We're used to gaming laptops that compromise in order to balance temperature, cost, weight and battery life, but Dino PCs latest Phoenix laptop casts aside notions of balance. It deploys two GeForce GTX 980M GPUs in SLI to deliver maximum gaming power.
Each GPU has 1,536 stream processors, a core clock of 1,038MHz and a boost speed of 1,127MHz, and each has 8GB of GDDR5 memory clocked to 5,000MHz (effective). The GTX 980M also uses the GM204 architecture - the same Maxwell hardware that underpins the desktop GTX 970 and 980 cards.
The rest of the specification is similarly impressive. The Core i7-4710MQ is a top-tier Intel processor that deploys Haswell hardware at 2.5GHz, and it's paired with 16GB|of DDR3 memory. The storage is flat-out too. Dino PC boots Windows 8.1 from a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, and it's backed up by a 1TB hard disk for data storage.
There's a downside to the Dino PC's monster specification though. The Phoenix weighs a whopping 4.6kg - twice as much as the Gigabyte P35X v3, and it's 53mm thick - again, more than twice as thick as the Gigabyte. It will take a good effort to lug this machine to a LAN party on foot, and you'll want a sturdy backpack to keep it safe.
The design is modest too. Matt material is used throughout, with few flashy extras - there's a backlit keyboard, but that's it. Its looks don't stand out, but this heavyweight machine has exceptional build quality - we'd be confident travelling to and from LAN events with it.
Meanwhile, the right-hand side serves up two USB 3 ports and an eSATA port, and the left-hand edge has four audio jacks and a card reader. The machine also has a DVD writer, while another pair of USB 3 connectors and an HDMI output sit on the rear. It has accessible internals too; the hard drive sits beneath one small panel, and removing a larger slab grants access to the memory slots, dual-band 802.11ac wireless card, spare mSATA slot and the cooling gear.
On the plus side, the Dino PC's colossal size gives it room has room for a full-size keyboard and numeric keypad, and it's a traditional unit that eschews the more modern Scrabble-tile design. The base is solid, the keys feel consistent under your fingers, and we were soon typing rapidly.
The keys feel well-made too, although they also feel soft when you press them, without the snap of a proper mechanical desktop keyboard, but that's to be expected in a laptop. Meanwhile, the touchpad is large, but we don't recommend using it for gaming - the surface has too much friction, which meant that finger swipes felt sluggish, and there are no physical, clickable buttons either.
The GTX 980M GPUs delivered ridiculous speed. In Battlefield 4, the Dino PC returned a minimum of 92fps - three times faster than most recent gaming laptops, putting it far ahead of the Gigabyte, which used one GTX 980M and didn't drop below 50fps at 1080p.
In Crysis 3, the Dino PCs 61fps minimum also trounced the 37fps scored by the Gigabyte - an incredible result, as consistently maintaining above 60fps in this game is no mean feat for a desktop, let alone a laptop.
Interestingly, the extra GPU didn't make much difference in BioShock Infinite, where the Dino PC hit minimum and average frame rates of 78fps and 133fps, while the Gigabyte managed 77fps and 102fps, although both these results are excellent anyway.
The pair of GPUs, high-end processor and 16GB of RAM also meant that the Phoenix beat rivals in application benchmarks - however, with so many laptops deploying similar hardware, the gap isn't wide. The Dino PC's overall result of 93,007 is the best we've seen from a laptop in our new benchmarks, but it isn't far ahead - the Gigabyte scored 88,611. The Dino PC has the grunt to get through the toughest software, but other laptops are similarly capable.
We expected the powerful hardware to struggle in thermal tests, but the Dino PC's hefty cooling gear, thanks to the larger chassis - and Maxwell's efficient design - helped the GPUs to cope. Their maximum temperature of 85°C is hot, but not toasty enough to throttle, and excess air was pumped from the rear without heating up the chassis.
The noise wasn't bad either. When gaming, the fans ramped up, but we've heard worse - the Dino PC will be drowned out by a headset. The biggest thermal issue came from the processor, which topped out at 97°C during stress testing. That's only a few degrees short of the point at which the Core i7 CPU will begin to throttle, so it's worth bearing in mind if you intend to push the chip for long periods of time.
Meanwhile, this machine's 17.3in screen has a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 - a setup with pros and cons. The sensible resolution means there aren't any scaling issues, but the pixel density of 137ppi isn't as impressive as some other machines - the Gigabyte's 15.6in panel had a resolution of 2,880 x 1,620 and a density of 212ppi, which means its graphics will be sharper. On the plus side, though, this laptop will run any current game at maximum settings at its native resolution, and never drop below 60fps.
The panel offers inconsistent guality too. The contrast ratio of 1,250:1 is a good start, and it's bolstered by a superb black point of just 0.26cd/m2. Those results mean deep blacks and rich colours elsewhere. The delta E of 7.11 is way behind the Gigabyte's 3.66 too, and the 7,913K colour temperature is cool. That latter figure follows through to the sRGB coverage levels - this screen displays 83.2 per cent of the sRGB gamut, with richer colours such as reds, pinks and purples falling short.
Viewing angles aren't great either, with brightness lost from side and vertical viewpoints, and the backlight is inconsistent -15 per cent of its brightness was lost along the top-right edge, and 13 per cent vanished on the left-hand side. The speakers are mixed as well. They have decent volume and thumping bass provided by a subwoofer underneath, but the top end is intrusively loud and tinny, squeezing out mid-range tones.
Of course, Dino PC's concentration on power means that battery life suffers. We ran a game benchmark with the screen at 100 per cent brightness and the Phoenix expired after just 28 minutes - a new record low for a gaming machine. Dropping the screen brightness only added a couple of minutes to this total too.
Dino PC's Phoenix is incredibly fast in games, never dropping below 60fps at its native 1080p resolution. However, it's also expensive, costing hundreds of pounds more than the lighter and more attractive Gigabyte. That money might grant you more gaming grunt, but it's at the expense of quality elsewhere. The screen quality is mixed, and the Phoenix is a hefty lump too. If raw portable gaming power is your priority then the Dino PC Phoenix is the king of the castle, but it comes with caveats, and if you're willing to sacrifice a few frame rates, you can get a lighter machine with a better-quality screen for less money elsewhere. MIKE JENNINGS
Never drops below 60fps at its native resolution, which is an incredible feat for a gaming laptop, but you sacrifice weight and screen quality in the process.
SPECIFICATIONS
CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710MQ
Memory 16GB 1,600MHz DDR3
Graphics 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5
Sound On-board
Screensize 17.3in 1,920x1,080
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD, 1TB hard disk, DVDwriter
Weight 4.6kg
Ports 4xUSB3, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, 4x audio
Dimensions (mm) 418x288x53 (WxDxH)
Operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit
Warranty Three years return to base