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| MEDİON ERAZER X7817 |
Flippingitopenrevealsmorefaux-aluminium plastic,alongwithblue-LEDrunninglightsaroundthe speakersandtouchpadsurround.Thechiclet-style keyboardisalsoback-litinblueforthoselate-night gamingsessions,andbothitandthetrackpadfeel solidandresponsive.Thehalf-heightEnterkeyisthe onlytransgressionwhenitcomestokeylayout.
TheX7817comes‘asis’andthereforelacksthe configurationoptionsofsomeoftheotherlaptopson test.However,itpacksplentyofhigh-specification hardwareunderthehood,notleastaquad-coreCore i7-3610QMCPU.Runningatastockfrequencyof 2.3GHz,butTurboBoostingupto3.3GHz,thisHyper- Threading-equippedchiphassincebeensurpassed bytheCorei7-3630QM(whichismarginallyquicker), butremainsoneofthemostcapablelaptopsCPUs available.There’sawhopping16GBofDDR3installed too–doublethecapacityofanyotherlaptopontest, althoughitrunsataslightlyslowerfrequencyof 1,333MHz,comparedtothe1,600MHzofmostof thecompetition.
WhiletheX7817sharesthechoiceofaquad-core IntelIvyBridgeCPUwithtwoothercontenders,its GPUisverydifferentfromthe7970Mpreferred elsewhere.InsteaditfeaturesaGeForceGTX670M, fittedwith1,536MBofGDDR5memory.Thisisn’t actuallya6-seriesKeplerGPU(seep60),butinstead arebadgedFermi-basedpart,similartothedesktop GTX560Ti.Its336streamprocessorsandcore/shader frequencyof598MHz/1,196MHzmeanitstillhasmore gruntthantheGT650M,though,anditstillsupports
manyofthebetterfeaturesintroducedwiththe 6-series,suchasadaptiveV-sync
TherecipientoftheGTX670M’soutputistheX7817’s handsome17in1,920x1,080display,althoughthis hastheinevitableconsequenceofdrivingtheX7817’s weightupto4kg,makingitsecondonlytothemonster Alienware(seep62)inweight.Disappointingly,the X7817alsolacksanykindofSSDorevenahybridhard disktohelpimprovesystemresponsiveness.
Insteadit’sfittedwithapairof750GBHitachi Travelstarharddrives;whilespinningat7,200rpm, thesewillnevermatchtheperformanceofeventhe lowliestmodernSSD.Theyatleastprovideenough roomtoaccommodateevenaChristmas-sale engorgedSteamaccount,butamodernlaptopreally needstoofferatleastsomesolidstatestorageto improvesystemresponsiveness.Otherextrasare plentiful,though,withthreeUSB3ports,twoUSB2 ports,HDMIandD-Suboutputs,aneSATAport,an 8-in-1cardreaderandevenaBlu-raydrive.
PERFORMANCE
Forasub-£1,000laptopweweregenuinelysurprised bythehighqualityoftheX7817’sscreen.Itoffered comfortablythebestcolouraccuracyofanyontest, withacolourtemperaturerighton6,500Kanda contrastratioof685:1.
Gammalevelswerespotontoo,withexcellent blacklevels,althoughgrey-to-whitetoneswerealittle washedout.Whenplayinggamesorwatchingvideo,it lookedexcellent;itreallyisasplendidscreen.
Meanwhile,thequad-coreCorei7-3610QMCPU ensuredthattheX7817wasnoslouchinourMedia Benchmarkseither.Intheimageeditingtest,itwas rightinthemixwithascoreof1,442points,whileits eightthreadsmadeshortworkofourmulti-threaded videoencodingtest,producingascoreof2,740– betteredonlybytheAlienwareM17XandScanLG10 (seep70).Itsmulti-taskingscoreof1,219wasalso
verycompetitive,withanoverallscoreof1,800placing itthirdoverall.
WhileverycompetitiveinourMediaBenchmarks, however,theX7817’sGeForceGTX670MGPUletit downwhenitcameto3Dperformance.Atitsnative 1,920x1,080resolutioninTheWitcher2,itproduced anunplayableminimumframerateofonly22fps– 35percentlowerthantheScanLG10withitsHD RadeonHD7970M.InBattlefield3atthesame resolution,itparticularlydisappointedtoo,with anotherunplayableminimumframerateofjust 21fps–halfthatoftheScanLG10.TheX7817’sranking didn’timprovewhentestingat1,366x768either,with minimumframeratesof39fpsinTheWitcher2and 34fpsinBattlefield3trailingthebestontestbya significantmargin,althoughtheseresultsareat leastcomfortablyplayable.
Meanwhile,batterylifewasahefty80minuteswhen loopingtheUnigineHeavenbenchmark,butthiswas souredbytheX7817’srefusaltoenableitsGeForce GTX670Mwhenrunningonbatterypower.Instead,it switchestoIntelHD4000graphics;whengamingat 1,920x1,080,thismeansthatyoumightaswellnot botherplayingatall.Framerateswerepathetically lowincomparisontothoseproducedwhenrunningon mainspowertoo,sotherewon’tbeanysneakygaming sessionsonthetrain.
CONCLUSION
Puttingtogethertheideallaptopisatoughbalancing act.WhiletheMedionERAZERX7817deliversan excellentscreen,plentyofextrasandaverycapable quad-coreCPU,itsGTX670Mreallyshowsitsageand isoutclassedbytheHD7970M.
Addthelackofanyformofsolidstatestorageand you’releftwithalaptopthat,althoughitcertainlyisn’t withoutitsmerits,isafewcriticalcomponentsshort ofgreatness.HB
OVERAL %73
SPEED 25/40
FEATURES 25/30
VALUE 23/30
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