14 DAY TRIAL // Since NVIDIA now has its own collection of DirectX 11-capable mobile graphics solutions, it is not a very big surprise to hear that a PC maker, AVA Direct in this case, has used them in its latest gaming notebooks.
The two new mobile computers that the company has prepared are part of the Clevo series and bear the names of B5130M and B7130.
The newcomers are predictably based on Intel's Calpella platform, the central processing units used here being either a Core i5 or a Core i7 model.
The selected CPU is backed up by a solid amount of memory, of up to 8 GB to be exact, whereas the storage capacity is just as convenient.
Apparently, customers will be able to choose between a hard disk drive of up to 500 GB or a solid state drive with an internal storage space of up to 400 GB.
Of course, the SSD option will be more expensive, although it will visibly improve system performance, particularly boot and load times.
There is also a DVD writer or a Blu-ray combo/writer, for playback of high-quality media disks and for optical storage.
As for what actually gives these machines their graphics prowess, AVA Direct threw in the NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M card, with 1 GB of memory.
This grants them DirectX 11 support while the Optimus technology makes sure that the discrete card stays inactive when it is not needed.
As such, the laptops have a decent level of energy efficiency in addition to their raw performance.
Finally, the maker of the 15-inch Clevo B5130M and 17.3-inch Clevo B7130 threw in Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a 1.3 Megapixel webcam and a card reader.
Both run the Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista or a version of Linux and sell for starting prices of $934.49 and $1055.49.