Extreme Gaming Laptops: When Is A Laptop Not A Laptop?

Extreme gaming laptops are reaching new benchmarks

to give you the ultimate gaming experience. These

ever increasing, powerful machines are offering you

better performances from ever decreasing packages.

Gaming laptops are now reaching standards usually

associated with high end Desktop PCs.



But at some point even the most dedicated gamer

has to ask: when is a laptop not a laptop?



If you take the literal meaning of the word, you

should be able to fit or sit a laptop comfortably

on your lap for an extended period of time.

Portability should also be another defining

feature; you should be able to easily carry

your laptop around with you wherever you go.

Otherwise, why not just buy a Desktop PC

instead of a laptop?



The long-standing argument has been power or

performance; you can get higher performance out

of a Desktop PC than you can get from any laptop.

Maybe so, but the gap is narrowing quickly.



Recent extreme gaming laptops are offering some

very impressive specs. Just take, for example,

the new Xtreme SL8 from Rock (a UK laptop

manufacturer), and you will see that stacking

has taken on a whole new meaning.



The Xtreme SL8 is one heck of a mean-machine

with ultimate raw stacking power with four Intel

Core 2 processor cores, two NVIDIA 8800M GTX SLi

graphics cards and three 7200rpm SATA hard drives.

This gaming machine can crunch numbers and offer

top mobile performance benchmarks. It might even

give the old PC some serious laptop envy!



This machine supports up to 4GB DDR2 RAM

(available up to 800MHz) with DX10 graphics.

Plus, you have all the high end features such

as HD-DVD Writer combo drive, TV Tuner, Hi-res

17" WUXGA X-Glass (1920x1200) Display, Webcam,

7.1 Surround Sound Output with 4 speakers...



However, all this stacking power and fully loaded

features takes up a lot of space. The Xtreme SL8

weighs in at a little under 12 pounds (5.3 kg)

and around 15.5 inches (394) mm by 12 inches (299 mm).

At two and a half inches thick this is not your

Apple Air.



Nor is it trying to be, but some comparisons

have to be made if we're classifying both of

these computing machines as laptops. The Apple

Air is 3 pounds (1.36 kg) and under an inch thick

(1.94 cm) so it truly is a portable laptop with

5 hours of battery life. This is a long way

removed from the XSL8's massive credentials

and massive weight, but so too is the distance

between the performances offered by the respective

laptops.



These two mobile computers were designed for

two completely different purposes, one for raw

gaming power and the other for the ultimate

in portability. Each has their respective

customers but can both of them be called a

laptop?



Perhaps, but the Xtreme SL8 is more or less a

neatly trimmed down packaged desktop. Not that

there is anything wrong with that as long as

you understand what you're getting when you're

buying one; you won't be sitting with this baby

on your lap for long periods or lugging it around

over long distances.



For those of us studying laptop designs (there

are such creatures in the world unfortunately)

over a long period of time, you can't help but

notice how much power and performance can now

be crammed into an ever-shrinking package. Nor

can you ignore the trend that Desktop PCs are

looking more and more like laptops, especially

the monitors.



Even the trademark Desktop Tower is getting

slimmer and more streamlined. There will probably

come a time when all the tower components will

evolve into such small compact entities, calling

it a tower will be a gross exaggeration.



One can plainly see, the Desktop PC days are

numbered, especially when you consider we have

an inherent need to make everything smaller and

more compact. Besides, why take up all that space

when you can get the same performance in a smaller

package. This is another example where big may

not necessarily be better.



The line between what is a laptop and what is a

desktop computer will continue to be blurred as

computer makers keep offering up what the consumer

wants. At some point in the not too distance future

the two products will probably converge into a light,

portable package that can be carried anywhere.

Why not just call everything a Mobile Computer

and be done with it.



But for now, gaming enthusiasts will still have

a choice when buying their ultimate gaming machine

- a Desktop PC or a laptop such as the Xtreme SL8.

However, calling the last one a laptop is still

stretching the imagination to its limits, no matter

how you define it.





....


The author runs an online Laptop Guide featuring the

latest top gaming laptops:

Gaming Laptops

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Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be

freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.