As notebooks continue to erode desktop sales, one place where the desktop continues to reign supreme is gaming. With today's fastest graphics processors consuming triple-digit watts of power, there simply isn't a lightweight battery that could possibly hope to keep up, and nobody wants a notebook the size of a desktop.
Small desktop enclosures have emerged for those gamers who require a modicum of portability, but with desktop peripherals adding to the load, not even these are small and light enough for everyone. Fortunately, desktop-replacement notebooks have offered upper-end graphics processors for several years, requiring only a small sacrifice in performance to achieve significant gains in portability.
Mobility is always a matter of personal perspective, and you're not likely to see business travelers or students lugging around a huge notebook to business meetings or classes. Yet many of today's desktop-replacement gaming notebooks have gone on a diet, giving up some weight and thickness while losing nothing in screen size or capabilities.
But how do these perform? We tracked down the latest 17" middleweight gaming notebooks from Alienware and Eurocom to find out.
| Manufacturer |
Alienware |
Eurocom |
| Model |
Area-51 m9750 |
M570RU |
| Dimensions & Weight |
| Width x Height x Depth |
15.5" x 2" x 11.5"
39.37 cm x 5.08 cm x 27.94 cm |
15.5" x 2" x 11"
39.37 cm x 5.08 cm x 29.21 cm |
| Unit & Battery |
9 lb 8 oz / 4309 g |
9 lb / 4082 g |
| Charger and Power Cord |
2 lb 4 oz / 1021 g |
2 lb / 907 g |
| Total |
11 lb 12 oz / 5330 g |
11 lb / 4989 g |
| AC Adapter & Battery |
| Battery I Capacity |
Li-Ion 14.8 V, 6450 mAh |
Li-Ion 14.8 V, 4400 mAh |
| Battery II Capacity |
None |
None |
| AC adapter |
180.5 W |
120 W |
| Pointing Device(s) |
Touchpad |
Touchpad |
| Display and Graphics Controller |
| Display Size |
17" |
17" |
| Display Resolution |
1920 x 1200 |
1920 x 1200 |
| Graphics controller |
nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX SLI |
nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX |
| System |
| BIOS |
AMI W8350F02 (05/03/07) |
Phoenix 5.71.22.51.09 (07/11/07) |
| CPU |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600
2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2-Cache, FSB800 |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
2.33 GHz, 4 MB L2-Cache, FSB667 |
| Memory |
2 GB (2x 1 GB) 667 MHz DDR2
CAS 5-5-5-15 |
4 GB (2x 2 GB) 800 MHz DDR2
CAS 5-5-5-15 |
| Hard Drive |
| Manufacturer & Model |
2x Seagate ST9160823AS |
Seagate ST9160823AS |
| Size |
160 GB |
160 GB |
| Performance |
(SATA / 7200.2 / 8 MB / 11ms / RAID0) |
(SATA / 7200.2 / 8 MB / 11ms) |
| Other Drives |
| Manufacturer & Model |
Optiarc DVD RW AD-5540A |
TSSTcorp CD/DVD TS-L632D |
| Type |
DVD +/- RW |
DVD +/- RW |
| Floppy Drive |
none |
None |
| Media Bay |
4-in-1 Memory Card Reader
(SD / MS / MSPRO / MMC) |
7-in-1 Memory Card Reader
(SD / MS / MMC / SM / CF / MicroDrive / MS Pro) |
| Internal Devices |
| WLAN |
Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN |
Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN |
| Wireless WAN |
none |
None |
| Bluetooth |
Yes |
Yes |
| LAN |
Marvell Yukon 88E8055 Gigabit |
Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit |
| IEEE1394/FireWire |
Ricoh RL5C832 FireWire |
VIA VT6306/6307 FireWire |
| Modem |
Agere Systems HDA Modem |
Motorola SM56 Data Fax Modem |
| Audio Chip |
Realtek ALC885 Codec |
Realtek ALC883 Codec |
| Internal Microphone |
Yes |
Yes |
| Other Devices |
|
TV Tuner (Worldwide Standards) |
Connectors
B=Back, F=Front, L=Left, R=Right |
| PS2 Mouse/Keyboard |
None |
None |
| USB 2.0 |
2x (L), 1x (B), 1x (R ) |
2x (B), 2x (R ) |
| IEEE1394/FireWire |
1x (L) |
1x (R ) |
| Serial COM Port |
None |
None |
| Parallel LPT Port |
None |
None |
| IR port |
None |
None |
| VGA / DVI out |
1x VGA, 1x DVI (B) |
0x VGA / 1x DVI (B) |
| TV out |
1xS-Video (B) |
1xS-Video (B) |
| TV in |
1xS-Video (B) |
1xCATV (R ) |
| Power Input |
1x (B) |
1x (B) |
| PCMCIA Slots |
None |
None |
| Express-Card Slots |
1x (L) |
1x (R ) |
| Network |
1x Network, 1x Modem (L) |
1x Network, 1x Modem (R ) |
| Audio Connectors |
1x Mic, Headphone, Center, Surround, S/P-DIF Optical (R) |
1x Line In, Mic, Headphone, S/P-DIF (F) |
| Card-Reader/Writer |
1x Multi Card Reader (L) |
1x Multi Card Reader (R ) |
| Fingerprint Security Sensor |
No |
Yes |
| Manufacturer's Docking Socket |
None |
None |
| Software |
| Operating system |
Windows XP Pro |
Windows Vista Ultimate |
