Eurocom Racer 2.0 Review: Intel's Ivy Bridge Meets Nvidia's Kepler

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Are you tired of gaming notebooks that have to be tethered to a power outlet? We test Eurocom’s Racer 2.0 to see if its combination of a 22 nm Intel-based CPU and 28 nm graphics processor from Nvidia can help enable playable performance on the road.

Benchmark Results: Productivity

Our Eurocom Racer 2.0 sample came with new graphics and a new processor. Before we move on to games, we wanted to see how that updated processor architecture influences overall performance, and that has a big impact on our office-oriented applications.

The Ivy Bridge-based Core i7 chip in Eurocom's Racer 2.0 gives it a 4% advantage over the P150HM’s Sandy Bridge-based design. Photoshop proves its threaded alacrity by putting the X7200 and its six-core CPU on top.

Ivy Bridge's advantage over Sandy Bridge climbs to around 6% in 3ds Max, while the hexa-core X7200 holds its larger lead.

Our file compression suite appears poorly threaded, with 7-Zip having the most noticeable performance change. The Racer 2.0 edges out the P150HM.

The Racer 2.0’s advantage over its predecessor climbs again in ABBYY's FineReader to around 7%. While the desktop-based X7200 maintains its top position, the margin of victory shrinks.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
39 Comments Comment from the forums
  • amuffin
    $2146

    WHAT!

    You could get a laptop with a 680M for that price! :ouch:
    Reply
  • azathoth
    I would have loved to see some Temperature readings on the GPU/CPU during usage. A lot of gaming laptops even whilst brand new can generate enough heat to be uncomfortably hot in some areas.
    Reply
  • xanagu
    9535607 said:
    $2146

    WHAT!

    You could get a laptop with a 680M for that price! :ouch:
    Seriously Tom? you can get a much better deal with 3610QM, 16GB RAM, 750GB HDD and 7990M for $1470
    Reply
  • Crashman
    xanaguSeriously Tom? you can get a much better deal with 3610QM, 16GB RAM, 750GB HDD and 7990M for $1470Remember Eurocom loves high-end CPUs and SSDs. Besides, why would I want 16GB in a notebook?
    Reply
  • xanagu
    cuz its a free upgrade?
    Reply
  • esrever
    Seems a bit too pricy. Battery life isn't good either, only slightly better than the other models. Also not really portable so why would people care that much about battery life?
    Reply
  • rorouni
    do they have one that supports stereoschopic 3d?
    Reply
  • uglynerdman
    u could get a clevo with a 680m for 1800. this whole article only recinforces my belief in buying a p150em even with a normal 670 installed itll still be better for the price. i find eurocom a lil over priced. xoticpc ftw
    Reply
  • uglynerdman
    i really dont get why xangu's comment was downrated and crashman's was uprated. its true you could get a better deal 1500 does get you a i7 3rdgen with 8 gbs ram and a 7970m. and saying that eurocom likes highend ssds and cpus? ummm.. im sorry are there different cpus available everyone sells all the intel i7 mobile quads. all the boutiques. Same with SSDs and hard drives. What has to stand out from a place is the build quality cooling slight performance difference > competitors and other bits to justify an inflated price. The battery life is always hovering around 4 hours max. not matter which model you have you still gotta plug in a power brick eventually. theres car adapters, plugs on greyhound and amtrak. heck airport seats have plugs nearby. the 670s can game unplugged for a few hours. a few more minutes on the 660? i feel the 660 should be in a ultrabook not a rugged sized notebook. Look at the size. it looks as big and heavy as its competitiors. Dont get me wrong i like eurocom they have some great stuff just, i dont see a noticeable difference to justify the price/performance of that setup vs other boutiques. Id really like to see a toms review of more clevos and msi customs/ does anyone offer superior cooling builds etc.
    Reply
  • uglynerdman
    xanagucuz its a free upgrade?while above 8gbs is nonsense for gamers if you like playing in a window and running other programs and doing other things such as uploading a vid coding a vid, doing other activities a lil bit of ram goes along way. i myself go out of the way to tweak my games to use 4gbs if they dont support it and multitask. Besides 16 gbs is usually about 40-80 bucks more > standard 8gbs. it has its uses unless ur solely gaming. 16 gbs is my standard. i have enough ram to abuse skyrim on ultra full of mods windowed while talking online watching a news feed and streaming video in another window and extra monitor.
    Reply