A monster laptop returns with a new generation of
hardware under the hood.
Our first encounter with the Venom brand was with its Ivy
Bridge-powered Blackbook 17, a beastly gaming/workstation machine that went
straight to the top of the A-List. This model has now been updated to the
latest in mobile hardware, along with some small changes to the chassis design,
so we were eager to get it into the Labs and see what had changed.
This isn’t the first time we have seen this design of
laptop. The Blackbook 17 is based on the same chassis as Pioneer’s Dreambook
Power P17HW, but there have been some noticeable changes. Central to this is
the removal of the somewhat pointless and aesthetically dubious 'ball with
wings’ lighting motif that seems to be a standard feature on the chassis. This
has involved the replacement of the touchpad, and the model used on the
Blackbook 17 not only looks but feels better under thumb than the stock one.
Venom BlackBook 17
Small touches like these are what has impressed about the
Venom lineup, especially considering that several manufacturers offer quite
similar competing products. While corner cutting and shaving off dollars work
at the low end of the market, our review model of Blackbook 17 goes for a
retail price of $3,999, and when you are making that kind of commitment to a
high-end performance laptop then you want this kind of attention to detail
behind its build.
It isn’t just the tweaked chassis that makes this a
compelling product. Under the hood sits an impressive lineup of hardware, with
an Intel Core i7-4700MQ CPU, 4GB GeForce GTX 780M GPU, 32GB of DDR3 and two
512GB Samsung SSDs running in striped RAID. It also has a Blu-ray burner, Dual
Band 802.11n Wi-Fi and a gorgeous 1920x1080 screen.
As one would expect from this heady specification list, the
Blackbook 17 is very much a laptop that one carries between power outlets. Not
only is it a chunky slab of rubberized soft touch plastic but it weighs a touch
over 4KG and comes with a hefty power brick. But, unlike the Gigabyte P35K
(page 45), it makes no pretense of being a product to be used on the go, and we
are okay with that.
Blackbook 17’s
retail price is $3,999
This heft and power means that it sucks down the battery,
however. We didn’t even bother running our heavy-use battery test, after our
light-use one saw the battery running dry after only two hours and six minutes.
The trade-off for this lack of mobility is some serious power, however, with
our real world benchmarks returning a result of 1.07, virtually the same as the
Pioneer Dreambook P17HW. This is understandable, given the same base hardware,
but the Blackbook 17 stands out in other areas - most noticeably in that intangible
feel that comes from having dual SSDs for storage. While a total of 1TB of
solid state memory may seem indulgent, we were surprised to see that this
specification of Blackbook costs under $200 more than the Dreambook, which had
a 120GB SSD and 1TB 5400rpm HDD.
As one would expect from the GTX 780M, currently the fastest
laptop GPU out there, gaming was excellent, with the Blackbook 17 delivering
playable framerates at native resolution, with detail set to high. This is also
where the screen comes into its own, delivering picture quality that makes a
lot of standalone monitors look underwhelming. It is when gaming that all the
pieces of the puzzle come together, and after a short while with the machine we
wished we had $4000 to drop on such a beast.
Given the same
base hardware, but the Blackbook 17 stands out in other areas
Ultimately it will be the price-tag that determines whether
this is the right laptop for you. Make no bones about it, this is very much at
the expensive end of the market, but at the same time you just can’t get this
level of performance and quality for less. Given that there aren’t a massive
number of options at this end of the market, choosing a standout product comes
down to the little touches, especially when looking at a base chassis that is
employed by several local system builders.
Once again Venom has gone that extra mile - from the SSDs to
getting rid of the horrid glowy touchpad (seriously, when spending this much on
a laptop we want it to avoid the tendency for gaming products to be garishly
lit), it has taken a base design that was already impressive and brought it
close to perfect, knocking its predecessor off the A-List and setting a new
high bar for gaming laptops.
Once again Venom
has gone that extra mile
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Specs and price
·
Price: $3,999
·
Intel Core i7-4900MQ
·
4GB GeForce GTX 780M
·
32GB DDR3
·
2 x 512GB SSD
·
dual band 802.11n
·
1920x1080 matt LCD
·
Blu-ray Writer
Verdict
·
Performance: 6/6
·
Features and design: 6/6
·
Value for money: 5/6
·
Overall: 6/6
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