The good: Desktop-quality gaming performance; ample port assortment; instantly overclockable.

The bad: Generic OEM design; gigantic chassis; smallish keyboard compared with size.

The bottom line: The massive Asus W90Vp won't win any design awards, but its mobile gaming performance is tough to beat.

Read full review of the Asus W90Vp »

By Joshua Goldman
Nov 3, 2009

If you're on the fence deciding between buying a desktop gaming PC and monitor or going with a less powerful but more mobile laptop, let us introduce you to the Asus W90Vp. It isn't much to look at as gaming notebooks go. But it has everything we expect and more in the features department, including dual ATI video cards, and its processor can go from fast to faster in an instant.

Though we certainly wouldn't want to travel with this massive thing (or even move it from room to room much), it is a mobile gaming system that competes with desktop performance. However, at US$2,199, it's a hefty investment.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

While we're not much on over-the-top gaming notebook designs, the W90Vp borders on boring and doesn't hint at all at the gaming prowess of its components. The lid is just blue brushed metal, while the inside is a mix of black brushed metal and glossy black plastic.



The matte-black keyboard is also generic and looks and feels small in comparison with the rest of the system, though there is still a full number pad. The flashiest bits are the two touch-sensitive control panels--one above the keyboard, one to the left.

The left-side controls are for media playback, volume, and launching Asus' applications for music and DVD playback. The other has controls for adjusting screen brightness, muting audio, switching off the touch pad, using the 2-megapixel autofocusing Webcam atop the LCD, and changing preset performance modes: Standard, Power Save, and Overclock. A touch of the icon is all it takes to drive the Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 from its factory 2.8GHz speed up to an overclocked 3.28GHz.

Features

Other feature niceties include a button for launching quick-boot Linux environment called Express Gate to access music, photos, the Internet, IM, and email without entering Windows. Then there's room for an additional hard drive and an impressive-sounding 5.1 speaker system from Altec Lansing that's Dolby-certified, for what it's worth.



The massive 18.4-inch widescreen LCD offers a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel native resolution, which is perfect for 1080p HD content, and what we'd expect for a notebook of this caliber. Games and movies look incredible on it and it gets plenty bright for comfortable use regardless of what's onscreen.

As with most laptops this size, there are plenty of ports and connection options, and we can't find much fault with its assortment. We also appreciate Asus sticking the two video outputs, the power jack for the massive power supply, and the modem and Ethernet jacks on the back of the laptop so there are fewer cables coming from the sides--a design well-suited for a deskbound system.

Performance And Battery Life

Though our review unit is a fixed retail configuration, there is another more widely available version which features a 2.0GHz Intel Quad Core Q9000 processor, a secondary 320GB hard drive and a Blu-ray combo drive.

Using a desktop motherboard, a 7,200rpm hard drive and 6GB of memory paid off for Asus: The W90Vp outpaced all other notebooks in our processor-intensive performance tests when running in overclocked mode. However, this notebook is built for gaming and it's definitely up for the challenge. In Unreal Tournament 3, we got 143.3 frames per second from the Asus W90Vp at 1,280 x 800 in Standard mode. Setting it to Overclock mode pushed it to 161.2 frames per second. In comparison, the Gateway P7808u--our former laptop frame-rate leader--gave us 124.8fps in the same test.









The W90Vp ran for 1 hour 18 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 12-cell battery. We don't expect much battery life from a system this size--especially when it's using desktop components. Plus, our video playback battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use if you ever unplug it (which we find unlikely).



Asus W90Vp
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600; 6,144MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 512MB Dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2; 320GB Seagate 7,200rpm.

Toshiba Qosmio X300
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Core Q9000; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX; HDD No. 1: 64GB Toshiba SSD/HDD No. 2: 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm.

Gateway P7808u
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Core Q9000; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm.

Service And Support

Asus includes a two-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system and, in some regions, a one-year accidental damage warranty for protection against drops, fires, spills, and power surges. The company's support Web site has improved much over the past few years, and it includes easy-to-find driver downloads and manuals, along with a brief FAQ section.

Tags: Notebook, Toshiba Qosmio, Intel Core 2 Duo, Gateway Inc., Intel Corp.

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