Maingear EX-L 15

If you're meddlesome in a of Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPUs , for right away the options are paltry to a handful of comparatively high-end gaming and multimedia machines. That's since usually the quad-core Core i7 versions of the new processors are existing now, nonetheless that should change by early June, when mainstream dual-core tools will inundate the marketplace and rapidly turn the new standard.

The Maingear EX-L15 differs from many of the Ivy Bridge systems we've seen to date in that it's a midsize 15-inch laptop, rsther than than a 17-inch desktop replacement. But, different the 14-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 , this network has scarcely all the features you'd design from a high-end desktop deputy -- a really high-end GPU, and a full 1080p manifestation -- just in a somewhat not as big and lighter package.

At $2,349 for our examination setup (versus $1,079 is to Lenovo), this is just as costly as an Alienware or Origin laptop , but at least has similar components. I'm reduction vehement about the broad laptop body -- it's a bombard from a firm declared Clevo, used as a bottom model by a few Personal Computer brands (and the same brand Origin uses). For these prices, it's not the many high-end look around.

That said, Maingear has a well-deserved repute for office building high-end, rarely customized gaming machines, and this model delivers splendid opening in a unstable package.

Like Origin and other boutique Personal Computer makers, Maingear uses somewhat customized off-the-shelf laptop bodies, whilst giving its desktop systems a more unmatched look. The Clevo body here is matte black slab, with a somewhat slim lid. The back row on the lid is custom, with a pointed Maingear trademark etched in to it, and there's a second trademark printed over the orator grille, that sits just on top of the keyboard.

It's not an unappealing body, but it's as broad as possible, and it's a look that's a few years out of date. With the stream direction toward thinner designs done from reward materials, this of course doesn't look similar to a $2,000-plus laptop. It does, however, aesthetically beat the also-outdated stream Alienware look of a big cosmetic box with light-up grilles and dorm-room-chic sensibility.

The set of keys features keenly full flat-topped keys, a look rarely seen any more -- many new laptops have at large spaced island-style keys. The set of keys is shifted to the left to make room for a number pad. It's a plan found on many 15-inch laptops, but in this specific case, we found it a small as well far off-center, and it done for error-prone typing.

Another complaint: the front mouth of the framework has a really pointy edge, that may be uneasy if you rest your palms against it. On the in addition to side, the set of keys is backlit, that is really willing to help for late-night gaming sessions.

The hold desk pad is built right in to the wrist rest. It's somewhat depressed, but lacks any special covering or surface, and it's small for a 15-inch reward laptop. You could dispute that this isn't a complaint since any major gaming laptop would need the use of a well-defined mouse, but still, it's yet other non-premium feature. Maingear is at the forgiveness of Clevo (or anyplace else the firm could source laptop bodies from) in this area.

The 15.6-inch manifestation is a network highlight, with a local fortitude of 1,920x1,080 pixels. That's what high-end gamers want, and it's moreover best for Blu-ray or other HD video sources. The manifestation is coherent and bright, even with its (very welcome) matte coating. A higher-quality 95 percent NTSC shade range choice is moreover existing for $99, similar to the IPS displays found on some high-end laptops meant for print and video work.

The branded Onkyo speakers, that add a subwoofer, were louder and deeper than you find on many 15-inch laptops to be sure, but you'll never obtain really thumping sound without bigger speakers to pull more air.

Kudos to Maingear for creation certain this network is full with ports and connections. There are 3 video outputs, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort (oddly no VGA), and 4 visual in/out jacks in total. Even more specialized connectors such as Mini FireWire and eSATA are included. A really splendid package on the whole in this area.

This setup clocks in at $2,349, and includes GPU and CPU upgrades from the $1,499 bottom model. The bottom gets you a second-gen Core i5-2520M CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GT 670M GPU. Neither is shabby, but it would make clarity to go with a third-gen Intel Core i-series CPU at least. Hard-drive options are numerous, and add typical platter drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), and hybrid drives that mix both (our examination model had a 750GB hard disk with a hybrid 32GB SSD cache). The many costly storage choice -- a whopping 600GB SSD -- adds $1,288 to the bottom price.

With the high-end hardware in this examination unit, it done rapid work of our benchmarks, swapping the lead location with other high-end Ivy Bridge laptop, the Origin EON17-S . This is flattering ample as swift and absolute as laptops obtain right now. As the next set of third-gen Intel CPUs that obtain expelled will be the slower, mainstream dual-core versions, you shouldn't look for these figures to be trumped anytime soon.

The Nvidia GeForce GT 675M is a of Nvidia's new flagship Mobile GPUs. In our Street Fighter IV test, at full 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution, the diversion ran at an splendid 162.4 frames per second, violence the new Asus G75VW , but descending well at the back the Origin EON17-S (which overclocks its parts). In the really difficult Metro 2033 test, at the same resolution, the Maingear ran at 19.3fps. In the mint Diablo III, at full 1080p with many graphics surroundings set to high, the game's onscreen framerate tally usually hovered around 100fps.

My usually complaint was that this type of gaming power seems misused on a not as big 15-inch display. To entirely suffer Diablo III, we related the HDMI outlay to a 24-inch monitor, and updated a set of keys and mouse.