A powerful 17-inch gaming laptop at good
price, but it is devalued by the screen and touchpad
The XMG A722 is a 17-inch laptop with some
very powerful components. It has Intel Core i7 quad-core processors, 120GB SSD,
500 GB hard disc and Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M graphics chipset. On many aspects,
it is somehow similar to Scan’s 3XS Graphite LG10, which also is a stubby
gaming laptop with its chassis manufactured by Clevo containing powerful
hardware, but Schenker’s model is cheaper, at $236.
Schenker
XMG A722 – Powerful Gaming Laptop
As all 17-inch laptops, the XMG A722 is
large, but its weight of 3.2kg is not a disaster - but of course, it is lighter
than other gaming laptops a few years ago. Its great base leaves a great deal
of space for the keyboard and number keypad, and it is very easy to type
correctly on big keys with much space between each of them - the keyboard is
much better than that of Scan 3XS, which feels really cramped. However, we were
not much impressed by the touchpad, with a cheap plastic surface and swinging
keys. Of course, you will want to bring a good gaming mouse with you.
Beautiful polymer
Unfortunately, the plastic material, which
feels cheap, spreads to the entire bottom of the laptop. While Scan’s 3XS
brings a good impression of a high-quality device, the XMG A722 does not feel
like a laptop that costs nearly $1,575. However, its appearance will much
improve when you close it, thanks to the exquisite raw lid.
The laptop offers a reasonable selection of
ports around its base, including HDMI and VGA ports, a card reader, three USB3
ports and one USB port. It also has Gigabit Ethernet.
The
laptop offers a reasonable selection of ports around its base, including HDMI
and VGA ports, a card reader, three USB3 ports and one USB port.
Performance is the key for laptops that are
meant to replace desktops like this, and of course, the XMG A722 is not bad at
all. Its 2.4GHz processor can speed up to 3.4GHz when the temperature allows it
to, and this led to a total of 86 points in our tests. However, it is not as
fast as Scan’s 3XS Graphite LG10, which reached 97 points thanks to the 2.7GHz
Core i7-3740QM. Like more and more laptops we've seen, the XMG A722 comes with
8GB RAM, and we can think of some situations where you will need more. A 120GB
2.7GHz system disc is to ensure that the laptop will boot in just some seconds,
and the separate 500GB hard disc provides plenty of space for files.
The XMG A722 has a dedicated Nvidia GeForce
GTX 660M graphics chipset with 2GB RAM. It's fast enough to run Dirt Showdown
at the resolution of 1,280x720 with 4x anti-alias setting at High level of
detail. We saw a smooth 67.5fps speed in these settings, and the frame rate
never dropped below 55fps. Since the screen is a 1,920x1,080 model, it is
reasonable to check the graphics card by running it in this natural setting. At
a resolution of 1,920x1,080 with 4x anti-alias setting and High level of
detail, the laptop still achieves a smooth speed of 43.6fps and never dropped
below 35.6fps.
Performance
is the key for laptops that are meant to replace desktops like this, and of
course, the XMG A722 is not bad at all.
However, when we increased the detail level
to Ultra, using the settings we used to test a desktop PC, the frame rate
dropped to 18.6fps, much worse than what we considered playable. While these
results proved to be impressive, of course, they cannot be compared with those
of Scan’s 3XS Graphite LG10, which achieved the frame rate of 26.2fps, nearly
playable in the Ultra detail test, and the frame rate of 57.3fps at a
resolution of 1,920x1,080 and 4x anti-alias setting and High detail level
thanks to the more excellent GeForce GTX 670M graphics chipset.
A beast in detail
Although we were impressed by the performance
of the XMG A722, we were not impressed by its Full HD 17-inch screen. The color
is fairly accurate, but the light leakage at the bottom of the screen was quite
noticeable. Contrast was not quite excellent, which led to the loss of detail
in darker areas of the tested pictures. The viewing angle of the screen, both
horizontally and vertically, was narrow, and we saw significant color changes
when you were not sitting in the proper position.
Schenker
XMG A722
In many aspects, Schenker XMG A722 is a
good laptop to replace desktops with good values and a powerful pack of games
and applications, as well as a Full HD screen, at less than $1,575. However, we
were not pleased with the touchpad and had a feeling that the screen is below
standards. The XMG A722’s performance is not a match for Scan’s 3XS Graphite
LG10’s one. If you are looking for a gaming laptop, Scan’s excellent power,
better chassis and screen will be worth the additional amount of $236.
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Info
§ Price:
$1,564
§ Website:
www.mysn.com
§ Ranking:
3/5
Specifications
§ CPU: Intel
Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz
§ RAM:
8GB
§ Storage:
120GB SSD + 500GB hard disc
§ Graphics:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M
§ Optical
drive: DVD+/-RW+/-DL
§ Screen:
17.3-inch widescreen LCD (1,920x1,080)
§ Operating
system: Windows 8
§ Dimension:
44x413x277mm, 3.2kg
§ Power
consumption: 6W standby, 30W idle, 88W on
§ Warranty:
two years
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