iBUYPOWER launches 15.6-inch Battalion 101 CZ-10 gaming laptop

iBUYPOWER may not yet be a household name when it comes to gaming laptops, but its sure doing its darnedest to take on the likes of HP, Dell, Acer and ASUS with its totally respectable Battalion 101 CZ-10. This 15.6-inch lappie arrives with a 2.66GHz T9550 Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, ATI's 512MB Radeon HD 4650 GPU, a 500GB 5400RPM hard drive, 8x dual-layer DVD burner, a 6-cell battery and a WXGA (1,366 x 768) panel. You'll also find an HDMI output, three USB 2.0 sockets, a 2 megapixel webcam, inbuilt microphone, 3-in-1 card reader and a fingerprint scanner. Best of all, the outfit throws in its accidental damage protection plan, all for the completely reasonable asking price of $1,235. It's available to order now for those who can't resist, and the full release is after the break.

iBUYPOWER Launches 15" Battalion 101 CZ-10 Premium Gaming Notebook with included Accidental Damage Protection

Battalion 101 CZ-10 Premium comes loaded with DDR3-1066 Memory, Intel Core 2 Duo, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650

El Monte, CA – May 26, 2009 – iBUYPOWER, one of the leading gaming systems manufacturers in the world, is excited to announce the new Battalion 101 CZ-10 Premium Gaming Notebook. Starting at just $1,235, the CZ-10 features the powerful Intel® Montevina Core 2 Duo Mobile Dual-Core Processor, DDR3 memory, the ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card, and a gamer friendly 15.6" WXGA widescreen LCD display with a 1366x768 resolution.

The Battalion 101 will be iBUYPOWER's first notebook to feature the company's new accidental damage protection plan, which insures all new CZ-10 Premium notebooks against damage from accidental spills or drops.

"We felt it was time to refresh our mainstream gaming notebook line," said Darren Su, Vice President of iBUYPOWER. "We are excited by the features and exceptional coverage we are able to offer with the CZ-10 Premium at a very competitive price."

The Battalion also packs a spacious 500 GB 5400rpm hard drive, 4GB of DDR3-1066 Memory, and one HDMI and four USB ports. The CZ-10 also features a built-in 2MP webcam, built in microphone, 3-in-1 card reader and finger print scanner for added security.

FULL SPECS BELOW

The Battalion 101 CZ-10 Premium Gaming Notebook starts at $1,235 MSRP and is available now exclusively at www.iBUYPOWER.com. iBUYPOWER systems come standard with 1 year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.

[jeesusfreek @ May 27th 2009 9:51AM]

it isn't ugly either

[voodoo @ May 27th 2009 9:55AM]

HD4650 is pretty mid-range, pretty good performance but not really enough to call it a 'gaming laptop'.

Would have been better off saving money with a cheaper processor (you don't need a T9550 to game) and putting the savings into a better GPU. And also, that res, just 768 pixels high, too low for a 15.6". My 12" thinkpad from about 10 years ago was 768 pixels high. Narrower of course, but is that how far we've come?

[pxw03 @ May 27th 2009 11:49AM]

Only 2GB RAM? It is low end of today's laptop. Look at BestBuy. 90% of today's laptop bedisdes less $300 all have either 3 or 4 GB of RAM

[aznofazns @ May 27th 2009 12:28PM]

I agree. They should have thrown in at least a 4670, maybe 4850, and chosen a T9400 CPU.

[lawyer bird @ May 27th 2009 4:14PM]

@pxw

This one has ddr3 ram. most laptops you see with 3 or 4gb are ddr2. 2gb of ddr3 is comparable to 4 of ddr2. For certain applications it's better to go with more volume, but gaming requires higher speed so the 2gb ddr3 is a better choice than 4gb of ddr2.

[gonintendo @ May 27th 2009 8:39PM]

the speed isn't much higher, but the latencies are. gaming requires low latencies. either way, there is really no performance benefit to ddr3 (it isn't worse either, don't get me wrong) but where it comes in handy is when you need low power consumption and low heat output (like on a laptop)

[webmastir @ May 27th 2009 9:59AM]

I hate iBuyPower. They just suck & will always suck.

[Ryan Trevisol @ May 27th 2009 10:39AM]

Dunno if I'd go that far, but I can't say I'm enthralled with any company whose name sounds like a bad eBay seller's handle.

[AVG @ May 27th 2009 10:40AM]

At least they have a cool company name. Sike.

[barry99705 @ May 27th 2009 11:19AM]

@AVG

People still say "sike"???

[THJ @ May 27th 2009 11:45AM]

I have had 2 guildies in WoW that purchased ibuypower desktops, and both had a terrible experience.

Parts knocking around the case on delivery, various components not working properly, poor build quality, screwed up raid configurations, horrible customer service, etc (this is just me repeating what I heard on vent, so I can't verify myself). Both sent their machines back and eventually got refunds, but they were very bitter about it.

Sure, the list prices are fantastic, but you get what you pay for.

[Alienicecooler @ May 27th 2009 2:45PM]

@THJ yea thats true they suck big time. they can sell anything that cheap of it put together by idiots that get paid the lowest in the industry if that will sum up why they suck. I build PC's anyone want a very nice pc hit me up on gmail ([e-mail]) type in subject line need pc build+ type (gaming rig, Home pc, and so on) I build and with what ever customizations i do i give detailed instructions in PDF format or in the old fashion paper way. IDK build gaming rigs that are not overclock capable. Whats the point in having a rig you cant push harder or configure better. If you want a good gaming rig and not buy my rigs, i suggest you buy a alienware desktop or a laptop they are highly over priced but very high on quality for the most part still. Even though mighty DELL bought them in 2006 (DAMN SHAME IN MY OPINION!!)

[kjb434 @ May 27th 2009 9:59AM]

Good luck with customer service!

I would by a desktop from these guys if it's competitive to building your own, but laptops I feel should be always purchased from a major manufacturer with a proven track record for support.

[Stork @ May 27th 2009 10:04AM]

What kind of screen resolution is that? Colour me unimpressed... Price isn't bad for the spec but I don't see how that's a 'gaming laptop'.

[g0pher @ May 27th 2009 10:09AM]

5400rpm for gaming? blergh :(

[Somatic @ May 27th 2009 10:14AM]

My thoughts exactly.

[CJ @ May 27th 2009 10:13AM]

For the price, something worth looking into I think.

Obviously you're not going to get the grunt of a high-end Asus or MSI rig, but on the other hand, you'll be able to buy another half-dozen games to go with it for the same price!

[DR House @ May 27th 2009 10:50AM]

Hardly ,The price suck specially from not that famous brand should be cheaper
HP DV7 = More Ram + Better LCD and resolution + QUAD CORE + E sata Port
Plus 1GB HD Radeon 4650 instead of the 512MB version on the Ipower

For 50$ more only, i'll take DV7 but i have it lol, and for people who was saying radeon 4650 hardly gaming laptop go check the becnchmarks its almost equal to nvidia 9800m GS (5%-7% Weaker~)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147985

[CJ @ May 27th 2009 10:20AM]

Oh, and also, I'm sad to see the Lenovo FN/CTRL key layout.

It works for everyday use, but when you use CTRL for fast-paced gaming like FPSs, it's annoying trying to find it with your pinky.

[ZaxCG2 @ May 27th 2009 10:45AM]

I feel ya. I'm always like "THE CTRL KEY DAS NAAAATHIIIIIIIING- oh wait."

[Christian Walters @ May 27th 2009 10:22AM]

Uhu, and this super duper gaming computer gets demo'ed with Halo 2? That doesnt make a whole lotta sense at all, my old Compaq from back in 2006 could play Halo 2 fairly decently.

[Jose @ May 27th 2009 10:25AM]

Too bad it isn't what I'm looking for...yet

[TareX @ May 27th 2009 10:26AM]

I am no longer looking for a gaming laptop. They are pointless, for me. I mean, who am I kidding. The most gaming I'll do would be at home, not at work. I might as well buy a much higher end and much more capable desktop with a much bigger screen + 3D vision for the same price, without fear of having it stolen...

But granted iBuyPower's laptop does look better than Sager's. But still, I heard horror stories about their Customer Service...

[seraph @ May 27th 2009 10:36AM]

@ Voodoo and Stork

1366x768 is a fairly standard 720p/1080i resolution. It's hardly uncommon in flatscreens, but I guess less so on laptops. The plus side of having it is that if you go HDMI out to your flatscreen tv you probably won't have to alter the res - unless your TV is either really cack or 1080p - at which point you could crank the res without altering the aspect ratio.

Having said that, I don't really think they've thought this through. The CPU is a bit over specced, the GPU isn't juicy enough and the HDD is too slow for gaming.

On the plus side, it might last for more than 10 mins on the battery when not gaming.

[Agent .25i @ May 27th 2009 10:37AM]

WEAK!
With the exception of the built in cam, mic, (two items I would never ever want integrated on any computer) and fingerprint scanner; this laptop is nothing compared to my 3 year old Dell XPS M170. Nothing. Albeit, I paid twice as much, but I'm sure with upgrades this guy would be close in price.

[Agent .25i @ May 27th 2009 10:48AM]

Whoops, I meant XPS M1710, not M710. Different computers.

[Kevin @ May 27th 2009 10:45AM]

Looks exactly like the toshiba l300 series.......

[Troy @ May 27th 2009 10:57AM]

I'd like one!

[troy @ May 27th 2009 11:15AM]

There is nothing wrong about iBuypower except their ugly cases. They use good motherboards. Asus. And most of their CD/DVD Drive are brand names. 2nd choice from building your own system at basically the same price.

[webmastir @ May 27th 2009 12:27PM]

You poor thing. You have no clue about them do you? Hell, just give their ..lol what's that word "customer support" (or lack there of) a call & see if they answer.

[Nihil @ May 27th 2009 3:17PM]

... and the fact that apparently they have no idea how to actually optimize a system, and have never heard the word "bottleneck". Seriously, shelling out for a T9950 makes absolutely zero sense without first putting a few dollars into 2-4 extra gigs of RAM and +1800 RPM to the hard drive. Or, even better, an SSD - we'd be going into luxury range with the price, but that's the kind of thing that makes the difference between a "gaming laptop" and a "regular laptop with discrete graphics".

It reminds me a bit of those computers you used to find (and probably still do) at shopping malls, proudly vaunting their latest Intel Pentium XVI 1337 MHz with Buzzword® Technology to impress the laymen, while sporting 32 MB of RAM and SiS graphics.

[ScottG13 @ May 27th 2009 11:29AM]

Is this product in anyway better for gaming than this?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172511&type=product&id=1218043606827

[sotec_productions @ May 27th 2009 1:06PM]

Yes. It wins because it's not a Gateway.

Yes, I'm still jaded because the first computer I ever bought was from Gateway (P3 300mhz, etc) (top of the line at the time I might add coming in at a very reasonable $3,500+shipping) and it was an effing piece of junk. I've come into contact with several Gateways since, and they have all been complete junk. Mine crashed the second day when I installed Roadrash. From then on it was junk, albeit I was new to computers and probably contributed to it. Hardware failures though? Not my doing.

They will never get my business again.
I build my own computers now. I don't buy pre-builts.

[Otis11 @ Jun 5th 2009 11:55AM]

No one noticed that a core 2 duo doesn't have a memory controller for ddr3? It'll treat it just like ddr2...
(Unless something has changed in the core 2 archatecture that I'm not aware of...)

[JT @ May 28th 2009 12:07AM]

errr why are they reporting this? This Compal KHLB2 rebrand has been around for at least a couple of weeks now. Announced a while ago.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2098-custom-laptop-built-compal-khlb2-p-2581.html

[samad.ghaffar @ Jul 10th 2009 9:49PM]

[samad.ghaffar @ Jul 10th 2009 10:34PM]

maybe they r good for working pc