Eurocom Racer: Why the Radeon HD 6970M Rocks
by Jarred Walton on March 17, 2011 3:00 AM ESTOne of My Favorite Laptop LCDs of Recent History
If you’ve been following our laptop reviews for any length of time, you’ll know that we’re suckers for a good quality LCD. What makes a good LCD? Well, first we really need at least a 500:1 contrast ratio, and higher is always welcome. Next, we’d like good viewing angles, but we’re generally disappointed in this regard as just about everything uses TN panels (with HP’s IPS DreamColor LCDs being the rare exception). We understand some people prefer glossy LCDs because they like the increased contrast, but I think everyone here at AnandTech would prefer a good quality matte LCD to anything glossy (emphasis on good). Having a large range of brightness levels is also desirable. Finally, good color accuracy and color gamut round out our wish list; since most of us tend to work in the sRGB color space, all we really need is about 65 to 70% of AdobeRGB, but we’re okay with slightly higher gamuts (particularly if the laptop includes an option to select your target color space). So, how does the panel in the Eurocom Racer measure up to this list? Let’s see….
Clevo P150HM Gamut
The Eurocom Racer misses out on viewing angles, as it’s still a TN panel, but as the images below show it’s not quite as bad as some of the competition. The contrast and colors are good, and we’re very pleased to get all this with a matte LCD. The only other area where we’d like to see improvements is backlight intensity. 240 nits is reasonable for indoor use, but we’re prefer at least 300 if not 400 nits.
There are definitely better LCDs out there—like HP’s DreamColor panels—but this is a good and reasonably priced panel. We’re still floored that it’s actually more expensive for the glossy 1080p panel, but to each his own. I’d rate the panel overall as a competitive solution to Dell’s XPS 15 and some of the other good 1080p LCDs we’ve seen in the past six months, but for me the matte coating pushes it ahead of the competition. Now if only the bezel matched the LCD….
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5150Joker - Thursday, March 17, 2011 - link
Jarred,Some of those engineering sample 6970M's have 1120 shaders vs 960 shaders found in the retail ones. It could explain why Eurocomm may be pushing those in their X7200.
JarredWalton - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
Possibly, but the retail units won't be 1120, and they'll likely use less power and run cooler/quieter. The unit I have was 960 shaders, though, so at least that's correct.5150Joker - Thursday, March 17, 2011 - link
At the end of your article you say: "Now all we need to see is more mainstream notebooks like the ASUS G53/G73 and Alienware M15x/M17x add support for AMD’s latest tour de force."FYI: Dell/Alienware is the first OEM to offer RETAIL 6970M GPU's in their Alienware M17x-r3 notebooks. Not only that, they offer integrated graphics support (SB IGP) that switches on the fly and can last up to 4+ hours on battery. In fact I'm using an M17x-R3 to type on right now and will be doing a review on it on my site (techinferno.com).
Aankhen - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
1080p on a 15″ screen? I feel sorry for anyone using it. o_opiroroadkill - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
Pff..I have an old Dell Latitude D800, 1920x1200 on a 15.4" screen, which is slightly more dense than this! It's fine =D
Hrel - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
I was told my both cyberpowerpc.com and xoticpc.com that this chassis using a GTX460M gpu supports Optimus switcheable graphics. I was really hoping you guys would configure this laptop with that GPU so I could know for sure; cause it sounds too good to be true. Granted I was happy to see the AMD GPU thrown in there and compared, performance/dollar is really good I just don't like the power/heat problems.The keyboard is a pretty massive deterrent for me on this laptop; so if it doesn't truly support Optimus then I won't buy it. But I am in the market for a new laptop and I want Sandy Bridge with DX11 DGPU in a 15.6" chassis with a 1080p screen, preffereably matte.
I was impressed with Compal's relative battery life figures. Maybe they'll make a 15.6" laptop with a 1080p screen and a 2620QM with GTX460M and DVI/HDMI out? Please!
ckevin1 - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
Sorry, but no one has a 460m optimus solution yet. (Believe me, I've looked.) I'm surprised that anyone would tell you that -- on the Clevo/Sager forums I've been going to, the folks from xoticpc and other vendors have been pretty clear about their SB 460/485 solutions *not* supporting Optimus due to compatibility concerns.Hrel - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
it was on the P151HM not the P150, sorry. Not sure if that will make a difference or not but cyberpower and xotic definitely told me that chassis supported Optimus.JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
There's a big difference: P151HM uses GT 540M graphics where the P150HM can support GTX 460M/485M and HD 5870/6970M. So, it appears that Optimus with 460M or better is still elusive....jabber - Friday, March 18, 2011 - link
Glad I got my new Intel 6200 N card for £12 on Ebay. Works perfect.