Top 5 gaming notebooks

By Darius Chang on 25 May 2007

A samurai might have carried a sword in the past, but the modern virtual warrior whips out one of these top-end portables instead.

Let's get this straight. Having a top-end graphics card (GPU) is only one part of the gaming equation. Until DirectX 10 gaming platforms start becoming commonplace, the GPU essentially handles only the eye candy of your favourite titles, while the processing performance of the machine does the actual physics calculation that makes your game oh so realistic.

Gaming notebooks

But this begs a question. Why on earth would someone want to spend several grand on a portable gaming machine when, for significantly less, one could get a cutting-edge desktop with twice the performance power? Though online gaming is becoming more popular -- making LAN parties somewhat of a relic -- there are really few things in life more satisfying than seeing your opponent's face after killing his alter ego with an impossible headshot. A samurai might have carried a sword in the past, but the modern virtual warrior whips out one of these top-end portables instead.

Performance
Based on the punishing 3DMark06 benchmark, the following chart compared gaming performance between the various systems.

3DMark 06
(Longer bars indicate better performance.)

Dell XPS M1710 (Blu-ray) (Full Review, Specs, Images, Video, Where to Buy)

A solid all-round multimedia notebook with the grunt to back up its price tag, those expecting something light and cheap should look elsewhere.

Topics: asus, dell, gaming, laptops, sony, toshiba, notebooks, roundup, top end, game

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Comments (11)

  • Axeman commented on 03/09/2009 18:22 Report abuse

    you can buy a 15inch alien ware maxed out to perfection (latest parts etc) for $5500
    Best laptop for gaming

  • Axeman commented on 03/09/2009 18:21 Report abuse

    BTW the alien ware starts at just about $1000 so you can upgrade it to your $2000 budget

  • Axeman commented on 03/09/2009 18:20 Report abuse

    you can buy a 15inch alien ware maxed out to perfection (latest parts etc) for $5500
    Best laptop for gaming

  • derka commented on 25/05/2009 13:52 Report abuse

    hi all im chasing good gaming laptop around 2000 dollar mark any ideas pls

  • Nil commented on 24/04/2009 18:19 Report abuse

    by toshiba i mean toshiba Quosimo

  • Nil commented on 24/04/2009 18:19 Report abuse

    Asus G71v and Toshiba are the best hardcore gaming laptops out there..

  • M95 commented on 03/06/2008 08:21 Report abuse

    ASUS has the new G1 out now with the 9500M 512MB Graphics. Configured with VRAM this Intel Core 2 Duo Processor stock with 4GB or RAM will run circles around most if not all gaming laptops. That is after your dis-ingage all the Windows Vista red flags....

  • Disappointed commented on 23/08/2007 10:52 Report abuse

    All these are old news!!! Any new ones!!

  • eecan commented on 20/08/2007 10:17 Report abuse

    Because the XPS is better :P

    Alienware is way too expensive, you pay a crap load for the brand name. You can get a better spec'd XPS for the same price.

  • jeffbeckhudd commented on 15/06/2007 02:54 Report abuse

    What about true gaming notebooks like Alienware and Rock? Why were these not tested?

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