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NVIDIA trots out GeForce 400M series laptops, shows off StarCraft II gameplay (video)

Vlad Savov — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:14:00 EST

You might have hoped that NVIDIA's introduction of the 400M series of mobile GPUs would bring about a slew of hot new laptops to drop into our gaming boudoirs, but we are in fact left facing more of the same. Externally, anyhow. The chipmaker rolled out the green carpet for a set of upcoming machines in London today, but they were refreshes, rather than overhauls, of current hardware. The big news is to be found within, as the new GTX 460M has made a home inside the updated ASUS G53, Toshiba Qosmio X505, and MSI GT663. The common thread among these three is that they're all big and hefty, and all emit a subtle vroom sound every time you touch them. What we learned from NVIDIA today is that the GTX 480M will remain an exotic (you might even call it quixotic) GPU reserved for large-screen gaming stations, the GTX 470M will similarly be an enthusiast part, and the GTX 460M will be the company's big play for the mainstream performance market. It also became clear that even the third GPU in the company's mobile hierarchy will need quite a bulky cooling setup (and a proportionately huge charger) to do its job, but NVIDIA's promises of much-improved performance might just make it worthwhile.

As to the more sane among us, there was a selection of pleasingly thinner machines, like the ASUS N53 and Acer Aspire 5745, which make do with the lower-specced GT 420M and GT 425M graphics chips. Those are expected to be NVIDIA's biggest sellers, and the video demo after the break of the 425M churning through StarCraft II is certainly appealing. We should note, however, that the latest (though definitely not greatest) Prince of Persia game was also on tap on one of these machines and its frame rate gave us a delightful old-timey feeling any time we entered combat with its emulation of stop-motion animation. So, as ever, it's looking like great graphics will require great rigs, but we can probably expect a decent -- not game-changing (get it?) -- leap in performance among the lighter options as well.

Gallery: NVIDIA trots out GeForce 400M series laptops

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ASUS upgrades G53 and G73 gaming laptops with 1.5GB NVIDIA GTX 460 grunt

Vlad Savov — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:02:00 EST

Ready to splash the cash on NVIDIA's fresh new mobile Fermi graphics cards? ASUS is the first company to take the veils off its GTX 460M offering, which it has seasoned with a most welcome addition: 1.5GB of dedicated GDDR5 graphics memory. The ROG G53JW and G73JW machines are the beneficiaries of this upgrade, with both capable of 3D work should you ask them nicely, and offering such tasty options as quad-core Core i7 CPUs, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 750GB of storage, 16:9 displays (1,366 x 768 on the 15.6-inch G53 and up to 1,920 x 1,080 on the 17.3-inch G73), Blu-ray-writing optical drives, and 8-cell 5,200mAh batteries. The lighter of the two laptops weighs in at 3.6kg, but if that doesn't put you off, both are available right now at online retailers.

[Thanks, LifeBringer]

Continue reading ASUS upgrades G53 and G73 gaming laptops with 1.5GB NVIDIA GTX 460 grunt

ASUS upgrades G53 and G73 gaming laptops with 1.5GB NVIDIA GTX 460 grunt originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on

Darren Murph — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:52:00 EST

We already took a closer look at ASUS' minty fresh ROG G53 gaming laptop earlier in the week, but it was the outfit's 17-inch version (the G73JW, predictably) used to showcase a new partnership with SiBEAM. The aforesaid rigs are the world's first laptops to integrate SiBEAM's 60GHz WirelessHD technology, essentially doing exactly what Intel's WiDi does. For those unfamiliar with either technology, it enables the laptop to beam 1080p content directly to a receiver box (that tube you see above, which will be attached via HDMI in theory) from up to 30 meters away. Both machines are slated to be slinging HD sans cabling this Fall, though pricing for the upgraded beasts wasn't available just yet. Still, we were treated to a demonstration over at the outfit's Computex booth, and while it was dangerously close to the receiver, HD content still was streaming without a hitch. Granted, we've seen nothing but great things from other WirelessHD applications in the past, but it's still lovely to see it humming along so nicely within a full-fledged computer. Have a look yourself just past the break.

Gallery: ASUS G73JW WirelessHD laptop at Computex 2010

Continue reading ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on

ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS debuts 15.6-inch ROG G53 3D gaming laptop at Computex

Darren Murph — Mon, 31 May 2010 06:44:00 EST

Hope you're not burned out on ASUS introductions yet, 'cause they're far from over. During the outfit's Computex press conference, a new multimedia monster was unveiled in the ROG G53. ASUS didn't bother sharing too many specifications, but that didn't stop us from hunting down a placard with the deets we were craving. Whenever the company decides to ship it, it'll be available with Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 options, up to 16GB of DDR3 memory on the quad-core machines (8GB of DDR3 on the dual-core rigs), a LED-backlit "HD" display, NVIDIA "Enthusiast" graphics, room for a pair of hard drives (or an SSD / HDD combo system), an optional Blu-ray drive, USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI 1.4 port for piping those 3D signals to your 3D HDTV. Per usual, there's no mention of a price tag, but hopefully we'll be clued in sooner rather than later.

Update: Two other gaming lappies were slipped in today by ASUS: the 17.3-inch G73Jw and G51 3D, neither of which have their specs sheets in public view.

Gallery: ASUS ROG G53 at Computex 2010

ASUS debuts 15.6-inch ROG G53 3D gaming laptop at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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