaking the bank. Another plus is that HP has taken the design of their premium Envy lineup and applied it to the Pavilion series. The result is a nice-looking laptop with a lot more performance under the hood than meets the eye.

HP dv6t Quad Price Comparison:
	$823.98
	$849.99

——————————————————————————————————————————

6. Alienware M11x R3

The Alienware M11x wins the title for smallest and lightest gaming laptop on the planet. Make no mistake – in spite of its size it clearly qualifies as a gaming machine, especially in its 3rd iteration with brand new low-voltage Sandy Bridge CPUs and an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M. In combination with the small screen and comparatively low (1366×768) resolution it can run any recent game on medium or even high detail settings.

M11x R3 Price Comparison:
	$899.00

When shopping from Dell: the latest coupon code for $50 off the M11x R3 is: BHW1L0MX0D?MCX

——————————————————————————————————————————

There are lots of factors to take into consideration when choosing a good gaming laptop; hardware, build quality, features you value personally, and of course the price tag. As for the hardware, the graphics card plays the key role in a gaming notebook. Sure, the processor is very important for overall performance, as is the hard drive (or preferably: SSD), but at the end of the day the graphics card is what determines the frame rate and whether your games are playable.

To play the latest titles at high resolution with all the detail knobs turned up, you are going to need a powerful GPU. No amount of tweaking or optimizing will substitute better hardware. Both AMD (formerly ATI) and Nvidia have highly capable mobile video cards on the market. In bigger, 17-inch plus laptops, you will also find them in dual GPU configurations–called SLI or CrossFire for Nvidia’s GeForce and AMD’s Mobility Radeon series, respectively. The fastest mobile graphics cards as of October 2011 are the AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6990M and the Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 580M, which are practically tied for first place–only what particular game you play seems to decide which one is the fastest. However, Nvidia’s GPU generally fares better in SLI configuration.

At long last we’ve been able to get our hands on what is currently the fastest 15.6-inch gaming laptop in the known universe. This all depends on how it’s configured of course–there are basically no pre-built configurations, only custom versions, but the fact that it can be equipped with either of the two fastest mobile graphics cards available right now–the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M or the AMD Radeon HD 6990M–will ensure that you have the most powerful 15-inch laptop on the planet right now. Bragging rights are included, but here’s a hint: don’t try to impress your non-geek friends or significant other with it, and whatever you do, don’t tell them what you paid for it!

The Origin EON15-S is based on the Clevo P150HM(x) platform, which is also used by other custom gaming PC builders such as Sager, Malibal, AVADirect and others. Our version is equipped with the GTX 580M, which is more expensive than the HD 6990M even after the recent price cut, but delivers somewhat better performance in many (but not all) games and benchmarks. In terms of price/performance, the 580M is probably a questionable choice in this case, especially since this laptop does not come with NVIDIA’s power-saving Optimus technology that seamlessly switches between the integrated and dedicated GPU to enhance the battery life.

Specifications

• Processor: Quad-Core Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M 2GB (256-bit)
• Display: 15.6″ 1920×1080, Glossy Panel
• Memory: 16GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 240GB Vertex 3 Solid State Drive
• Optical Drive: DVD-RW Dual Layer “Super Multi”
• Other: Intel Wi-Fi Link 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, THX TruStudio Pro Audio, 2.0 megapixel webcam, 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, DVI-D, e-SATA.
• Measurements and Weight: 6.82lbs/3.1kg; 15.04 x 10.24 x 1.4-1.72 inches, 376 x 256 x 35-43 mm
• Price as configured: $2,887 (starts at $1,532)

The two major culprits for the price hike over the base configuration here are the GTX 580M and the 240GB Vertex 3. You can save more than $300 by going with the Radeon HD 6990M instead, and more than $450 by opting for a regular hard drive. Many words have been written about the pros and cons of SSDs, but personally I will never use a laptop with just a regular hard drive again. The difference in everyday use in terms of decreased load times and system responsiveness is dramatic. The merits of having an optical drive in 2011, on the other hand, can definitely be debated unless you are addicted to the Blu-ray format. Otherwise I would push the DVD drive out of its socket and replace it with a hard drive dock.

Design and Build Quality

Just from looking at it, there’s no telling that this is a gaming laptop other than the Origin branding. The design is very discreet with not even a hint of blinking LEDs aside from the HDD and network activity lights. It looks like your average 15.6-inch laptop and is neither larger nor heavier than average. This is quite amusing since this laptop is anything but average, which is first hinted by the high-quality Full HD (1920 x 1080) display when you turn it on. Unlike many other gaming laptops on the market it doesn’t have an oversized bezel around the screen, but neither is it “frameless” (i.e. no glass pane). Its viewing angles are a cut above most other TN panels.

It is all black and the entire laptop except for the bottom part has the same type of rubberized finish that is also present on Alienware and ASUS machines. Even the multi-touch touchpad is covered in this material, which is unorthodox but works fine once you’re used to it. The buttons accompanying the touchpad are not quite as impressive as the rest of the machine. They feel rather thin and shallow and detract from an otherwise very robust build. The keyboard is however comfortable to type on and comes with a small num-pad on the side, but it is unfortunately not backlit. A fingerprint reader is also included, which is a nice bonus that adds a sense of security (most likely a false one, though, unless your drive is encrypted). The THX sticker on the palm rest does not mean that you get cinema quality sound out of the laptop speakers, but it comes with a sub-woofer and some sound enhancements courtesy of the included THX TruStudio Pro application, so it sounds (marginally) better than most laptops. It should also support 7.1 audio via S/PDIF, which is probably a big deal if you have the right goods to hook it up to.

While this laptop is as fast as it gets in this form factor, you will have to cope with a couple of downsides. One of them is a less-than-stellar battery life, another one is very active (but efficient) cooling solution . On the other hand, when inserting what is essentially a high-end desktop graphics chip in a 15.6-inch laptop chassis, you shouldn’t be surprised that it makes some noise when you fire up your favorite games at “ultra” settings. The heat goes out the rear via two separate ventilation holes with dedicated fans–one for the GPU and one for the CPU, both of which are most definitely needed on this laptop. They are active to some extent almost constantly and go into a high decibel mode when gaming. Considering the hardware, though, it would be more worrying if the fans weren’t as active, since this system would easily reach dangerous temperatures without efficient cooling. Nevertheless, gaming with headphones is recommended.

The back part also contains an e-SATA port, power, HDMI and a DVI-D port (a DVI to VGA adapter is included). On the left hand side of the laptop sits two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2, FireWire, memory card reader and an RJ45 network jack. On the right is the DVD (or optional Blu-ray) optical drive and the audio jacks along with another USB port.

Considering the performance/size equation, the EON 15-S still does a good job balancing the situation. It’s even possible to overclock the GPU without the whole thing melting in your lap (Origin even offers to do it for you).  The overall impression is that this is a solid laptop and built to last, even if–or perhaps because–it doesn’t come with a race car-inspired design and shiny LEDs in every nook and cranny.

Performance

At any rate, my guess is that no one buys this laptop because it looks cool, but because of the numbers you are about to see. Let’s start with the synthetic benchmarks from Futuremark. PCMark Vantage runs a series of tests based on actual usage scenarios and gives you a pretty good hint about overall system performance, even if it isn’t all-encompassing and the gaming tests are somewhat lacking in scope. For that purpose the 3DMark lineup is much better; 3DMark 06 for DirectX 9, 3DMark Vantage for DX10 and 3DMark 11 for DX11 features.

The closest competitors that we’ve tested are both fully capable of playing any and all PC games on the market at more than adequate frame rates and quality settings, but they are evidently far behind the EON15-S. As for the 14-inch Alienware M14x, that one is even more restricted by its smaller format, but the ASUS G53SX is actually both larger and heavier than the P150HM. The bigger difference found in PCMark Vantage can largely be attributed to the SSD and the faster processor (the M14x PCMark Vantage score instantly jumped about 2,000 points with a solid state drive, while the above number is for the 500GB 7200rpm hard drive). However, the 3D benchmark scores are mainly determined by the graphics card, and the GTX 580M is not surprisingly well ahead of both the GT 555M and the GTX 560M. It has double the amount of CUDA cores/shaders (384) compared to the 560M (192), but the clocks are lower in the 580M.

Nevertheless, the graphics performance is greatly improved and allows you to enhance the visual quality by adding more details to your games (when possible) and post processing effects like antialiasing, anisotropic filtering,  ambient occlusion, tessellation and so on and so forth.

All games have been tested at the laptop’s default 1080 x 1920 resolution. In addition to the above, we also tested Dead Island and H.A.W.X 2, but they made the graph look funny by producing roughly 100 frames per seconds more than the above on the highest settings. It should be rather obvious that the GTX 580M can handle any game with ease even at high quality settings. Skyrim is not particularly demanding, so that it runs at the “Ultra” preset is not surprising (it runs even better with FXAA instead of 8x antialiasing, if you prefer this mode). S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat would easily have produced very high frame rates if we hadn’t gone into the advanced graphics menu and turned on some extra eye candy. Deus Ex: Human Revolution was no challenge whatsoever, and neither was Resident Evil 5.

The more interesting games would be Crysis 2 with Hi-resolution textures, The Witcher 2, and the good-old Metro 2033, which is still one of the most demanding titles ever released for the PC. Metro 2033 would only run well at “low” settings in DX11 mode, but even the low setting includes plenty of advanced features that take advantage of the latest graphics cards. Crysis 2 would put out good frame rates with DX11 and high-resolution textures, but only on the “extreme” setting (as opposed to the highest “ultra” setting). This unfortunately removes some tessellation effects, but going into the menu and selecting the highest setting for “objects” turns this on, and with some tweaking it should be possible to run it with tessellation on. The Witcher 2 is also one of the most demanding (and best-looking) games right now. It defaults to “low spec” settings but works well with “high spec” as well (the Ultra setting with “UberSampling” is out of the question even for most desktop gaming rigs with SLI).

Summary – Pros and Cons

All in all, there is no question that the Origin EON 15-S/P150HM is the most powerful 15.6-inch laptop on the planet right now, and on top of that it has a smaller footprint and weighs less than most other gaming laptops in the same size category. It’s an impressive feat that it can even be done, but it is not without drawbacks–it needs very powerful cooling, which adds to the noise level, and the battery life is not particularly impressive to say the least. Origin’s own 100 minute mark for the battery life seems about right, even if it is possible to squeeze some additional minutes out of it with a very aggressive power plan. But a long battery life is obviously not the point with this laptop. The aim here has been to create the fastest 15-inch laptop that (a lot of) money can buy, and it doesn’t accomplish this by a small margin. It runs circles around the competition.

The ASUS Republic of Gamers G53SX is the sequel to the G53SW and very little (if anything) has changed compared to the previous model except for the GPU, which has been upgraded from an Nvidia GTX 460M to its replacement the GTX 560M. Although “upgraded” is a relative term here, since ASUS has opted for the version with 2GB of GDDR5 and a 128-bit memory bus instead of the 1.5GB or 3GB version with a 192-bit memory bus. The smaller memory bus width almost certainly has an impact on performance, but on the other hand the GTX 560M has been given higher clock speeds that will even out the differences.

G53SX/SW Price Comparison:
	$1215.00
	$1218.89
	$1249.99

In terms of design, the G53SX is the 15.6-inch counterpart of the 17-inch G74SX, and the feature set is largely the same, but the 17-inch model’s GTX 560M has the full 192-bit memory bus. The G53SX is available in a number of different configurations, including the G53SX-A1, XR1, XN1, and quite possibly a few others, but most of them share the same Core i7-2630QM CPU and GTX 560M CPU. The only difference is the amount of RAM and hard drive capacity, so the difference in actual gaming performance between the different models will be practically negligible. For the record, our unit came with a 640GB hard drive and 8GB of RAM.

Design and Features

It has the same “Stealth Bomber” design as the other laptops in the series, in matte, rubberized black with two large rear exhausts – one for the CPU and one for the GPU. This is an excellent cooling solution that keeps both the temperature and noise level in check. The laptop stays fairly silent even under heavy load, which is more than you can say for most laptops. On the downside, the backside is a bit bulky and the laptop as a whole is quite large and heavy even for a 15-inch model (7.9 lbs).

Otherwise the design and build quality feels exceptionally robust. There are no loose parts or joints and the laptop is very comfortable to work with since it tapers off from the bulky back part with the fans to the much slimmer front with the rubbery palm rest and large, comfortable track pad. The latter supports multi-touch gestures and two-finger scrolling, which is great, but the buttons give off a rather loud clicking sound when depressed.

There is a small amount of flex in the illuminated keyboard, but not to a disturbing degree. Writing this review on the G53SX is quite a comfortable experience even though ASUS has crammed in a small numpad on the side – a somewhat questionable design choice in a 15-inch laptop, but it works on the ASUS, possibly because it’s slightly wider than the average 15-inch model. Speaking of which, a large bezel around the screen is an annoyance that hopefully disappears in a near future. This is not specific to ASUS, but a 16-inch or slightly larger panel would easily have fitted within the confines of this frame.

While we are on the topic of the display, the manufacturer has been kind enough to use a matte variant instead of the glossy screens that are commonplace in laptops with low-end TN panels. The panel is almost certainly a TN, but it is very bright and the colors and contrast are almost as good as those on my desktop VA monitor when viewing the screen from the front. Its viewing angles are decent, but colors get washed out from sharper angles.

The screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 (“Full HD”), which is a very high resolution on a 15.6-inch laptop. It is a good idea to right-click on the screen and select “screen resolution” and then click on the blue link that says “make text and other items larger or smaller” and go with one of the larger options. Games look fantastic in Full HD though.

In terms of connectivity, the G53SX comes with Bluetooth and one USB 3.0 port (along with three additional USB 2.0 ports), HDMI, VGA, Gigabit LAN and headphone/mic jacks. Naturally, wireless N is also supported.

The G53SX actually has two hard drive bays just like its larger 17-inch counterpart, but it is mainly sold in single-drive configurations. You can of course insert drive number 2 yourself if you have a small screwdriver and some time to spare – the second SATA port is enabled and runs at SATA 3.0 (6GBps) speeds, so you can boot from an ultra-fast SSD and use the hard drive for secondary storage.

Performance – Synthetic

Now to find out how the 128-bit GTX 560M performs in the real world and have look at overall performance. As usual, the first and foremost way to get some good comparison numbers is to run Futuremark’s 3DMark and PCMark benchmarks.

These numbers are interesting. As expected, the smaller memory bus has some effect on 3D performance, but primarily in 3DMark06 (DirectX 9). The 3DMark Vantage (DX10) score, 8362, is also below average for a GTX 560M, while the 3DMark 11 (DX11) result, P2165, is actually markedly better than any GTX 560M review score that we’ve been able to locate. The only thing we can think of is that the latest NVIDIA drivers have been tweaked for 3DMark 11. The lower average scores notwithstanding, the 128-bit 560M is still a capable GPU and noticeably faster than the GT 555M for example. On a side note, it is possible to take the 3DMark Vantage score above 10,000 points with some overclocking, but that’s a story for another time.

Gaming Performance

Just like we did last time with the Alienware M14x review, we’re focusing on the optimal settings that provide playable frame rates at the best possible quality settings, i.e., around 30 frames per second (FPS) or better. It’s safe to say that the G53SX and its GTX 560M can play any game currently available at good quality settings at the very least. The main question is whether it can run them at the display’s native Full HD resolution without sacrificing too much on the visuals. The short answer is that among the games we’ve tested, DX11 Crysis 2 stands out as on of the two games where we had to tune down the screen resolution to get reasonable frame rates, which is hardly surprising considering that not even two GTX 580M’s in SLI can handle Crysis 2 in DirectX 11 with high-res textures. Running it in DX9 on the “very high” (actually medium) setting in 1080p native resolution is nevertheless a gratifying experience. The other game was the infamous GPU-killing Metro 2033, which wouldn’t run at playable frame rates in DX11 mode at all, but the “normal” or medium setting and DX10 was fine and produced a convenient 30 FPS.

FRAPS is a great tool, but benchmarks produced with it are not as accurate as standardized tests; Since you basically have to pick a scene or level and go with it the results are somewhat arbitrary, but still give you a fairly good reading of what to expect from different games. All frame rates in the chart have of course been measured with the GTX 560M’s stock clock speeds. Aside from Metro 2033 and Crysis 2, there was no reason to overclock anyway to run the remaining five games at high settings.

Resident Evil 5, HAWX 2 and STALKER posed no challenge at all to the G53SX–producing 50+ frames per second at high-detail settings. Even the brand new Dead Island produced a 50 FPS average at the display’s native 1920×1080 resolution with all the details maxed out. Another positive surprise was Deus Ex: Human Revolution, where we could tweak the already relatively high settings and add improved texture filtering as well as some other tweaks from the “advanced” graphics menu without any relevant loss in FPS.

By and large, it doesn’t look like the 128-bit GTX 560M is all that “crippled” after all, although exchanging half a GB of video RAM for the wider memory bus would probably have been preferable. 2GB or more video memory is still overkill for most if not all laptop graphics cards.

Temperature and Noise

This is one of the best parts–even when gaming or running benchmarks that forces the system to work at its full potential, the G53SX remains comparatively silent. The double-barrel cooling solution on this laptop is possibly the best one on the market. Where a single fan would have to work twice as hard and twice as loud, the twin exhausts on this “Stealth Bomber” keeps it at acceptable temperatures at all times, whilst keeping the noise level to a minimum. Sure, the fans (particularly the GPU fan) go into a louder mode from time to time, but never reach a disturbing level.

Battery Life

Even though it should theoretically be able to support it, ASUS passed on NVIDIA’s Optimus technology, which automatically switches between the high-end GPU and Intel’s power-saving but otherwise largely useless IGP. Therefore it will have to run with the GTX 560M at all times, and even though the GPU clocks go down to the bare minimum when the laptop is in power-saver mode, it sill won’t be able to compete with gaming laptop that come with Optimus or AMD’s switchable graphics.

The result is a battery life of about 3 hours with Wi-Fi on, medium brightness and the battery-saving power plan in effect (i.e. useful settings). This is still a fairly decent result for a laptop running only a high-end graphics card and it also saves you the hassle of having to wait for graphics driver updates from the manufacturer, which have a tendency to never show up. Depending on how important this is for you, it may still be a drawback seeing as there are now gaming laptops that can actually last for quite a few hours on battery power. On the other hand, playing games on battery power will use up all the battery juice in roughly half an hour in any decent gaming laptop, Optimus or no Optimus.

Final Thoughts – Pros and Cons

One aspect that we haven’t mentioned yet is the price tag, and the G53SX offers extremely good value for money–the entry-level configurations (which are still equipped with a quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM and the same GTX 560M) sell for less than $1,100 from some retailers. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on a laptop with the GTX 560M. As for the drawbacks, we have already covered most of them, the 128-bit memory bus in the GPU being our main complaint. It is also surprising that the G53SW nearly always ships with a single hard drive although it’s equipped with two full-featured SATA III 6Gbps hard drive bays (no need to replace the optical drive either). Although there’s no RAID 0 support, using an SSD as the primary drive sounds like a great idea.

We have no complaints about the build quality in general, which is rock solid if a bit on the heavy side. A backlit keyboard is also nice to have even if you can’t customize this one in all the colors of the rainbow like the Alienware ones. The crowning achievement though, is the superb cooling solution. The “Strike in Silence” slogan used by ASUS for its Republic of Gamers lineup is definitely not without merit.

G53SX/SW Price Comparison:
	$1215.00
	$1218.89
	$1249.99

An alienesque package containing a “stealth black” Alienware M14x has just arrived. The white lab coats are on and to be a little original we are going to test it with both the included hard drive–in this case a 500GB 7200rpm drive as well as a 256GB Crucial m4. 
But first things first; this is a full review so let’s go over the basics first. Here are the specifications for our system:

• CPU: Quad Core Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (with TurboBoost 2.9GHz)
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 555M with 1.5GB of DDR3 + Intel HD Graphics (Nvidia Optimus)
• Display: 14-inch WLED (1600×900)
• Memory: 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 (Hynix)
• Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm (Seagate Momentus, stock HDD)
• (SSD: 256GB Crucial m4)
• OS: 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
• Dimensions: 1.49″ x 10.7″ x 13.27″ – 6.45lbs / 2.92 kg

Alienware M14x Price Comparison:
	$1099.00
	$1219.99

Current coupon for $50 off from Dell: BHW1L0MX0D?MCX

Design and Build Quality

The M14x’ chassis feels extremely robust and a lot of thought has obviously gone into this build. This is apparent not least when you start to dismantle the laptop. Only two screws keep you from accessing the internal parts, and the screws are fastened on the other side with a small brick so you can’t lose them. The lid and palm rest areas are covered in a smooth, rubber-like material that does not attract fingerprints or smudges as easily as glossy surfaces.

The WLED panel is very bright and sharp. Compared subjectively to some other panels we have on hand, a 2010 MacBook Pro 13, a Gateway netbook and a regular desktop monitor with a TN panel, the one in the M14x is the most attractive by far. The viewing angles are also surprisingly good for a TN panel. Like all other Alienware laptops, the M14x comes with “AlienFX” backlighting for the keyboard, track pad and other components, which is really fun to play around with. It lets you change the backlight color of individual components as well as certain zones of the keyboard. You can set it to anything from a conservative, slightly dimmed white to a flashing neon rainbow Las Vegas-style. Everything is customizable via the included AlienFX tool.

On the whole, you definitely get the impression that this is a premium quality laptop. At the same time it is also heavy for a 14-inch laptop. It actually weighs more than the 15-inch MacBook Pro (and its Windows competitor the new lightweight Dell XPS 15z). We expected it to be somewhat clumsy, but that’s not really the case. It is just very compact. On the other hand some added weight shouldn’t be surprising when you’re dealing with the most powerful 14-inch gaming laptop in the world, which is the slogan–quite an accurate one by the way (of course, there aren’t many 14-inch gaming laptops on the market, but still). The 150W power brick is fairly large as expected but also flat, so making room for it in an average 15-inch laptop bag shouldn’t be a problem. It also has that convenient rubber strap attached that Dell is known for. Even the laptop end of the power cord lights up when it’s connected to the mains.

In terms of connectivity, the M14x includes two USB 3.0 “SuperSpeed” ports, one USB 2.0, dual headphone jacks + 1 mic, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, VGA, multi-card reader, SIM-card reader, Ethernet port and an optional WirelessHD output that streams HD audio/video to an external HDTV or projector (not present in our unit). It’s also equipped with a slot-loading DVD reader/writer, which is a questionable design choice. A Blu-ray player might have been justified, but most of us would get by without the optical drive or use an external one. For those who like to experiment, however, it is apparently possible to replace it with a hard drive dock similar to the OptiBay solution for MacBooks.

Performance

The Alienware M14x is indeed very powerful for a 14-inch laptop. This particular model includes a quad-core, 2nd-generation Intel Core i7 CPU that runs at 2.0GHz but automatically overclocks to 2.9GHz on demand. This is the “slowest” processor available for the M14x. [Correction: after this review was published, Dell started offering a cheaper dual-core Core i5 alternative]. Other than the 2.0GHz CPU in this model, you can also upgrade to an i7 2720QM running at 2.2GHz (3.3GHz with Turbo Boost) or an i7 2820QM running at 2.3GHz (3.4GHz with Turbo Boost).

Any of the above CPUs will give your laptop performance aplenty. There’s also an option for an Nvidia GeForce GT 555M with 3GB of video RAM instead of 1.5GB–an upgrade that we can’t imagine has any noticeable effect on games. A better option would have been a GT 555M with GDDR5 memory modules, but this alternative is unfortunately not offered by Nvidia, so it’s no fault of Dell’s. This is possibly to differentiate the GT555M from the high-end GTX series graphics cards, which this GPU is already very close to in the performance department.

What about the battery life? In spite of Optimus it doesn’t last that long unplugged. On the ‘Balanced’ power setting (default) and while actively using the laptop–web browsing, background processes running and so on–it lasts for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. With aggressive power savings it should be able to run for 4-5 hours, but the 6-hour mark would be very tough to reach. This is not surprising considering the powerful components inside. It was not until switchable graphics came along that you could mention ‘battery life’ and ‘gaming laptop’ in the same sentence, so it’s good to see that things are improving on this front.

Synthetic Benchmarks

The largely useless Windows Experience Index pegs this laptop at the lowest base score 5.8, for the Windows Aero interface (because it uses the integrated GPU). For gaming graphics the score is 6.9 (without overclocking). The other scores are 7.4 for the processor, 7.6 for the memory, and finally 5.9 for the hard drive (apparently the maximum score for all hard drives) or 7.8 for the SSD. In PCMark Vantage, the score with the original 500GB hard drive was 7,436 and with the SSD 9,307–a noteworthy difference which is only attributable to the HDD score. Similarly the system boots considerably faster with an SSD: 27 seconds to a fully working desktop compared to 1 minute and 5 seconds with the hard drive. The other Futuremark benchmarks are all about graphics performance–arguably the most important factor for this system. 3DMark 06 measures DX9 performance, 3DMark Vantage DX10 and 3DMark 11 DX11, respectively. All of them were run with stock clock speeds and delivered excellent results. Note that the 3DMark suite has been run on an external monitor to comply with the default resolution (1280 x 1024).

Important update: After using the M14x in combination with the m4 SSD for a while, it became apparent that this drive does not run at SATA III 6GBps speeds for some reason–something that almost certainly affects the PCMark Vantage HDD score. Moreover, it must have the Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology) driver installed for this SSD to function properly. This is installed by default and carried over when we cloned the hard drive contents to the m4; however, using the system without the driver causes instability. Whatever the root cause of this problem, we can not recommend a combination of an M14x and a Crucial m4 SSD for the time being.

Gaming

Now for the interesting part, namely how the Alienware M14x performs in different games. We have intentionally chosen to run the games at native resolution (1600×900). This makes the frame rates more difficult to compare against other laptops (that’s what the above benchmarks are for), but it gives you a much better impression of what the M14x is actually capable of. It is always preferable to run your games at native resolution, as it always gives you the best image quality. In other words, this might be one (and probably the only) reason to opt for an M14x with a 1366×768 panel, which is also available. It’s fairly safe to say that the M14x will run any game currently on the market in native resolution at more than adequate frame rates.

As you have probably guessed, our sights were set on the 30 FPS (frames per second) mark–the point where everything is silky smooth with the only limiting factor being your eyes, which can’t perceive higher frame rates. In STALKER and HAWX 2, the mark was impossible to miss even on the highest settings (without FSAA). Dragon Age 2 was fully playable in the “high” setting using DX11 as the renderer. Crysis 2 was running smoothly at the “very high/advanced” setting (actually the game’s medium setting), whereas Resident Evil 5 was another game where everything could be left on high. All games were run without any overclocking or other tweaks, with the usual services running in the background. All of the five games were in other words playable at the display’s native resolution; the older games with all the details maxed out, and the new ones with less details but without having to lower the pixel count. Here’s a higher quality video captured with FRAPS. Keep in mind that there’s some performance loss when recording this way, but it never drops below 30FPS.

Heat and Noise

The M14x ranges for completely silent to Xbox 360 blow dryer mode. When you are just browsing the web an writing an Alienware M14x review in Word for example, the laptop is actually entirely passive and silent. The fans only start up occasionally to blow out some moderately hot air. When firing up Crysis 2, on the other hand, the fans become very active and loud. At the same time the cooling solution appears to be very efficient; the laptop never gets too hot for its own good. Also, when playing games you are probably wearing a headset or making use of the included Klipsch speakers, which give off a fair amount of above-average sound by the way. It actually has some bass and depth, which is more than you can say for just about any other laptop.

Conclusion

We can only agree that the Alienware M14x is the most powerful 14-inch gaming laptop in the world, although this comes at the cost of it being a pound heavier than the average 14-inch machine. The quad-core Sandy Bridge Intel CPU, which shows up as eight cores in the operating system thanks to Intel’s Hyperthreading feature, makes everything extremely snappy and responsive, although ours is the slowest alternative. With an SSD the loading times are theoretically 4-5 times faster, and subjectively the system feels about twice as fast in everything but the games. The games’ loading times are greatly improved though. Nvidia’s GeForce GT 555M is not quite on par with the latest GPUs from the GTX series, but comes very close. If you are looking for a gaming laptop in a more convenient form factor than desktop replacement, the M14x is definitely the most capable option at the moment.

Alienware M14x Price Comparison:
	$1099.00
	$1219.99

Current coupon for $50 off from Dell: BHW1L0MX0D?MCX

It’s always interesting to see what kind of performance you can squeeze out of low-end hardware. Integrated graphics are generally considered useless for gaming, and this is obviously true if you compare them with high-end gaming machines like the new Alienware lineup or any other genuine gaming laptop. However, the fact remains that most laptops still ship with integrated graphics just because it’s a cheap and power-efficient solution.

There are different kinds of integrated though; Intel has their theoretically decent IPGs that should - at least in theory – be able to play World of Warcraft and other less demanding games at playable framerates. Unfortunately the driver support still stinks. AMD, on the other hand, has the ATI legacy to lean on, so their driver support is in another league. AMD-based laptops with the integrated HD 4250 are a dime a dozen these days, so we figured it might be interesting to see what they are capable of.On the left is a CPU-Z dump from a sub-$400 HP Compaq CQ62 with a single-core AMD CPU and the aforementioned Mobility Radeon HD 4250, which uses the laptop’s working RAM instead of proprietary video RAM. This is an immediate setback for performance, as is the slow V140 processor.

IGPs are much more processor dependent compared to dedicated GPUs, so if you have a laptop with a faster dual- (or quad-) core AMD CPU you will likely see considerable improvements to overall graphics performance.

But let’s move on to the gaming benchmarks. Crysis 2 is pretty much out of the question here, but older games should have no problems running on this relatively weak configuration of the HP CQ62.

Counter-Strike Source, released in 2004: CS source is based on Valve’s Source Engine, the same engine used to power both the entire Half-life 2 series and Left4dead series. We used the built-in video stress feature of the game, in lowest graphical detail.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX, released in 2009: HAWX is an arcade type air combat game displaying great visuals on landscapes, mountains, and cities as well as sharp details on aircrafts. We used the built-in benchmark of the game, also in lowest graphical detail.

Stalker: Call of Pripyat, released in 2010, is the third installment in Stalker series originally released in 2007. We used the demo benchmark to get the overall average in the tests.

So the question is: “Can I play games on a laptop with a Mobility Radeon HD 4250?” It depends on the game. The answer is “Yes” for less demanding games and “No” for demanding ones even if it is an older game. Counter-Strike: Source is fully playable, garnering the most frames per second, mainly because it is the oldest game out of the three and it doesn’t really require a high-end PC to play it.

HAWX is the only game you don’t want to play with this laptop as it is the most demanding, while Stalker: Call of Pripyat is still playable even if it is newer than HAWX. Remember that we tested all these three games in lowest graphical details. Setting any game to “Medium” will definitely lower the score and cause the game to become unplayable.

Thanks to Gary Navat for the gaming tests.

We’ve just had a chance to play with a TimelineX AS4820TG from Acer, which is an interesting creature; a discreet 14-inch budget-friendly laptop that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows at the office. However, under the hood it hides a bit of gaming muscle in the form of a Mobility Radeon HD 5650 (or a HD 6550 in the latest version, which is more or less a renamed HD 5650 with slightly higher clock speeds) and a Core i5 CPU.

So, how much performance can you squeeze out of a budget laptop with a few modifications? Equipping this specimen with an SSD and 8GB of RAM instead of the original 4GB is a start. Although this doesn’t affect gaming framerates (we will do that by other means), it certainly has an effect on overall system performance.

Upgrades: SSD & RAM

With a Corsair Force series SSD instead of the generic 5,400rpm hard drive that came with the laptop, it boots to a fully functional desktop in just over 20 seconds. All applications and games load considerably faster and the system feels extremely responsive overall. In terms of overall system performance a fast SSD is the best upgrade you can get, whether it’s a budget or high-end laptop. Most of them come in the 2.5-inch (laptop) form factor, too, so you won’t have any trouble finding one that fits. Unfortunately they are still quite expensive, but well worth the investment.

The SSD boosts the Primary hard disk score in the Windows 7 Experience Index from 5.9 to 7.5, which is an understatement for the actual difference in performance. On the other hand, doubling the RAM (DDR3 1066MHz) also results in an increase from 5.9 to 6.7, which is arguably an exaggeration since you will only notice any difference once you run out of physical RAM and the system starts swapping to the drive. For that reason, calling it a Windows Experience Index is misleading; neither is it a useful synthetic benchmark. SiSoftware Sandra is more indicative of the actual difference:

Overclocking

Of course, even if it works wonders for your system as a whole, swapping your hard drive with an SSD or adding more RAM will not do much – if anything – for your gaming frame rates. This is where a budget laptop will always and invariably fail if it’s not equipped with at least a decent graphics card. Acer’s TimelineX series is focused on battery life and often ship with just integrated Intel graphics, but there are a few exceptions that come with switchable graphics–combining both an Intel GMA and a dedicated Mobility Radeon GPU.

The GPU in this 4820TG is a Mobility Radeon HD 5650, which is an OK middle-of-the-road solution that plays most new games with the graphics settings on medium or high. This GPU can be found in lots of laptops today, but it is less common in the budget segment and especially in thin and light models such as this one. It has 400 Stream Processing Units; the core runs at 550MHz and memory (GDDR3) at 800MHz. With the AMD GPU Clock Tool we managed to take the core and memory speeds to 650MHz and 950MHz without any stability issues whatsoever. At 675MHz the core started to cause problems and the memory was also troublesome at more than 960MHz, but the improvements beyond that were negligible anyway. 650MHz/950MHz is still an excellent result, and more importantly completely stable.

As usual with inexpensive laptops, the 4820TG is equipped with a TN panel with 1366×768 resolution. The rather low resolution and low-end panel makes it somewhat less appealing, but for gaming in combination with the HD 5650 it sort of works to your advantage. You can run virtually all games on the display’s native resolution and it looks just fine without antialiasing. Turning on antialiasing results in significantly slower frame rates, so it’s a good thing that you can leave it off in this case. The low resolution also meant that we couldn’t run 3DMark 06 with default settings (1,280×1,024), so we had to use an external monitor. Here is a sample of the differences between stock vs. overclocked GPU:

This may not seem like much, but 3DMark also includes CPU-related results in the total score, so a 14% increase is probably right on the mark. The result is enough to (almost) put it on par with more powerful mobile GPUs like the Mobility Radeon HD 5830 in the HP Envy 15. Now of course you can probably overclock a 5830 just as easily, and there are lots of other factors to take into consideration such as build quality. Still, not too shabby for a $799 laptop!

Acer 4820TG Prices:
	$799.99

]]> http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/pimp-my-budget-laptop-acer-4820tg-overclocking-ssd/feed/ 8 http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-g73jh-a2-review-amazing-performance-for-less/ http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-g73jh-a2-review-amazing-performance-for-less/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:50:06 +0000 Berg http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/?p=417

The 17-inch Asus G73JH Republic of Gamers is currently one of the fastest gaming laptops on the planet, with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of DDR3 and ATI’s top mobile GPU – the Mobility Radeon HD 5870. With hardware like this it can only be beaten by some exorbitantly expensive configurations of the Alienware m17x and a few other built-to-order gaming laptops. As an experiment we built an almost identical configuration on Dell’s Alienware website and ended up at $2,649. Sure, the m17x has a couple more features like DisplayPort, but nothing that makes up for the $1,000 difference.

Quick Specs:

Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM
Memory: 8GB RAM
Storage: 1TB (2 x 500GB 7,200rpm)
Optical Drive: DVD±RW
Screen: 17.3 inches (1,920×1,080)
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (1GB GDDR5)
Weight: 7.4 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 2.2×16.3×12.6 inches
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Asus G73JH: Best Prices $949.99 $1399.99 $1606.99

Overall Rating: Rating: ★★★★½  Pros: Excellent performance, low-key unique design, great value for money. Cons: Poor battery life.

Design

Besides a monster of a gaming laptop you also get some extras with the G73, including a very useful backpack plus a gamer mouse and a headset. The Republic of Gamers G73HJ itself is a fairly heavy machine of course, but not much heavier than the average 17-inch notebook. It’s built with a stealth bomber-inspired design, which includes a solidly built housing that matches the description. It certainly looks like a stealth bomber with an emphasis on stealth – it’s not as liberally decorated as some other gaming laptops. There are virtually no glossy plastics and the G73JH is all dressed in black with a soft coating material.

On the other hand it won’t go unnoticed; it is slightly tilted towards the user for optimal ergonomics, and the huge air vents on the back of the laptop look a little like jet exhausts. The “landing gears” are the laptop’s thick rubber pads. The chiclet-style keyboard is backlit and in the center of the palmrest sits a large and comfortable multi-touch touchpad. Asus has obviously put a lot of thought into the overall design of this beast.

Interior

Then again, it’s what’s inside that counts, and at the heart of the Asus G73JH is an Intel Core i7 720QM CPU which is a true quad-core processor with four physical cores and eight virtual by means of HyperThreading. It runs at 1.6GHz on each of its four cores but switches to 2.8 GHz in Turbo Mode (when only two cores are active). In addition, Asus has added some extra overclocking. You can switch to Turbo Mode by default in the BIOS as well as tap a button above the keyboard to give it some further boost.

Asus provides a full 8 gigs of DDR3 memory with the G73JH, which is perhaps a little excessive, but it certainly doesn’t hurt and helps “future proof” the laptop. Even more importantly for gamers, the graphics card is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory. This is a very powerful mobile GPU that will let you run most games in the screen’s native Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080).

There is plenty of storage space in the G73JH – an entire TB spread across two 500GB hard drives. Should you want to take performance up yet another notch you could always exchange one of the drives for an SSD and use as a boot drive. That would remove the hard drive bottleneck and still leave you with lots of room to spare on a second hard drive. There’s no doubt that the hard drives are the bottlenecks here as they bring down the Windows Experience Index from 7.0 to 5.8.

Gaming Performance

Compared to the Nvidia GTX 260M in the Asus G51J, the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 in the G73JH beats it by almost 30%, which is not surprising even if the GTX 260M is quite powerful in itself. The HD 5870 is one of the latest mobile GPUs and is manufactured with a 40nm process, enabling it to run on less current and produce less heat (in relative terms). In addition, the HD5870 is DirectX 11-ready – not that there’s a lot of games with DX11 support yet, but there certainly will be in the near future.

It’s not very hard to summarize how the Asus G73JH performs in games. In short, everything runs at the screen’s native (1920×1080) resolution, and there’s rarely any need to tune down the detail settings or even anti-aliasing. The only game where the G73JH went below the magical 30fps barrier was Crysis Warhead – still uncontested when it comes to torturing graphics cards. However, lowering the detail settings to “Mainstream” (medium equivalent) nearly doubles the frame rate.

Heat and Noise

Thanks to the large vents in the back, the laptop manages to stay reasonably cool and quiet even under heavy load. When the computer is idle, the fans are barely audible. If you start gaming the fans will work harder, but it does’t get loud enough to overpower sound effects and music from games even at moderate volumes. Using a heavy-duty cooling solution such as this is a great idea and in retrospect it’s strange that no one has thought of it before. It’s perfect for a high-end gaming laptop and it blends in nicely with the rest of the design.

Battery Life, Conclusion

The G73JH is not built for frequent flyers, and with this kind of hardware it’s no surprise that the battery life is abysmal. It runs out of juice in little over an hour under load – not even enough time to watch Toxic Avenger (87min). When the laptop is as closed to turned off as it gets it runs for just over two hours. So most of the time you will need to carry around the power brick, which isn’t that small either by the way. At 7.4 pounds, however, it’s not heavier than the average 17-inch laptop and those looking for long battery life would look elsewhere anyway.

All in all, the Asus G73JH-A2 is a very pleasant experience and a great gaming laptop that will not disappoint. The best part is that it’s – although not cheap – far less expensive than its closest competitors.

——————————————	————————
Price Comparison	Asus G73JH-A2
——————————————	————————
$1,591.95	Go to Store >>
$1,669.00	Go to Store >>
——————————————	————————

Overall Rating:

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Pros: Excellent performance, low-key unique design, great value for money.

Cons: Poor battery life.

Official trailer from Asus Republic of Gamers:

Asus G73JH-A2: Best Prices
	$1591.95
	$100000.00

]]> http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-g73jh-a2-review-amazing-performance-for-less/feed/ 9 http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-3d-laptop-review-g51j-with-3d-vision/ http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-3d-laptop-review-g51j-with-3d-vision/#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:20:17 +0000 Berg http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/?p=223

Asus G51JX-3D - Best Prices
		$1099.99
		$1618.99
		$1649.99

Asus is the manufacturers’ version of an early adopter. Its new 3D laptop is the first real gaming laptop to get a 3D makeover. This is provided by Nvidia’s excellent solution 3DVision, which requires a 120Hz screen to work and comes with a pair of wireless goggles. It is somewhat dissapointing that it hasn’t been fully integrated into the laptop, but it works really well coupled with the quad-core i7 performance in the G51J 3D.

Hardware and Build

Gaming laptops usually get the full makeover with eye-catching and sometimes exaggerated “gaming-inspired” design, but the Asus G51J 3D is a relatively low-key model, aside from the fancy lid decoration. The glossy black plastics surrounding the keyboard and the screen are mixed with a matte black, rubbery material, which is very pleasant. The overall finish is excellent and gives off a sturdy impression, and the backlit keyboard also makes it look great in the dark.

The G51J-3D is quite heavy for a 15.6-inch laptop, which is no huge surprise considering the powerful hardware inside, including an Intel Core i7 (quad core) and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M graphics card. There’s no shortage of raw performance here – the 1.6GHz Intel i7-720QM, although not the fastest mobile i7, is still significantly better and less power-hungry than the old Core 2 Duo Quad-Cores. It also has the Turbo Boost feature that kicks in when two of the cores are idle. In addition, the G51J-3D comes with 4GB of DDR3.

In terms of connectivity, there are four USB ports located on the right and left sides. There are also VGA and HDMI ports, Firewire, eSATA, Ethernet and of course audio in/out for connecting a headset. Lastly, it also has a Blu-ray player/DVD-burner combo (might vary with configuration) and a multi-format memory card reader. Asus could have done better with the speakers. In spite of the Altec Lansing branding, the sound is rather tinny and lacks bass.

The 3D Kit

Somewhat surprisingly, the infrared emitter for the active glasses is external and connects via USB, so it’s essentially an Nvidia 3D Vision kit that comes separately with the laptop. Some actual integration would have been most welcome.  Also noteworthy is that the HDMI cannot connect an external 120Hz monitor to show 3D. But on to the fun parts.

Clearly, the screen is the centerpiece on the G51J as it’s the first laptop screen capable of the 120Hz frequency required by the Nvidia 3D kit. I had the privilege of testing 3D Vision at CES last year – it was very impressive then and it’s still really impressive. Of all the attempts at 3D so far, Nvidia’s is by far the best. The image is remarkably stable and rendering 3D works without a hitch. A small damper on the enthusiasm is the relatively small 15.6-inch, 1366×768 screen, which puts a limit on the immersion effect.

Another limitation is the graphics performance when using 3D in games. The GTX 260M is one of the better laptop GPUs on the market right now, but the 3D technology requires some extra juice to show its full potential. It works well enough in most games, but in some of the newer titles the settings have to be lowered for everything to run fluently at native resolution. This is probably the reason why Asus decided on the lower-resolution screen for the 3D version of the G51J.

Besides gaming in spectacular 3D, NVIDIA also offers a utility for converting movies into 3D. Although it is not as fun as watching actual 3D video, the effect is nonetheless quite impressive and lends itself well to certain movies.

3D Gaming Performance

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M in combination with the quad-core i7 CPU should have no problems coping with the latest games, but the 3D feature still pushes it to the limit. On the other hand, the relatively low-res 1366×768 screen allows most games to run at native resolution without dropping to embarrassing frame rates.

We had no significant problems running our selection of games, which included Resident Evil 5, Race Driver GRID, Fallout 3 and Crysis. All of the games ran fluently at native resolution and mostly high settings, except for Crysis, which is apparently still the real torture test for any graphics card. That’s not to say it doesn’t work – of course it does – but not with high details and native resolution. In the Resident Evil 5 benchmark it ran at just over 30 frames per second, which means completely fluid gameplay.

Windows Experience Index:

Processor 7.1

Memory:  7.3

Graphics: 6.8 – 5.9

Gaming Graphics: 6.8

Hard Drive: 5.9

As usual, the Windows Experience Index score is not very interesting, since it’s always capped at the lowest common denominator – in this case the hard drive. So the actual score is 5.9, which isn’t really fair. More interesting is that 3DMark 06 delivers a score of just over 10,000 (10,046), which is great. Interestingly, turning on 3D Vision drops that score by almost 30% so there is some significant overhead when using 3D.

Battery Life

Don’t entertain any thoughts of gaming away from an outlet – at least not for more than 30 minutes. This is not an ultraportable or a low-voltage laptop and that is reflected in the battery life. If you enjoy watching lengthy dramas you will also be disappointed by the 1:30 of video playback it delivers. Thankfully it’s just enough to watch Fletch if you skip past the credits – epics like Conan the Destoyer is another matter altogether.

Conclusion

Right now, the Asus G51J 3D is without a doubt the best 3D laptop thanks to the excellent solution from Nvidia – or more like the only 3D gaming laptop considering the low specifications of Acer’s 3D offerings. We only wish the receiver for the goggles had been integrated. Performance-wise it is excellent, and its design is pleasantly low-key for a gaming laptop. A higher screen resolution would have been nice, but that would also have had a negative impact on gaming visuals, as it wouldn’t be able to run at native resolution.

Specs

• 1.6GHz Intel i7-720QM Core i7 Quad Core Processor
• 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 2 slots, 4GB Max
• 640GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM); DVD SuperMulti Drive
• 15.6-Inch Widescreen HD LCD Display; NVidia GTX 260M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM; 3D Gaming Glasses and Transmitter Included;
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit); Gaming Backpack and Gaming Mouse Included

Asus G51JX-3D – Best Prices
		$1099.99
		$1618.99
		$1649.99

]]> http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-3d-laptop-review-g51j-with-3d-vision/feed/ 1 http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/alienware-m11x-review-roundup/ http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/alienware-m11x-review-roundup/#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:10:01 +0000 Berg http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/?p=209

The Alienware m11x was one of the big surprises at this year’s CES. Some have called it a gaming “netbook”, but that’s neither accurate or fair. Instead it’s a decidedly unique 11-inch CULV-based laptop with an Nvidia GeForce 335M – a faster graphics card than the one in the latest Arrendale MacBook Pros. All in all, it’s without a doubt the most portable gaming laptop so far, even if it’s on the heavy side for an 11-6-inch model (4.5 pounds/2kg). The best part is that it’s affordable, starting at $799, although most buyers will probably opt for a few upgrades.

Nvidia’s GeForce GT335M is an upper-midrange card with 72 stream processors, 233GFlops floating point performance, 128-bit memory interface and 1GB GDDR3 memory. The default clock speeds on the m11x are set to 450MHz core, 790MHz memory and 1080MHz shader. Of course, the M11X also has a second graphics card – a switchable integrated Intel 4500mhd that vastly improves your battery life when you’re not playing games. Thanks to the switchable graphics, the Alienware is on par with just about every other CULV-based laptop and offers excellent stamina for anything other than games.  Unfortunately it was released just before Nvidia launched its Optimus technology, so you’ll have to switch manually. [Update: Optimus will be integrated with the upcoming m11x refresh]

One might expect the CPU to be a bottleneck in this system, but that is apparently not the case by and large – at least not with the 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo U7300 (which can easily be overclocked to 1.73.GHz). Dell’s claim that the m11x can manage more than 6,000 points in 3DMark06 is no exaggeration.

In real-life gaming, it looks like this puny 11.6-incher is actually able to deliver playable framerates at native resolution in nearly all current games – even with the details turned up. Notebookreview tried out a handful of games; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare never dropped below 25fps, Left 4 Dead 2 performed well, only dropping below 25fps with hordes of zombies on the screen. Resident Evil 5 was no problem whatsoever, averaging 69fps and Mass Effect 2 usually stayed above 30fps with only dynamic shadows disabled, says Notebookreview. The only game that presented some problems was the CPU-intensive Shattered Horizon, where the CULV processor actually became a bottleneck.

Unfortunately most other reviews are pretty short, not stating much more than that the Alienware m11x is awesome, small, etc., but ScottSoapbox offers up some trustworthy anecdotal evidence of its real-world gaming experience; Unreal Tournament apparently runs fine at high settings (no surprises there), CoD 2 can be played at max settings including 4x AA and delivers between 50 and 90fps on the m11x. This review also mentions some noteworthy pointers on overclocking the machine. Some video of DA: Origins:

Asus has huge variety of its “Republic of Gamers” gaming laptops, but most of them are variants of the same model albeit with a different model number and (slightly) different specs.  The Asus G51jx-X3 differs in the fact that it comes with a Core i5 instead of the more powerful (and expensive) Core i7s in the G51jx models.

G51JX - Best Prices:
		$1317.99
		$1365.99

Hardware and Features

The Asus G51jx-X3 belongs is in the upper mid-range compared to other dedicated gaming notebooks, but when looking at the price/performance ratio, most laptops with this kind of hardware will set you back a lot more. The G51jx variant that we spent some quality time with was equipped with the dual-core, quad-threaded Intel Core i5 430M at 2.26GHz (2.53GHz with Turbo Boost), 4 gigabytes of 1066MHz DDR3 memory and a 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive.

The graphics are handled by a GeForce GTS 360M graphics processor with the (currently) fastest GDDR5 memory modules. This GPU fits somewhere between the mid-range and high-end mobile Nvidia cards with 96 shaders compared to 128 in the top cards. Furthermore it’s equipped with a 1920×1080 (Full HD) 15.6-inches screen, memory card reader, n-class Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Altec Lansing speakers. The screen is relatively bright with a glossy surface, and color and contrast values are also OK.

Hardware-wise, the G51Jx more than sufficient as a workstation for photo/video editing thanks to the high-resolution screen. The Core i5 430M is not a true quad-core processor like some of the mobile Core i7 CPUs, but it has the Hyperthreading feature and effectively handles four separate threads. In combination with 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM, this machine is powerful enough to handle any applications you throw at it. In PCMark Vantage it landed on 6 410 points, which is a first-rate score for a laptop at this price level.

Gaming Performance

The Asus G51Jx-X3 is a good choice for gaming enthusiasts. The Geforce GTS 360M ensures that most games trod along without a hitch even at relatively high quality settings, even if you can’t always max out the screen resolution and keep those high settings on some of the latest games.

We tested Crysis Warhead, which is still one of the most demanding games, and it averaged around 30 FPS (the usual target for a smooth playing experience) with medium settings at 1366×768. Far Cry 2 fared much better, and we were able to turn up the details as well as run at native resolution while getting framerates above 30. In 3DMark Vantage it produced a score of 4670 points, which isn’t half bad with no overclocking. On the whole, this machine delivers consistently playable framerates across the board at medium to high framerates – at least without anti-aliasing enabled.

Design and Build, Battery Life

Asus’ trademark “Republic of Gamers” design makes no secret of the fact that the G51jx was built with gamers in mind. The screen is nicely decorated in dark blue shades and a showy Asus logo. Otherwise though, the laptop looks relatively sober, with a thin glossy black frame around the backlit keyboard and matte black for the palm rest. It feels sturdy and there are no unwanted creaking noises or loose hinges.

When the laptop is idling or just performing basic tasks it’s relatively cool and quiet, but start playing games and the noise level goes up and it becomes slightly warmer almost immediately. This is of course to be expected, and the G51jx never gets disturbingly loud or extremely hot. The backlit chiclet keyboard is comfortable and the touchpad feels responsive.

You don’t expect long battery life from a gaming laptop, and the G51jx is no exception from the rule. Don’t expect to spend more than two and a half hour away from an outlet unless you turn on the battery-saver power plan and turn down display brightness.

Conclusion: Great Value

The best part of the G51jx-x3 is probably the price/performance ratio. It offers more than enough performance to replace your desktop and plays the vast majority of the latest games at relatively high settings. It sells for $1,199, which is a lot less than the Core i7 models, but you still get a high-end gaming laptop.

G51JX – Best Prices:
		$1317.99
		$1365.99

Asus G51JX-X3
		$1317.99
ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-X3 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue)
		$1700.99
ASUS G51JX-3DE Notebook PC – Core i7 i7-720QM 1.60 GHz – 15.6" – Black

]]> http://www.bestgaminglaptop.net/reviews/asus-g51jx-x3-review-core-i5/feed/ 0