Extreme gaming laptops are reaching new benchmarks
to give you the ultimate gaming experience. These
ever increasing, powerful machines are offering you
better performances from ever decreasing packages.
Gaming laptops are now reaching standards usually
associated with high end Desktop PCs.

But at some point even the most dedicated gamer
has to ask: when is a laptop not a laptop?

If you take the literal meaning of the word, you
should be able to fit or sit a laptop comfortably
on your lap for an extended period of time.
Portability should also be another defining
feature; you should be able to easily carry
your laptop around with you wherever you go.
Otherwise, why not just buy a Desktop PC
instead of a laptop?

The long-standing argument has been power or
performance; you can get higher performance out
of a Desktop PC than you can get from any laptop.
Maybe so, but the gap is narrowing quickly.

Recent extreme gaming laptops are offering some
very impressive specs. Just take, for example,
the new Xtreme SL8 from Rock (a UK laptop
manufacturer), and you will see that stacking
has taken on a whole new meaning.

The Xtreme SL8 is one heck of a mean-machine
with ultimate raw stacking power with four Intel
Core 2 processor cores, two NVIDIA 8800M GTX SLi
graphics cards and three 7200rpm SATA hard drives.
This gaming machine can crunch numbers and offer
top mobile performance benchmarks. It might even
give the old PC some serious laptop envy!

This machine supports up to 4GB DDR2 RAM
(available up to 800MHz) with DX10 graphics.
Plus, you have all the high end features such
as HD-DVD Writer combo drive, TV Tuner, Hi-res
17" WUXGA X-Glass (1920x1200) Display, Webcam,
7.1 Surround Sound Output with 4 speakers...

However, all this stacking power and fully loaded
features takes up a lot of space. The Xtreme SL8
weighs in at a little under 12 pounds (5.3 kg)
and around 15.5 inches (394) mm by 12 inches (299 mm).
At two and a half inches thick this is not your
Apple Air.

Nor is it trying to be, but some comparisons
have to be made if we're classifying both of
these computing machines as laptops. The Apple
Air is 3 pounds (1.36 kg) and under an inch thick
(1.94 cm) so it truly is a portable laptop with
5 hours of battery life. This is a long way
removed from the XSL8's massive credentials
and massive weight, but so too is the distance
between the performances offered by the respective
laptops.

These two mobile computers were designed for
two completely different purposes, one for raw
gaming power and the other for the ultimate
in portability. Each has their respective
customers but can both of them be called a
laptop?

Perhaps, but the Xtreme SL8 is more or less a
neatly trimmed down packaged desktop. Not that
there is anything wrong with that as long as
you understand what you're getting when you're
buying one; you won't be sitting with this baby
on your lap for long periods or lugging it around
over long distances.

For those of us studying laptop designs (there
are such creatures in the world unfortunately)
over a long period of time, you can't help but
notice how much power and performance can now
be crammed into an ever-shrinking package. Nor
can you ignore the trend that Desktop PCs are
looking more and more like laptops, especially
the monitors.

Even the trademark Desktop Tower is getting
slimmer and more streamlined. There will probably
come a time when all the tower components will
evolve into such small compact entities, calling
it a tower will be a gross exaggeration.

One can plainly see, the Desktop PC days are
numbered, especially when you consider we have
an inherent need to make everything smaller and
more compact. Besides, why take up all that space
when you can get the same performance in a smaller
package. This is another example where big may
not necessarily be better.

The line between what is a laptop and what is a
desktop computer will continue to be blurred as
computer makers keep offering up what the consumer
wants. At some point in the not too distance future
the two products will probably converge into a light,
portable package that can be carried anywhere.
Why not just call everything a Mobile Computer
and be done with it.

But for now, gaming enthusiasts will still have
a choice when buying their ultimate gaming machine
- a Desktop PC or a laptop such as the Xtreme SL8.
However, calling the last one a laptop is still
stretching the imagination to its limits, no matter
how you define it.


....

The author runs an online Laptop Guide featuring the
latest top gaming laptops:
Gaming Laptops
For Timely Special Savings/Deals/Coupons on Toshiba, Dell,
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Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.