Similar to desktop replacements, most gaming laptops are large, heavy and usually lack in the battery life department. There are a number of specialized brands and boutique shops that will let you customize their products with all the latest components and even tailor their looks to your taste for a nice premium. Alienware M17x / M18x R4 83 11 Reviews Alienware’s range-topping M17x was updated earlier this year with a third-gen Intel quad-core processor and the latest discrete GPUs from ATI or Nvidia, while keeping the distinctive Alienware lighting and styling. The M17x starts at $1,469 and the price ramps up quickly as you start adding options. If you’re willing to part with the cash, you can add a solid-state drive, Blu-ray and up to 32GB of RAM. There’s also an optional 3D screen for an immersive gaming experience that you can pack up and take with you. The 18-inch Alienware M18x is worth looking at if you want to go all in with dual-GPUs. Additional views:
MSI GT60 / GT70 80 21 Reviews The 15-inch GT60 and the 17.3-inch GT70 gaming laptops from MSI offer Intel Core i7-3610QM processors and Nvidia’s latest graphics cards – up to the GTX 675M right now but the Kepler GTX 680M will be available soon. The GT60 and GT70 are the first gaming notebooks to feature SteelSeries keyboards, which include multi-color backlighting that can be configured to your liking. You can customize these machines with up to 32GB of RAM and solid-state-drive RAID options, starting at $1499 for the GT60 and $1549.99 for the GT70. Additional views:
Samsung Series 7 Gamer Designed with feedback from PC gamers, the Series 7 Gamer notebook has all the ingredients required for gaming on the road, including an Ivy Bridge 2.3GHz Core i7-3610QM (four cores, eight threads), a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M graphics chip and 16GB of RAM. Although there doesn’t appear to be an optional SSD, the hard disk is supplemented with 8GB of onboard flash that uses caching technologies by Diskeeper and Samsung to boost performance. The Series 7 Gamer also has a hardware dial to switch between four settings tailored for common usage scenarios. Additional views:
Origin EON 17S Boutique PC builder Origin has updated its Eon 17 gaming notebook with the latest Intel “Ivy Bridge” processors and high end graphics from AMD and Nvidia, all crammed into a lightly-modified edition of a Clevo chassis. The base Eon 17-S model starts at just $1,560 and includes an Intel Core i5-3320M dual-core processor along 4GB of RAM and a 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M card. Although that’s nothing to write home about, if you can stretch your budget beyond $2,000, there are endless configuration options to pack all the horsepower for your gaming needs. Additional views:
Maingear Pulse 11 The Pulse 11 combines the best in small form-factor laptop design with Intel’s 3rd Generation Core processor with up to 8-thread processing, and Nvidia’s Optimus technology for portable gaming on the go. The Pulse will fill the gap left by Dell’s phased out Alienware M11x. Asus G75VW-AS71 83 With a chasis design inspired a stealth fighter, the G75VW offers uncompromising power with a third generation Intel Core i7 CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It’s 15% thinner and almost a pound lighter than the previous version G74.
title: “Techspot Laptop Buying Guide Gaming Laptops” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Steven Miller”
Similar to desktop replacements, most gaming laptops are large, heavy and usually lack in the battery life department. There are a number of specialized brands and boutique shops that will let you customize their products with all the latest components and even tailor their looks to your taste for a nice premium. Alienware M17x R3 89 12 Reviews Alienware’s range-topping M17x was updated earlier this year with a second-gen Intel quad-core processor and the latest discrete GPUs from ATI or Nvidia, while also receiving some styling tweaks to refine the overall appearance. This resulted in a slightly thinner and lighter form-factor compared to its predecessor, but it’s still massive as far as notebooks go. The M17x starts at $1,499 and the price ramps up quickly as you start adding options. If you’re willing to part with the cash, you can add a solid-state drive, up to 24GB of RAM, Blu-ray drive and Nvidia’s 3D Vision support. The M17x also has a built-in WirelessHD transmitter, which lets you beam movies, games, and anything else you want wirelessly across the room to a big-screen TV. The 18-inch Alienware M18x is also worth looking at if you are willing to go all in with dual-GPUs. Additional views:
Origin EON 17 (Clevo X7200) If you don’t mind stretching your budget to well over $2,000 for a few extra perks and top notch personalized service, there are a number of boutique PC shops waiting to take your order. Origin’s Eon 17 gaming monster is based on the Clevo X7200 platform, which uses desktop grade processors and can pack dual Radeon HD 6990M’s in CrossFireX or GeForce GTX 580M GPUs in SLI. The base model starts at $2,300 and includes an Intel Core i7 960 quad-core processor along 6GB of RAM and a single 1.5GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M card. Depending on your budget you’ll be able to upgrade up to a hexa-core (12 threads) i7 990X CPU, 24GB of triple-channel DDR3 RAM, and the aforementioned graphics options. Other than that it also has room for three hard drives or SSDs in RAID 0, 1 or 5 and its exterior can be customized with a range of colors and designs. Additional views:
Asus G74SX 82 20 Reviews Asus’ gaming powerhouse, the 17-inch G74SX-A2, is a well specced machine powered by a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 12GB of RAM, discrete Nvidia graphics with 3GB of RAM, and a 1.5TB HDD – with the option of throwing in an SSD for some added responsiveness as well as a 3D display for an immersive gaming experience. Like its predecessor, the G74SX design was inspired by sharp polygonal shapes, but this time inspiration came from the US Navy’s Sea Shadow stealth ship and modern day aircraft carriers. Other specs include a full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution display, Blu-ray drive and a decent assortment of ports, including one USB 3.0, three USB 2.0 and HDMI. The system supports 3DTV Play from Nvidia, which projects HD graphics from the notebook to any compatible 3DTV via HDMI 1.4. Additional views:
Alienware M11x and M14x 80 A gaming-capable machine that you can easily take on the go. These 11-inch or 14-inch systems combine the same ‘Stealth Black’ looks of their bigger brothers with a second-gen Intel Core processor and Nvidia graphics with Optimus technology to improve battery life. Price range: $700 - $1,100
