Maingear Pulse 14

In the past , portable gaming either meant lugging around a laptop that was far too large to ever be used on a lap , or ditching the PC completely for a small handheld device . With the current crop of ultraportable gaming laptops , however , you can go to actually play on the road . Case in point : the Maingear Pulse 14 ($ 1699 as tested ) , a slender , 14 - inch system that boasts some amazing hardware into a chassis less than an inch thick . You'll give up some of the more high-powered performance sees the monster gaming rigs , but in exchange , you get longer battery life and true portability. For gamers on the go , an easy trade to make .

design
While big , chunky design is the norm in the gaming laptop , the Pulse 14 is built for portability. This slim laptop measures only 1 by 13.31 by 9.5 inches ( HWD ) , making it small enough to carry , slipped out in a laptop bag or hidden under your arm . It is not quite as slim as ultrabook - like the Razer Blade ( 2013) , which measures only 0.66 - inch thick , but 4 pounds , it weighs about the same as 4.1 - pound Razer Blade .

Raises slim design also concerns about the heat , and the Pulse 14 will run hot during the test . The plastic construction is quite rugged , although there is some flexing when lifting the laptop through a corner or typing with more force . The deck lid and our review unit came with a glossy - black finish, with a black brushed aluminum around the palm rest , but Maingear offers a full rainbow of color options for an additional $ 149.


The 14 - inch display has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 , which is a step up from resolution 1600- by- 900 seen in the MSI GE40 2oC - 009US and the Razer Blade . Seem particularly well the screen , thanks to a surplus Advanced Viewing Angle ( AHVA ) display , which is on par with an In - Plane Switching ( IP ) panel . Although it has Windows 8.1 , the Pulse 14 No touch screen , which is not necessarily a liability in a gaming machine , but it can prevent you from fully enjoying the more intuitive aspects of the latest version of Windows .

Audio performance left something to be desired . Whether it is listening to our usual test track or the sound of the game , the output is flat and lifeless , and the bass almost non existent . You'll do well to use this laptop with a good gaming headset rather lackluster built - in speakers .

Feels The chiclet -style keyboard well , but no backlight . While that particular feature is probably sacrificed for the interest of battery life , it is a bit tedious to a $ 1,700 system will leave you still dark when the lights go out . The accompanying trackpad is also relatively small, with chrome - finished button bar that will quickly find grungy from fingerprints and can throw you off your game with occasional errors clicks . Most players will use a separate mouse anyway, but it 's still a disappointment .

Features
The Pulse 14 is equal to the connectors . On the left side are two USB 3.0 ports , HDMI and VGA output , Gigabit Ethernet , and a power connector . On the right is a USB 2.0 port , an SD card reader , and headphone and microphone jacks isolated . Inside , the 14 boasts Pulse Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet card for Ethernet , and a second adapter for 802.11n Wi - Fi .

Despite the compact size of the laptop , the Pulse 14 does not skimp on storage . Inside was a pair of 128GB drives solid - state ( SSDs ) to attack 0 , serving as the boot drive , while a 1TB 5,400 rpm hard drive offers tons of storage for games , media , and anything else . This is a significant step up even from the combination of SSD 128GB and 750GB hard drives found in Digital Storm Veloce .

Maingear does not put any extra software on Pulse 14 , so the only thing installed on the drive is Windows 8.1 ( 64 - bit ) operating system and drivers for the NVIDIA graphics card . GPU with NVIDIA Optimus technology automatically graphics by - switching , and a dashboard , called GeForce Experience , which lets you adjust the settings of the card and maximize performance . NVIDIA now includes a lot more experience with the GeForce , with BatteryBoost , to offer better gaming performance and battery life on the go , Shadowplay , which lets you capture gameplay footage using a DVR - such as tool , and GameStream , allowing you to stream games from the PC to the handheld NVIDIA shield .