3D notebook offers hefty power for a
hefty price
The Eurocom Scorpius lives a dual life. On
one hand, it's a dull-looking workstation; on the other, this highly
configurable laptop can also be outfitted with a 3D monitor and killer gaming
specs. We opted for the latter.
Along with a 120Hz refresh rate, the
17.3-inch monitor features a built-in 3D emitter that syncs up to a pair of
bundled Nvidia 3D Vision 2 glasses. To test the 3D experience, we played the 3D
Vision Ready-title Batman: Arkham City and sampled some 3D movie trailers from
3DVisionLive.com. Nvidia's stereoscopic technology rivals the best that movie
theaters have to offer in terms of depth, and never bothered our eyes, but the
experience wasn't perfect. Even though Nvidia purports to have solved the
dimming issue with its Vision 2 glasses, you're still essentially wearing
sunglasses, so the experience is going to be darker than viewing content in 2D
without glasses. We also feel that wearing glasses in and of itself is
cumbersome.
Eurocom
Scorpius
The most vexing problem is that when 3D is
enabled, performance suffers greatly. Our frame rate dropped by half, from 50s
to mid-20s, when playing Batman in 3D as opposed to 2D. In our opinion, these
various issues detract too much from the experience; we'd rather play in 2D
mode. As for the TN panel in 2D mode, while some sing the praises of 120Hz's ability
to improve even 2D image quality, we didn't see any noticeable improvement over
60Hz performance when surfing the web, watching videos, or playing games.
We had little complaint with our system's
internal specs, however, which included a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-3840QM CPU, 16GB
of RAM, and not one, but two GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI. In our more
CPU-intensive tests, the Scorpius scored modest wins of 6-13 percent. However,
when it came to the more GPU-intensive applications, our zero-point’s
comparatively humble Fermi-based GeForce GTX 670M GPU got severely stung by the
Scorpius's two Kepler beasts. In our STALKER: CoP benchmark, the Scorpius
performed an amazing 112.5 percent better than the ZP; the performance gap only
widened in our 3DMark 11 test, where it performed an astonishing 248.1 percent
better. Because these benchmark stats were so amazing, we loaded up Far Cry 3
to give it a real workout. While the Scorpius wasn't able to run the
super-graphically intensive game on “Ultra” (the game’s highest settings), it
ran at "Very High" with frame rates in the mid-40s to low-50s range,
and often outperformed a 2.8GHz AMD quad-core gaming desktop armed with a GTX
590. It seems unfair to bring up the fact that the far less expensive ($1,500)
GT60 zero-point laptop wasn’t even able to muster a solid 30fps on FC3’s
"High" settings. The only performance test where the GT60 bested the
Scorpius was in battery life, where Eurocom’s laptop lasted a poor 103 minutes.
Something's got to give when you’re powering two 680Ms.
The
Scorpius has a backlit keyboard that can change to seven different colors.
In terms of storage, the laptop comes with
two drives: a 128GB mSATA Micron and 512GB SSD. While the two speedy drives are
appreciated, the lack of a hefty HDD really limits the overall package.
Luckily, the laptop takes up to three 2.5-inch storage drives and installing an
additional HDD requires the removal of just one screw from the bottom of the
laptop. Users can also access the motherboard from underneath and swap out the
RAM. Eurocom has made the main compartment easily removable, with only four
screws holding it in place.
While the laptop certainly performs well,
it still has issues. Its trackpad is unresponsive and can be an exercise in
frustration to use. Perhaps a bigger problem is that this thing is heavy. With
a carry weight of more than 13 pounds, the Scorpius is in backbreaker
territory. Finally, at almost $4,000, it's very expensive.
This
laptop is all about performance and here the Scorpius is a stinger.
Fortunately, most of these issues can be
mitigated. You can save money by skipping out on the 3D monitor and second SSD.
And you can overlook its battery, weight, and trackpad issues by understanding
that the Scorpius is best used as a desktop replacement. Its performance is
simply off the charts, and complaining about its other problems is like
complaining about how a Ferrari is expensive, bad with fuel economy, and
doesn’t have enough cup holders. If those issues are enough to bother you,
you're looking at the wrong machine. This laptop is all about performance and
here the Scorpius is a stinger.
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Specifications
§ CPU:
2.8GHz Intel Core i7-3840QM
§ RAM:
16GB DDR3/1600
§ Chipset:
Intel HM77
§ GPU:
2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M 4GB DDR5
§ Display:
17.3-inch, 1920x1080 120Hz LCD LED (matte)
§ Storage:
128GB mSATA 6Gb/s. 512GB SSD 6Gb/s
§ Optical:
Drive Panasonic UJ-260AB Blu-ray
§ Connectivity:
Ethernet, HDMI, eSATA. S/ PDIF out, 9-in-1 card reader, DisplayPort, 4x USB
3.0, 1x USB 2.0, audio in, audio out, headphone, mic, 2MP webcam, 802.11n
§ Lap/Carr:
9 lbs. 7.4 oz / 13 lbs. 5 oz
§ Price:
$3,915
§ Website:
www.eurocom.com
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