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The best gaming laptop: we review the most powerful portable computers on the market

In the battle of the beefiest, which gaming behemoth comes out on top?

Past Jan 29, 2013, 10:30am EST

Traditionally, gamers take looked to hefty, monstrous machines with stylish designs â€" though some prefer the term “ostentatious” â€" for their portable gaming needs. Even as other laptops get thinner, lighter, and sexier, gaming laptops remain bulky and incredibly powerful, making them the all-time option if you’re looking for a portable â€" well, relatively portable â€" reckoner that can handle the latest games in their total glory.

However, wanting to play games doesn’t necessarily mean you want a gaming laptop. In general, they’re non known for being paragons of portability. None have exceptional bombardment life, and all need to be tethered to an outlet to game for any extended period of time. If you’re looking for a computer to have to work or class every day, or but want a machine that can play less taxing games like Team Fortress 2, you don’t want a gaming laptop. Merely if you want to play all the latest, most demanding games on high settings, and merely need to travel on occasion â€" perhaps to a LAN party with friends, home for the holidays, or but from your desk to your couch â€" a gaming laptop is probably a expert fit.

But deciding that you desire a gaming laptop isn’t the terminal choice â€" it’southward only the beginning. To learn more virtually the all-time gaming options on the market place, and to find out which gives you lot the highest performance for your hard-earned dollar, read on.

SLIMMER, SEXIER, SLIGHTER

Razer’southward Bract laptop is a fairly low-operation gaming machine wrapped in an impressively slim blackness aluminum chassis that looks and feels great. The well-designed, sturdy laptop weighs half dozen.vi pounds and measures just 0.88 inches thick, and the newest iteration â€" which nosotros reviewed a couple of months ago â€" has made some significant improvements since the first model. The trackpad, which is located on the right side of the keyboard in lieu of a number pad, functions well except for balmy issues with two-finger scrolling. The Switchblade UI â€" a set of 10 customizable LCD keys and an LCD screen beneath the touchpad â€" is a cool concept, but remains niggling more than a glorified set of macro buttons until more games support information technology. The cramped keyboard is shallow and occasionally unresponsive, which is bad news unless you lot program to comport a full-size USB keyboard around as a substitute. The 17.3-inch matte LCD screen and revamped speakers provide a reasonably good experience, but aught exceptional.

On the performance side, the Razer Blade actually lags behind thicker gaming laptop options. A two.2GHz Core i7-3632QM processor, 8GB of RAM, and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M with 2GB of retentivity may sound impressive, but these specs aren’t exactly the makings of a gaming powerhouse, and are disappointing in a laptop that costs $2,499. The slender car can certainly notwithstanding play games â€" you’ll be able to play Battlefield iii at 1080p on depression to medium settings and The Witcher 2, easily the nearly demanding game we tested, at 1600 x 900 with medium detail â€" simply it volition have a hard time keeping up with the newest titles on full settings. Gaming laptops aren’t hereafter-proof â€" the processor and graphics cards can’t be upgraded, and in well-nigh cases you can’t add more RAM â€" and with that in mind, you probably don’t want to start out with a machine that’s already behind the curve. The Blade also runs fairly hot when gaming, and the fans can go a bit noisy when they’re running at total capacity.

Razer's Blade doesn't quite cut information technology

The Blade has a 64GB SSD to speed up frequently-used processes, and a 500GB HDD to shop your games. In our Verge Battery Test, during which the automobile cycles through a number of popular websites and high-res images with the screen at 65 per centum brightness, the Blade lasted 3 hours and 27 minutes â€" not bad for a gaming machine, merely weak compared to most laptops. The Razer Blade is the only laptop in this roundup that doesn’t dial down its graphics performance when unplugged, which is useful for switching betwixt outlets or going very short periods without power. However, in our tests the Bract only managed nearly 20 minutes of Battlefield 3 before alarm usa the bombardment was running low, and then even though you can play games without existence plugged in, you won’t exist doing information technology for long.

The Verdict

The Razer Blade is a beautifully designed, durable laptop that’s surprisingly sparse for a gaming machine. It’s much more portable than the vast bulk of gaming laptops, just its poor battery life essentially negates the Blade’due south reward as the only laptop in this roundup that doesn’t throttle when unplugged. As well, its performance flounders in comparison to other gaming machines: we’d expect a $ii,500 gaming laptop to be able to play virtually all of the latest games on full settings, only instead, Razer sacrificed performance for size and slapped on a pretty huge price tag. Ultimately, unless you’re absolutely in love with Razer’due south aesthetic and the Blade’south thinness, any other automobile in this roundup is a better option.

As tested: $2,499.99

6.8 / 10

Lenovo Ideapad Y580

Lenovo Ideapad Y580

	Battery Life
Lenovo Ideapad Y580	four:45
MSI GT70	iv:fourteen
Alienware M17x	4:12
Razer Blade (late 2012)	three:27
AVADirect Clevo P170EM	3:05
Samsung Series vii Gamer	two:32
Asus G75VW	2:15
Qosmio X870	ane:eighteen

The Razer Bract's one-half-toll rival

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y580’south dark, brushed aluminum lid and palmrest make for a surprisingly athwart and attractive laptop that isn’t as ostentatious equally almost gaming rigs. Though it’due south not equally solid as the durable Razer Blade, the Y580 certainly doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap. It weighs half-dozen.2 pounds â€" almost half a pound less than the Blade â€" but is nearly twice equally thick at ane.4 inches.

The backlit keyboard, which uses Lenovo'south typical cupped keys, is responsive and makes a satisfying click-ballyhoo when typing. The 15-inch machine has a number pad and full-size arrow keys, just the keyboard is a little cramped and the right Shift key is merely half equally long as usual â€" it’s quite frustrating at showtime, but I got used to information technology after a total day’s use. The Y580’s palmrest doesn’t taper, which leaves a pretty vicious edge that really dug into my wrists later on a few minutes of gameplay or regular computer use.

The unabridged touchpad dips a little when pressure is applied and information technology reverberates oddly on tap-to-click, but it’s smooth, responsive, and works well for most gestures. Notwithstanding, the palm rejection software prevents the trackpad from working at the same time every bit the keyboard â€" for example, I couldn’t hold downwards the Westward key to run and utilise the trackpad to turn my camera simultaneously. The majority of gamers volition be using a mouse most of the time, but you can take the annoying footstep of disabling palm rejection for the few situations in which trackpad gaming is the merely pick. Aside from some horrendous glare in direct sunlight, the 15.6-inch screen is sharp and bright, and is mostly pleasant to look at. The Y580’s JBL speakers made my Mord Fustang playlist sound great, pumping out deep lows and clear highs.

	Razer Blade (late 2012)	Lenovo Ideapad Y580
Max Payne 3	1080p, loftier	1080p, very high
Borderlands ii	Due north/A	1080p, loftier
Battlefield three	1080p, depression to medium	1080p, medium
The Witcher 2	1600 10 900, medium	1600 x 900, medium

The IdeaPad Y580’due south hardware configuration is near identical to that of the Razer Bract â€" which is impressive, considering that at $ane,299 information technology'south only nigh one-half the price â€" with the exception of a slightly more powerful 2.4GHz Intel Cadre i7-3630QM processor and a smaller (16GB) solid state drive. (The Y580 also has a 1TB HDD to cover your other storage needs.) As a result, both machines are roughly equal in gaming performance, with a slight border to the Y580. The Lenovo runs Borderlands 2 at 1080p on high settings and can play Battlefield iii at 1080p on medium; it can also handle The Witcher two on medium at 1600 x 900, but struggled with the demanding game at 1080p, averaging simply 28fps on depression settings. The Y580’s fans ramp upwardly during heavy gaming, and the machine gets uncomfortably warm in the middle of the keyboard â€" correct under the WASD keys.

Thanks to the 16GB SSD, the machine boots in 23 seconds and wakes in ii, and volition likely be even faster on Windows 8. The laptop lasted for a respectable 4 hours and 45 minutes during the Verge Battery Test, outstripping the other machines in this roundup by about half an hour. You’ll need to remain tethered to an outlet in order to play most games, though, since the Y580 throttles its graphics performance when running on bombardment.

The Verdict

If you’re in the market for an affordable laptop that tin can double as a daily driver and a gaming PC, the Y580 is probably your best bet. But it isn’t without flaws: it’s non going to run every game at full settings, and the palmrest can get extremely uncomfortable for both ordinary browsing and long gaming sessions. However, it’s the lightest of the bunch, has the all-time battery life, and is also the least expensive. When compared with the Razer Blade, the Y580 isn’t quite as good-looking or durable, has a smaller screen, and doesn’t have the Blade’s customizable LCD touchpad. However, with a amend keyboard and similar â€" if not slightly ameliorate â€" performance for about half the price, Lenovo’due south offering is a well-made machine that’s definitely gaming-capable.

as tested: $1,299

6.8 / 10

More Majority, More BRAWN

Toshiba Qosmio X870

Toshiba Qosmio X870

Laptops in Toshiba’due south Qosmio line have e'er had unique (and occasionally downright ugly) designs. The 7.five-pound X870 model, notwithstanding, is eccentric rather than hideous â€" the chassis is nighttime greyness with metallic red accents, and is covered in an unusual scaley pattern. While it may non look terrible, the X870 is made of a sparse, brittle material that feels like cheap plastic and the whole motorcar seems fragile, peculiarly the flimsy lid and screen.

The palmrest and trackpad are covered in the same scaly texture that adorns the outside of the hat, and while the roughness didn’t crusade any problems with scrolling or moving the cursor, it feels pretty strange. The blood-red-backlit keyboard is responsive, if a niggling shallow, just just has half-size arrow keys â€" a pretty huge oversight on a laptop designed for gaming. Aside from a faint yellowish tint, in that location weren’t any issues with the 17.3-inch, 1920 ten 1080 resolution LCD screen. However, the X870’s Harman / Kardon speakers are really the star of the show. They can get loud enough to wake the neighbors, without sacrificing impressive audio that ranges from deep bass to crisp, clear highs. If I could recommend a gaming laptop on speakers alone, information technology would be this ane.

The X870 comes loaded with software from Toshiba â€" Norton Antivirus, Toshiba Online Backup, Toshiba Sleep Utility, and Toshiba HDD Protection â€" and the number of popups borders on infuriating. Luckily, almost of these notifications can be turned off. For case, the overly sensitive Toshiba HDD Protection â€" intended to protect your data in the event of a fall past momentarily locking the hard drive when information technology detects vibration â€" can exist reconfigured or close off entirely. The corporeality of bloatware makes the reckoner a little slower than it should be out of the box, a problem that could be completely remedied with a fresh install of Windows â€" though that’south not a step that many are willing (or should be forced) to take. The keyboard shortcuts for muting the speakers and disabling the trackpad have a few seconds of delay betwixt pressing them and anything really happening, which could land you in a few awkward situations if you’re counting on an instant mute.

I tested the configuration with a 2.three GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM processor, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 graphics processor with 3GB of defended memory. The combination performs admirably, running Borderlands ii on high settings at 1080p and Battleground 3 on medium settings at the same resolution. At 1920 x 1080 with very high settings, Max Payne 3 â€" which isn't terribly demanding until a number of special effects are enabled â€"plays well. At the aforementioned resolution, the detailed, very beautiful, and exceptionally taxing opening of The Witcher 2 runs at an average of 34 fps on low settings.

Though the fans don’t go too loud, they did cause a pretty serious consequence â€" after half an hour of heavy gaming, I discovered that the motorcar vents all its oestrus out the right side, directly onto my mouse hand. I took frequent breaks to cool off, but later on about an hour my hand was a mottled scarlet â€" the beginnings of toasted skin syndrome â€" and I had to stop altogether. Near laptops vent excess heat out the left, back, or underside for good reason, and the Toshiba’s scorching estrus problem is a real dealbreaker for right-handed gamers.

Too hot to handle, literally

This particular configuration doesn’t have a solid country bulldoze â€" which may contribute to the machine’southward painfully long 56-2d kicking fourth dimension and overall sluggishness â€" merely Toshiba offers other models with 128GB or 256GB SSDs depending on your needs. The X870 as well has the worst battery life of the lot, making it just 1 hour and eighteen minutes into the Verge Battery exam before dying altogether. Battery life isn’t necessarily a deciding point for gamers who will spend most of their time rooted to an outlet, but it is worth nothing that this machine won’t even make information technology through an average higher class.

The Verdict

The amazing Harman / Kardon speakers actually make the X870 stand up out, simply the residuum of the hardware falls far short of expectations. Although it’s the lightest auto in this tier of the roundup, it feels inexpensive and brittle rather than well-fabricated and sturdy. In addition, the X870’s heating problems brand it uncomfortable and potentially dangerous to game for any extended period of fourth dimension. Even though the machine’s gaming operation is generally solid, these problems combined with the computer’s general languor â€" due to bloatware or the lack of an SSD â€" mean that the Qosmio X870 isn’t the best machine for your hard-earned dollar.

Equally tested: $one,899.99

5.5 / 10

Asus G75VW

Asus G75VW

The Asus G75VW gaming laptop’south wedge design is elegant â€" I liked it so much I bought the G74SX model, and the newer one's even better â€" measuring slightly less than an inch at the forepart and about two inches at its thickest point. The plastic lid is coated with a black soft impact rubber, and silver accents along the sides make the computer appear far slimmer than information technology actually is. But at viii.vii pounds it’s hefty, and it won’t fit into well-nigh bags â€" non fifty-fifty those designed to hold 17-inch laptops â€" because of the large vents that stick out at the back.

The G75VW feels similar a solid, well-fabricated auto, though the chapeau and the screen’s bezel are a niggling bendable and creaky. The palmrest is also coated in black soft bear on plastic, merely unlike the chapeau it has a foreign, velvety texture. It felt weird at commencement, but was actually useful in keeping my arm from sticking to it during long gaming sessions. The trackpad works well â€" gestures are smooth and the independent buttons requite a satisfyingly solid click without being loud. The keyboard is decent, if a little shallow. Many keyboards take raised notches to point the F and J keys for bear upon typing, and Asus has likewise added a small raised dot to the W fundamental to help yous keep your identify while gaming. While it’southward a useful idea, the dot left a mildly uncomfortable dent in the centre of my finger after belongings the cardinal down.

	Toshiba Qosmio X870	Asus G75VW
Max Payne 3	1080p, very high	1080p, very high
Borderlands two	1080p, high	1080p, high
Battlefield 3	1080p, medium	1080p, medium
The Witcher 2	1080p, low	1080p, low

The 17.three-inch laptop has a matte 1080p backlit LED brandish with almost no glare, only the panel is a little dim, making whites appear slightly grey and blacks a piffling done out. The screen as well has a noticeable pixel grid, and the limited range of vertical viewing angles means that at that place isn’t much room to tilt the screen up and down earlier colors invert. In addition to the mediocre display, the speaker bar above the keyboard produces tinny, compressed sound. While the problem is somewhat relieved past the subwoofer beneath the left side of the palm rest, music still sounded lopsided and echoed oddly whether the calculator was on a table or in my lap.

Laptop or fighter jet?

The model we tested has the same GPU, processor, and RAM as the Toshiba, and equally a effect, operation was even to within a frame or ii across every game we tested. The G75VW, however, is stiff where the Toshiba is weakest. Rather than getting warm underneath the keyboard, palmrest, or venting estrus out the lesser, Asus’ gaming machine vents most of its heat out the back on the right side, so the number pad is the only section of the keyboard to warm upwardly fifty-fifty a trivial. The laptop’s battery life isn’t spectacular, lasting ii hours and fifteen minutes into the Verge Bombardment test. For non-gaming utilise, this item configuration of the G75VW contains an impressive 256GB SSD â€" the largest in this roundup. Considering the Asus was running Windows 8 in our test, information technology had considerably faster kicking and wake times â€" clocking in at 11.5 and 1.four seconds, respectively â€" only many of the other machines in the roundup may meet like operation on the newest version of Microsoft’s operating arrangement.

The Verdict

The Asus G75VW is identical to Toshiba’due south Qosmio X870 in both performance and price, but with nigh an hour of actress bombardment life, a fairly large SSD, and a cooling system that’south far superior. However, the display is mediocre at all-time and its speakers are certainly inferior to the Toshiba’s great sound system â€" both unfortunate failings for an entertainment-focused laptop. While it’south certainly not the best machine in this price bracket, the G75VW is yet a sturdy, attractive gaming machine that can definitely push out some impressive operation.

as tested: $1,899

7.0 / ten

As nosotros pointed out in our review, the MSI GT70 is not a very stylish machine. While the design may entreatment to some, the clunky, athwart aesthetic swallows the laptop, making it seem even larger than it actually is, and the big bezel around the 17.3-inch screen is overbearing. The 8.six-pound automobile is imperceptibly lighter and a shade thicker than the wedge-shaped Asus at its largest point, but seems considerably larger because of its bulky chassis.

The chiclet keyboard, designed past Steelseries, is responsive and has fully customizable LED backlighting â€" who doesn’t love a calorie-free show? The Windows key is on the right side of the spacebar, and although it’due south initially jarring, it'southward squeamish to non have to worry about getting kicked out of a full-screen game for accidentally opening the Beginning menu instead of pressing a nearby cardinal. The trackpad’s performance is also solid and responsive, in case you don't take or don't need a real mouse. Sitting above the keyboard on the correct and left sides, the speakers work well in tandem with the subwoofer on the underside of the computer. However, the screen is a disappointment, with muddy blacks, desaturated colors, and poor viewing angles.

Chunky blueprint makes the GT70 seem larger than it already is

The model we reviewed runs on the aforementioned processor, GPU, and RAM every bit the Asus and Toshiba. In line with the functioning of the other machines, the GT70 tin render Battlefield three'southward detailed war zones and gritty firefights at 33 frames per second on loftier settings at 1080p, and plays The Witcher two on depression settings at the aforementioned resolution. This specific configuration is no longer available, only MSI too offers some other model with a more than powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M and 4GB of dedicated graphics memory for $600 more, and we’ll update this guide equally soon as we’ve tested it. The GT70’south fans go along the machine cool, but they're quite loud while doing so.

Battery life is quite impressive for this type of automobile, clocking four hours and xiv minutes on our Verge Battery examination â€" though like most every other car in this roundup, information technology needs to be plugged in to have full reward of its dedicated graphics. This configuration includes a pair of 64GB SSDs in RAID 0 alongside a 750GB hard drive, and the GT70 boots in about 26 seconds and wakes in ane.8 seconds.

The Verdict

The GT70 is more expensive but not whatsoever ameliorate than the equivalent Asus and Toshiba options. It'due south as well even pricier than the more powerful Samsung Series 7 Gamer, which nosotros'll become to in a moment. The GT70's blueprint is bulky and awkward, and the screen leaves much to be desired. However, the battery life is impressive, rivaling the considerably less powerful Lenovo IdeaPad Y580, and you can customize the backlit keyboard to your heart’s content. Ultimately though, y'all can go a meliorate gaming machine for less from other manufacturers.

Every bit tested: $ane,999

seven.0 / ten

Samsung'south Series 7 Gamer has the best bang for your buck

Samsung’southward Series 7 Gamer has an understated silver and black design, and provided you consign the viii.4-pound behemoth to a table to avoid its burdensome girth, this auto more makes up for its bulk.

Despite being a little reflective in straight sunlight, the 17.3-inch screen is sleeky, crisp, and brilliant. The speakers sound a trivial distant at lower volumes â€" which isn’t dandy for quiet movies with difficult-to-grab dialogue â€" but they can pull their weight in one case turned up. Carmine rings effectually the volume and power buttons light upward and pulse in time with music and other audio, an effect which you can read more about in our full review of the Series 7 Gamer. The deep, responsive keyboard is the best I tested, and is a true joy to blazon on. The rounded keys are soft without feeling mushy, and overall it feels more like a dedicated keyboard than a laptop’south. The trackpad is shine and snappy, and gestures work well without delay.

Using an Intel Cadre i7-3610QM processor, 16GB of RAM, and Nvidia’south GeForce GTX 675M with 2GB of dedicated graphics retentivity, Samsung's offering is capable of very strong gaming operation. Dissimilar the other laptops in this cost range, the Gamer can manage Battlefield 3 at 1080p on ultra settings at 29fps â€" only can also play the game at a solid 40fps on high settings. At 1920 x 1080, Borderlands 2 runs smoothly on full settings with particle-heavy PhysX effects on loftier, and the machine tin can handle the grueling The Witcher 2 at 1080p on medium settings.

	MSI GT70	Samsung Series 7 Gamer
Max Payne iii	1080p, very high	1080p, very high
Borderlands 2	N/A	1080p, high + PhysX
Battleground iii	1080p, medium	1080p, high
The Witcher 2	1080p, low	1080p, medium

The Series vii Gamer solidly outperforms the other laptops in this tier of the roundup, and costs $1,899 â€" the same equally the Asus and Toshiba, and less than the MSI model. Information technology is almost a pound heavier than its competitors, only it’southward worth the weight for the spring in performance. During intense gaming, the Gamer got a little warm in my lap and under the WASD keys, only not enough to be a significant issue. Information technology lasted for ii hours and 32 minutes in our Verge Battery test, but slightly longer than Asus’ G75VW just still far from impressive. Samsung coupled the Gamer’southward dual 750GB hard drives with an 8GB SanDisk integrated solid state drive, and the machine boots in nearly 26 seconds and wakes from sleep in well-nigh four.

The Verdict

The Series 7 Gamer is flashy without beingness gaudy, its keyboard is admittedly fantastic, and information technology solidly outperforms the other gaming laptops in this cost range. Although it’s certainly on the heavy side, gaming laptops are more often than not a far cry from portable anyway. The Gamer is a high-functioning machine that looks and feels great, is comparatively cheap, and hands carries our recommendation for the mid-performance range.

Every bit tested: $1,899.99

7.3 / x

HIGH PERFORMANCE, Loftier PRICE

Alienware’due south signature conflicting-stamped artful is oft-criticized equally garish, only the M17x’s black exterior and customizable lights hateful that the motorcar is really only every bit flashy as you cull to make it. The sturdy, tank-like M17x is the heaviest laptop in our roundup at x.6 pounds, and isn’t exactly lap-friendly. Alienware’s impressive array of lighting options â€" customizable backlighting, electronic mail notifications, and lighting setups that answer to in-game events â€" take always been a draw for gamers, and you tin can read our full review for more details. The keyboard is a picayune cramped, but very responsive, and the touchpad works without issue. Bated from existence overly reflective, the 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution brandish has bright colors and deep blacks. Without a subwoofer, the M17x’s audio is a piffling light on bass, only the speakers all the same deliver crisp sound without distorting the audio.

Lights, lights, and more lights

The M17x has a number of configuration options, but the model we reviewed includes a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-3720QM processor, 8GB of RAM, and a powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M graphics processor. True to its loftier-end reputation, the M17x runs Battlefield iii at 1080p on Ultra settings at a smooth 44fps, plays The Witcher 2 at 45fps on Ultra without Ubersampling, and was able to handle any other game we threw at it with ataraxy. The fans are a petty loud during heavy gaming, and the metal plates on the underside of the laptop can get pretty toasty â€" yet some other reason to keep the car off your lap.

For non-gaming situations, the battery life falls merely behind the MSI GT70, lasting 4 hours and 12 minutes in our Verge Bombardment Examination. The configuration we tested resumes from slumber in 1.eight seconds and boots in about 26 seconds. The M17x's 32GB SSD contributes to the boot speed, and the machine also includes a 500GB hard bulldoze for storage purposes. Of course, Alienware likewise has more than storage options for those willing to pay.

The Verdict

Alienware offers the most powerful, well-fabricated gaming laptops on the market â€" only you lot'll pay a premium for them. If you desire a machine that isn’t likely to struggle with adjacent year’s AAA titles and are willing to pay the price, then the M17x is an extremely flexible and delightfully customizable option. If you’re looking for an even more powerful laptop and a screen bigger than 17 inches â€" though at that betoken, y'all should probably consider edifice a desktop â€" check out Alienware’s M18x, which features dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M GPUs and an xviii.4-inch screen.

As tested: $two,599

7.5 / 10

AVADirect Clevo P170EM

AVADirect Clevo P170EM

While it may lack design flair, the Clevo P170EM from AVADirect is, for the most role, a sturdy motorcar. The black metal lid does flex slightly under pressure, and I found the hat to be a piffling difficult to open up and close because of the stubborn hinges. It works, but the 1.8-inch thick chassis is blocky and clunky, and feels more than like a box made to hold the graphics carte, processor, and hard bulldoze rather than a designer product crafted to look and experience skilful for the user. Even though the Clevo is lighter than both the Alienware and the Samsung at eight.half-dozen pounds, the presence of breakable plastic anxiety on the underside of the laptop go far quite uncomfortable for lap utilize, and so you’ll probably want to continue this one on a tabular array as well.

The speaker bar is set up at an angle beneath the screen, and produces flat, compressed sound that gets actually distorted at higher volumes. The 1920 x 1080 display is bright and crisp, merely has a slightly blue tint and a adequately limited range of viewing angles â€" tilting the screen just a few centimeters upwardly or down leads to colors at top or lesser of the display inverting.

	Alienware M17x	AVADirect Clevo P170EM
Max Payne 3	N/A	1080p, very high + tesselation
Borderlands ii	North/A	1080p, high + PhysX
Battlefield 3	1080p, ultra	1080p, ultra
The Witcher ii	1080p, ultra	1080p, ultra

What the Clevo lacks in bewitchery, even so, it more than than makes up for in performance â€" this machine is a truthful workhorse, ready to give even some desktop towers a run for their money. The configuration we tested contained an Intel Cadre i7-3740QM processor, 12GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M with 4GB of dedicated graphics memory. It’s important to note that the Clevo P170EM is the most customizable of the bunch, and you can spend less or much, much more than depending on the performance you’d like to go out of the automobile.

With our configuration, Borderlands ii looks like a completely unlike game, running at about 56fps on full settings with PhysX turned all the way upward at 1080p. PhysX effects, though biased toward Nvidia graphics processors, make the environs experience even more than realistic with dynamic, tearable cloth and particle debris spawned from anything yous can shoot â€" that’s everything, by the fashion. Max Payne iii broke 100fps on very high detail, though additional eye processed took a toll on the framerate â€" even the Clevo couldn’t handle cranking up every setting without dropping to an unplayable average of 20fps. Both Battleground 3 and The Witcher ii run smoothly at 1080p on Ultra settings.

Amazing performance in a terrible packet

The machine gets a little warm under the WASD keys during heavy gaming, and got even warmer on my lap considering my legs were blocking i of the vents on the underside. Also, the fans got pretty noisy no affair what surface the computer was on, but never plenty to drown out gameplay or music. The Clevo lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes in our Verge Bombardment Examination, most an 60 minutes less than the Alienware M17x. The configuration nosotros tested used a 750GB Seagate Momentus XT difficult disk, which includes 8GB of solid state memory to speed upward oft-used processes and give the car boot and wake times of 26 and two seconds, respectively.

The Verdict

AVADirect’south Clevo is neither as well-built nor as fashionable as the Alienware M17x, and the issues with the keyboard and speakers really hinder the machine’s gaming performance. However, it'southward the near customizable of the lot, and ends up costing a few hundred dollars less than the Alienware for the aforementioned performance. If you’re specifically looking to customize a laptop in ways that Alienware doesn’t offer â€" and for a lower price â€" then this is a good option, merely it may exist better to spend the extra for Alienware’due south sturdy M17x or just build a desktop.

Every bit tested: $ii,089

6.6 / 10

Our picks

Our picks

Everyone’south looking for something unlike from a laptop, and each of the machines in this roundup accept their own strengths and weaknesses. Some users prize a practiced set of speakers above all else, and some gamers are particularly choosy virtually the keyboard they use. However, equally a whole packet, some machines will stand above the residuum. Here are our picks for each of the performance levels:

Low-tier

Lenovo Ideapad Y580

Lenovo'due south versatile Ideapad Y580 is the all-time gaming option that tin can double as a regular laptop, and it's too a great budget choice. The manufacturer kept the cost relatively low at $i,299 without making any major sacrifices, and produced a solid motorcar capable of both moderate gaming and everyday utilise.

Mid-tier

Samsung Series 7 Gamer

Samsung’s Series 7 Gamer soundly outperforms the other machines in its tier while matching (or beating) them in price. It also has a lovely keyboard, a great screen, and is a well-designed, good-looking gaming laptop across the board.

Loftier-tier

Alienware M17x

AVADirect’s Clevo P170EM is superior to Alienware’s offering in a pure toll / performance analysis, merely the machine’due south overall poor build quality brand it difficult to recommend. In this case, Alienware’s M17x is worth the the actress $500 for slightly longer battery life, a improve keyboard, and a well-built chassis.

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Source: https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/29/3909364/best-gaming-laptop-reviews

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