x15E Review

A little while ago I ordered my new x15E Digital Storm Laptop, and let me tell you... it was well worth the 10 day build time and three day ship time. After reading reviews from 2011 and searching high and low over the internet for the new versions of the 15" laptops, I frustratingly couldn't find one. I read many reviews that discussed the cooling ability of these laptops, and some of the numbers people were posting kind of scared me. After doing some more digging and becoming more knowledgeable about CPU and GPU temps, and going off of the sheer ridiculously-freaking-awesome specs of the this computer, along with the even more ridiculously-freaking-awesome customer service, I decided it was time to press the order button.

Here are the specs of my new x15E Laptop:

System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Digital Storm x15E Laptop (Model: 9150)
Display: 15.6 Inch (16:9) (Resolution: 1920 x 1080) (Glossy Surface) LED-Backlit Display
Processor: Intel Core i7 3720QM (2.6 GHz Turbo Mode to 3.6Ghz) (Quad Core) (6MB Cache)
Thermal Compound: Premium IC Diamond CPU and GPU Thermal Compound (Reduces Thermal & Laptop Noise)
Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
Primary Hard Drive: Intel 240GB SSD (520 Series) (SATA 6Gb/s)
Secondary Hard Drive: - Not Available
Optical Drive: DVD/CD 8x Multi-Drive (Writes and Reads DVDs, CDs)
Wireless Card: Intel Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless LAN Module
Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M 2GB with NVIDIA Optimus Technology
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Warranty Plan: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty


Opening the case, was pretty much like every other Digital Storm laptop review you've read--high quality packaging, everything you need inside the box, and of course a carrying case. After setting up my computer I decided to pop in Starcraft 2 and give it a go. I immediately maxed out everything in the game, and neglected to read one of the specs asking me to reset the game after changing it. I then started up the game, expecting amazing frame-rate and to my surprise, the opening cinematic was extremely choppy. I thought it had something to do with plugging my laptop into my 42" LCD via HDMI. I then ran it off my computer screen and it was smooth as butter on the extreme settings. I later figured out (about 15 minutes later, haha) that it was because of that one setting that made the fps go to hell and back. Sorry for that ridiculously long description, but I just wanted to give you guys all the details so you don't think it was the fault of DS at all. Intireley my own lack of reading instructions... failsauce

Anyways... on to temperatures. This computer, to my very pleasant surprise, runs very cool. While idling, it runs from about 38C-43C (very acceptable and cool temps for laptop idling). While gaming during Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 (not the most graphically taxing games, but they're all I've got right now, haha), the CPU's got up to around 78C, and never really rose above that. The GPU, that only kicks in while gaming or doing something that requires graphics processing, hours into gaming would clock at around 79C. Almost immediately after gaming, the temp would drop to like 47C. Really fast cooling. So pretty much as long as you're in a well ventilated room that's not like 80F or above for a long period of time, you should be just fine :)

I'm planing on getting a more graphically intense game sometime soon, but I can imagine that this computer will have no problems tearing through them like they're nothing.

The 15" display is really nice, but being able to plug it into my 42 inch is really easy and a great way to game while at home. On the go, I'm sure this would be easy to carry around and game. The battery doesn't last super long--about 3.5ish if you're not gaming probably. I mean, with all the power that's under the hood of this beast, I would expect it to not run very long, compared to a macbook pro which can't even touch this in terms of quality or raw power of the hardware.

To sum things up... if you are looking for a portable gaming monster that can handle anything on the gaming scene right now, and probably into the next couple of years, you really need to look into this. Digital Storm knows what they are doing, and they are very good at proving it in the fine quality of their products and the insanely reliable customer support. I really don't know what else to say that can convince you to get this thing. The only other thing I guess I can say is that if you get this, you will not even be close to disappointed, and all of your expectations will be blown away.

I would post pictures, but I mean... you can pretty much see what it looks like from the pictures DS has provided... and I'm too lazy/tired from gaming to upload them right now, haha.

Trumpeteer23

Video link incoming soon...

It isn't really that heavy. Also, the product is packaged REALLY well. There are two boxes--an outer, more heavy duty box, and an inner box which is also very strong that will protect the laptop and all the other materials you get. It also has these two foam (or whatever the material is) bracers that support the laptop for a tight fit. I mean, if you are moving around ALL the time, I would maybe consider the 11", but if you want a portable desktop substitute, I would definitely go with x15E.

Black5Lion,

Sure thing! You can manually configure the driver to turn the dedicated GPU on by going into the NVIDIA control panel then (3D Settings -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings) and add your program/game and set it to use the dedicated graphics all the time.

Originally posted by Trumpeteer23 Video link incoming soon...

Here is a link to my video review. I just posted it on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSJ04mrZtI8


Edited by Trumpeteer23 - 19 May 2012 at 8:02pm

Thanks! Downloaded Battlefield 3 today an ran it at Ultra Settings with a minimum of 30fps. Not too bad for such a graphically intense game.

Haha, probably. They probably do only get around 30fps, but at a small fraction of the graphics quality that my computer gets. Last night I was getting anything from 30-45fps.

Haha, I know dude. Light years away from any console.

Also, while playing Battlefield 3, my computer warned me that my computer has "slowed down" and suggests changing my theme to save on memory? What's with that? haha, sorry for all the noob questions...

Thank you for the update, if you need anything from us, feel free to contact our team, we'll be more than happy to help!

I have a question about upgrading this system down the road. How much would it cost me, for example, if I were to upgrade to the GTX 680M right now? Would my computer be able to support that card, or would it need another motherboard or a better GPU cooling fan, or would it need more power? I know that you guys build these thing for to be fully customizable, but I'm just curious about the process and price of perhaps changing graphics cards in a couple years. For the moment, the GTX 675M is doing a fine job with all the current games, haha.

Awesome. Maybe in a couple years I'll make the upgrade, haha

Fyi, bf3 does that theme switching thing all the time. It is the game and not your laptop. Commonly reported on a range of comps.

If you don't mind, what kind of performance are you getting with bf3?

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Edited by SpicierMire - 18 Aug 2012 at 10:58am

how are the speakers?