CyberPower Xplorer X6-9100: Gamers Need Not Apply
by Dustin Sklavos on May 4, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- CyberPowerPC
- Intel SSD 510
Conclusion: Close, But Can't Compete
Part of the frustration when I have to close a review like this is knowing that I'm going to recommend going to a major vendor instead of the smaller boutique where you're more liable to receive better customer service and care along with a vastly superior selection of parts to build from. While boutiques have plenty of opportunities to distinguish themselves from the competition when it comes to desktop builds, with notebooks they're really stuck with whatever the ODM provides. The X6-9100's shortcomings aren't CyberPower's fault any more than the Clevo notebooks we've reviewed are the fault of AVADirect or Eurocom. Unfortunately it does boil down to some major weaknesses.
The elephant in the room is the Dell XPS 15, which once again sports its B+RG LED-backlit 1080p screen. That notebook is going to be more expensive, and if you don't need the dedicated graphics it will seem a bit excessive, but the fit and finish is better, and the screen, speakers, and keyboard are miles ahead. Dell has produced a 15.6" notebook by which all other consumer notebooks are judged, and unfortunately the X6-9100 has a hard time competing with it.
That said, if you're a couple hundred shy of going for that big dog and aesthetics aren't a big deal to you, you could definitely do a lot worse than the X6-9100. Getting that 8GB of memory and entry-level Sandy Bridge quad-core processor is a lot cheaper if you go this route, and you still get a 1080p screen. CyberPower's customer service is also liable to be more hands on with you than Dell's will be (though admittedly my customer service experiences with Dell have been pretty stellar), and you can get a good price on an SSD standard.
That SSD goes a long, long way towards improving the X6-9100's computing experience, as the whole system feels incredibly smooth and snappy (if a bit light on capacity). If Dell would standardize on current Intel SSDs (e.g. the 510 used in this system), it would really make it difficult to compete, but instead Dell uses reliable but not nearly so fast Samsung SSDs. If you perfer going the Dell route, we'd suggest doing the SSD upgrade on your own.
I want to like the X6-9100 more and it's a fine budget option, but it's difficult to recommend going for it when a couple hundred more can get you a better-looking, better-feeling machine from Dell. Hopefully the boutiques like CyberPower and AVADirect can start banging on the doors of the ODMs that make these and demand something better. Clevo, Compal, and Pegatron all seem stuck about five years in the past as far as industrial design goes, and while the big OEMs aren't what we'd call nimble when it comes to changes, they're at least making progress. With updated aesthetics and the 1080p LCD found on either the Clevo P150HM/P151HM or Dell's XPS 15, this would have been an awesome alternative.
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Hrel - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
I can just see Dustin. Gets a new laptop in to review, starts getting excited. Grabs a knife, opens the box, pulls off the packaging, pauses... *swears, throws things, swears some more. Shakes fists at the sky "Damn you glossy plastic". Lol, that's the impression I get.Anyway, I saw this a while ago and was hoping to see review for it; nice work. It really is a great option for people who don't need GPU power. You can get the price down around 600-700 bucks and it's still a much better than anything else I've ever seen. Largely due to the 1080p screen.
Cyberpowerpc has an MSI laptop on their website with a 1080p screen and the GTX460M in it. That's the laptop I'd really like to see a review on. I'm going to buy a laptop this summer and frankly the only thing that stopped me from impulse buying that MSI laptop the moment I saw it was the 48Whr battery. Made me think "hm, I better wait till I've read the anandtech review".
I'm not sure if it's the same model MSI you gave away or not, but it has 2hdd bays so those who were so inclined could have an SSD and mechanical disk without sacrificing an optical drive.
Hrel - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
I was hoping that screen would be at least a little better than that. Oh well, it's at least one step in the right direction. At least we got 1080p, maybe 2012 will bring 500:1 minimum contrast ratio? I do wish. Still, best laptop for people who don't about gaming I've found. Nicely configured for 650, very fair.Personally, I've had too many bad experiences with Dell to ever buy a laptop from them again. Also, my next laptop will have a GTX460 in it. My main issue with Dell is the restrictions they put on their upgrades. If I upgrade the GPU, I shouldn't be forced to upgrade any other component. And their website sure as hell shouldn't be lieing to me, telling me it causes a compatibility issue. (they claimed I couldn't put a dual core i5 with their gpu upgrade, I think at the time it was up to the 425 or 435M.)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
If you're talking about this one (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X6-9500... I'm pretty sure that's the same chassis as the MSI GT680R that we gave away. I previewed performance around the time of the Cougar Point bug, and we have a fixed version in for review that I'll be posting shortly.Long story short: same performance as other GTX 460M laptops, not the greatest build quality in the world, and the 1080p LCD is about the same as the Pegatron laptop in this review. Also, the battery is NOT 48Wh (hint: no 9-cell battery is that small; the unit I have has an 87Wh battery). So it's a fair amount of power for the price, but I'd go with a Clevo P151HM (or P150HM), or perhaps an ASUS G53SW. You lose the dual HDD bays on both of those, I think, but for sure the Clevo models have much better LCDs.
Hrel - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
Yeah, I was very suspicious about that battery size. It's really good to hear these reviews are coming. I am surprised to hear you'd prefer the Clevo... you guys all seem to REALLY hate that keyboard. On that point, is it just the 10 key or is the whole thing bad?I was looking at that Asus too. Last time Asus had a good 15.6" laptop though the 1080p screen was below/at average. Where compal/clevo/dell units had nice 1080p screens.
Have you heard/seen anything from Compal with Sandy bridge and GTX460 in 15.6" 1080p flavors? They seem oddly absent from the laptop market all of a sudden.
JarredWalton - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - link
Nothing from Compal yet, at least not that I've heard about. They do seem to be a bit behind with most launches, though Pegatron isn't exactly a brand known for being cutting edge (i.e. witness the aesthetics in this review).As far as best gaming laptop in a 15.6" form factor, it's a question of compromise. MSI and ASUS seem to have lesser 1080p LCDs, and none of them get the keyboard *right* (MSI is probably closest with the layout, though), so you have to decide what's most important. The MSI touchpad is really bad, with a 2008 aesthetic on the build quality. ASUS looks good overall, but without testing the LCD I can't make a final call. Clevo has a poor keyboard layout, with a pointless 10-key, but I can still type on the rest of the keyboard "okay" and they have one of the best LCDs right now in my opinion. Pricing on the Clevo is also quite good, which is probably a deciding factor.
StrangerGuy - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
I'm sure that glossy palmrest is gonna like turn off at least 50% of potential buyers away regardless of specs.Anyway, 1080p is squeezing too many pixels for a 15.4" screen IMO. But then nobody does 1600 x 900 on laptops anymore...
Belard - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
Uh... Lenovo ThinkPads have optional 1600x900 screens for their 15.6" models.ThinkPad L series: L520 2620M CPU / 4GB RAM / HD / 1600x900 non-glare screen is about $1070, give or take on your options. But the T-series T520 is a much better notebook, same config but with an i5 = $970 (But $1160 with Q2620)
One of my clients has a slightly older T-510 with the 1600x900 screen and it looks very nice!
Stuka87 - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
I actually like the pixel density on my 15.6" display. I wish it was 16x10, but other than that I like it.Belard - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - link
Personally - with my eye-sight... I'd go for the 1920x1080 15.6" screen... But since I find 15.6" screen 16:9 notebooks so wide and add more than another 1lb of weight, I'd most likely go with a 14" screen @ 1600x900.JMS3072 - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
Unfortunately, the target audience (photographers/videographers) are going to want a decent LCD, making this a no-go.