The new generation of uberlaptops

[Vikendios]

The advent of the Mobile 8800 GTX has created a new category of uberlaptops that can now be seriously considered as desktop replacement for finicky gamers. They are heavy 17 inches 1920 x 1200 machines with processors such as the E 7900 or X6800 and two 8800 M GTX in SLI. Battery life is a joke but not really the issue : these biggies are not really mobile, just luggable.

As I am considering ditching my present gaming rig for one of these, I would love to have feedback from early adopters. Even better if AT did a real side by side with entries from Dell, Alienware, Aviator & alia.

 

[zig3695]

what new category is this again? for as long as i can remember you could always buy a high-end laptop with virtually the same horsepower as a strong desktop.....

 

[Vikendios]

Until last month, the top GPU power in a laptop came from twin Nvidia 7950 cards which are nearly two years old as desktop hardware. In the past Nvidia took about four to six months to come out with the mobile version of their cards. But the wait for the M 8800 GTX has been nearly a year and a half. Why ? Probably because these cards are power hogs and the only way to fit their Watt appetite to battery standards was to wait for two generations of die downsizing. Plus of course sound marketing reasons : as competition had nothing to offer, Nvidia could sit pretty.

Now the Dell XPS 1730 (and other makes) with twin Go 8800 GTX has been released and there should be a quantum leap in gaming performance. Particularly with new Penryn CPU's

 

[heymrdj]

I'm waiting for HP HDX to get them..then i'll look at one when i die and collect my own insurance to afford it..

 

[mattpegher]

I have been looking at these for the past year and with the 8800 now available, I am really hyped. The advise I got on this forum was for the Sager but the Dell model isn't too much more, that is if you can hop on some group or student discounts. By not too much, I mean 500 to 1k but for a 4-5k system it puts it in the running.

Also most Sager dealers will give you extra Ram at standard aftermarket price where dell wants like 6 times more. Dell relies on the fact that many of its customers aren't too computer savy and haven't done much research.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Vikendios
Battery life is a joke

Think of the battery as a built-in UPS. When you're at a LAN party and the power goes out because of too many uber SLI overclocked kilawatt systems on one 15A house circuit, just laugh and go around melee-killing all the lagged out bodies.