14 DAY TRIAL // With the rapid developments in processing and graphics technology, some people may choose to avoid buying laptops or notebooks as gaming platforms because of their low level of customization. Advanced central processing units are scheduled to come out during the following months and NVIDIA's Fermi and AMD Cypress will be released next year. With this on their mind, buyers may be more interested in acquiring gaming desktops that can more readily accommodate the upcoming technologies. However, for those enthusiasts who are interested in high-performance, mobile PCs, iBuyPower announced its latest notebook in the line of the Battalion 101.
This 17.3-inch laptop, dubbed the Battalion W870CU, has as the most notable feature the use of an Intel Core i7 processor. Among the optional CPUs are the 1.6 GHz Core i7 720QM, the 1.73 GHz i7 820QM or the 2.0 GHz i7 920XM. These central processors will have to handle 8 GB of RAM, two HDDs or SSDs for up to 1TB of storage, and a DVD or Blu-Ray drive. Video capabilities will be provided by a GeForce GTX 280 graphics card with 1GB of VRAM.
The 1,920 x 1,080 resolution will be delivered by a slim, 17.3-inch LCD display. Although this size is already reasonably large and quite suited for any gaming or video experience, another laptop with the exact same specifications has been introduced for those who want a bigger screen. This version is codenamed M980NU and has as the only differing feature an LCD display with a diagonal of 18.4 inches.
Overall, this product will be capable of rendering mostly any kind of media and will most likely meet the requirements of most of the games released so far. Still, it comes with several added perks, such as the fact that it has a fingerprint reader, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, WiFi, a 3800 mAh battery, and that it is pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium.
Both models of the laptop are available for purchase exclusively at the iBuyPower official site, at the prices of $2,114 for the W870CU and of $2,505 for the M980NU.