14 DAY TRIAL // There is a certain company in Japan that decided to offer something to the customers from its domestic market, so out came the GXT P170HBD-G580 TWIN-Drive SSR2.
This notebook has, one might say, “atypical” specifications even for those who think they know what to expect from a high-end, gaming mobile PC.
That is to say, the newcomer is powered by a strong CPU and boasts equally powerful graphics and memory capabilities, but also a less than ordinary approach to storage.
Unsurprisingly, an Intel Core i7 central processing unit acts as the heart, specifically the quad-core Core i7-2960XM Extreme Edition.
That chip is backed up by a total of 16 GB of RAM (random access memory), attained via two 8GB DDR3 modules, both working at 1,333 MHz.
Moving along, storage space is provided by a pair of Intel 520 Series SSDs (solid state drives), with capacity of 180 GB each. They are set up in RAID 0 mode.
As for graphics, FaithPC spared no expense and selected the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M, with 2GB of VRAM.
The above is more than enough to seal the status of this machine as a high-end gaming product.
With top-tier processing and graphics, the performance is completed by fast RAM and especially storage.
While an HDD or two could have provided more storage space, the speed benefits of NAND Flash memory cannot be disputed (faster boot and copy rates, etc.).
That said, the rest of the specifications are on the same level: Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and even a keyboard with heightened WASD keys (the ones most often used in games).
Finally, the 17.3-inch display supports the Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels).
Alas, this machine is in no way affordable: FaithPC sells the GXT P170HBD-G580 TWIN-Drive SSR2 for 299,800 JPY.
That sum, according to current exchange rates, translates into $3,857 and 2,908 Euro, give or take. It falls to prospective buyers to decide if they really don't want to just get a desktop instead.