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Alienware vs Rockdirect vs Dell : Finding the Best Gaming Laptop-Part 1.



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So you want to buy a gaming laptop.

But not just any old gaming laptop, you want to buy the best gaming machine on the planet, the best gaming machine money can buy - the fastest, the most powerful, the ultimate kick-ass, take no prisoners, meanest motherboard of all gaming rigs.

Well, there's some good news for you, things have really changed in the laptop world. No doubt you are probably aware there have been some major developments in laptop construction and technology in the last year or so. Technology that puts the gaming laptop on par or near par with its main rival - the desktop PC.

Recent changes in technology have really brought gaming notebooks into the spotlight with a whole list of new Technologies: PCI Express, Sonoma Chipset, SLI, Hyper-Threading, DDR3 SDRAM, Dual Graphics, and now Dual Core laptops. Gaming notebooks are just now entering the specs and performance arena which was exclusively reserved for the bulky yet much more powerful desktop PC.

Just in case you have had your head buried in term papers and study sheets lately - hey, it happens! Here's a brief rundown of these new technologies that will give you the fastest gaming laptop:

Graphics Cards: these are the real heart of any gaming machine. They are getting faster and more powerful. We also see the use of dual graphics cards and better transmission of data with new pipelines and buses.

PCI Express: is a new standard for expansion cards that comes in different versions. Presently, we have the x16 and x1 lanes, they offer increased bandwidth. For example, x1 lane offers 500MB/sec instead of just 133MB/sec for PCI.

NVIDIA SLI: SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface, technology that lets you use a couple of GeForce 6800 graphics cards together with PCI Express X16. Basically, SLI will speed up graphics on a single monitor by deploying two graphics cards. It also lets you combine 4 GPUs in one system for the fastest graphics yet.

An alternative system would be ATI's CrossFire which is a SLI-like configuration using 'Master' and 'Slave' cards to combine two Radeon GPUs for improved and faster graphics.

Hyper-Threading: Gives processors better performance especially when combined with dual-core processors, capable of handling four software threads which will put a smile on any gamer's face.

Better RAM: DDR3 SDRAM (Double Data Rate Three Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) this new DDR memory standard will use 40% less power and run at speeds up to 800 MHz. Don't confuse this with GDDR3 (in Graphics Cards) which is a totally different technology.

Dual Core: just as the name says, you put two CPUs into a laptop for more power and faster computing. Rockdirect's Xtreme 64 was one of the world's first dual core notebooks to hit the market.

Also be on the lookout for Intel's Dual-Core Notebook Chip dubbed Yonah, it will be somewhat different in that this notebook chip will not only have two cores but these cores will share a 2MB cache which will greatly boost performance.

In most cases, keeping ahead of all these developments and improvements can be a pleasurable chore for most gamers but it can sure eat into your gaming time. And as the notebook technology evolves, the gaming laptop will get even more smaller and more powerful, offering a real alternative to the gaming desktop PC even for the most die-hard Power Junkies.

Serious gamers will also know laptop or notebook gaming technology is constantly evolving and mutating. Therefore, most gamers will only purchase a fully upgradeable open architecture notebook - they look for a laptop design which can be easily upgraded with the newest and latest technology, if at all possible.

Despite this option, as laptop gaming technology steadily improves, gamers are still left with the choice of which gaming system to buy. Just in case you have be hibernating for last five years - Hey, it happens. Here's a quick rundown of the different systems on the market ...Voodoo, Alienware, Mayhem, Vigor, Sager, ASUS, Rockdirect, M-Tech, Dell...

Despite the fancy lapels, serious gamers know that most laptops are made by the same two or three companies in Taiwan! The same components and mainframes are assembled under different brand names and marketed to the public.

Not to get too cynical, but sometimes it's the laptop with the better paint job or the better advertising that will win your purchasing dollar. Not that savvy gamers are easily fooled, perish the thought, but packaging may rule the day - performance may be the same or negligible in gaming machines with basically all the same components and specs.

Regardless of this sober reality, gamers are still left with the choice of which gaming manufacturer has tweaked these components into the best gaming laptop on the market. There are numerous gaming specialists that make high quality machines well worth your consideration but because of limited space here we will only examine three major gaming manufacturers, sometimes for entirely different reasons.

NEXT

Part 2 - Top Gaming Notebooks...
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