Is That A Notebook? MALIBAL's Six-Core, Dual-GPU, Speed Demon

Performance Analysis

The MALIBAL Nine X7200 is a workstation-class notebook configured for high-end gaming, and thus contains both an extraordinarily powerful CPU and two of the industry’s most capable mobile graphics modules. We arranged today’s charts in order of GPU power, leaving the non-notebook at the bottom for comparison purposes.

Because we tested the X7200 in both single-GPU and multiple-GPU configurations, we used the single-GPU configuration as the reference point (100%). This allows us to easily see how the second GPU provides an average 82% performance gain, while our fastest-previous notebook is only 31% better at gaming than the single-GPU X7200. The inclusion of AVADirect’s W880CU makes sense for this measurement, as it shows that a weaker CPU reduces game performance by only 4%.

Our encoding programs don’t rely on GPU performance, and only two of them are able to take full advantage of six-core processing. The Core i7-980X also features a higher clock rate however, and the balance of more cores and higher frequency gives the MALIBAL Nine X7200 a big advantage over anything that contains an actual mobile processor. Desktop users will notice that the X7200’s Clevo-supplied motherboard underperforms a similarly-configured desktop board by 4-6%.

Our virus scan benchmark doesn’t scale well with Intel processor performance, reducing the i7-980X’s performance lead in our productivity suite. The MALIBAL Nine X7200 still stays significantly ahead of any notebook processor-based system, though its motherboard still falls slightly behind a standard desktop motherboard.

The fastest notebook processor-based system we’ve ever tested, Alienware’s M17x falls victim to the MALIBAL Nine X7200’s desktop CPU and twin GeForce GTX 480M GPUs.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • Darkerson
    Dear god, that thing is a beast...
    Reply
  • compton
    I'm not sure how awesome this is in practice. I'm sure someone out othere needs this, but that person would have to be blind to appreciate the asthetics.
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    its more of a portable pc than a notebook. look at the power consumption. Even its own power adaptor cant keep up at max load.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    In this case, its not really about looks, as much as its about "portable" brute strength. And it seems to have plenty of that...
    Reply
  • bombat1994
    this is why we cant have nice things,

    but seriously, the 480m is just a small 450
    Reply
  • thats actually really good performance from a top end system
    at most rates it is still fairly close to a desktop in price also
    Reply
  • maxiim
    This quite useless if you want all that power for gaming, you surely cant have it on the go with a battery provided....might as well build a with almost the same specs for less money.
    Reply
  • compton
    Its the same price as a base model Kia Rio just about. Kudos to them for the engineering needed to make this gear work in a mobile chassis. I may not be sold on the concept, or see the need of, but I hope they sell a ton of them. It is kinda cool just because its so powerful -- but for the price you could build or buy two highly specialized systems. It could be a mobile workstation or for AV production work on site instead of just for gaming. Clearly these ultra powerful 'notebooks' are a niche segment, but there are quite a few now. Someone must be buying them.
    Reply
  • sudeshc
    Not that impressive to me main reason for Lappy is portability and thats where this lacks i wounder even if under no load how much heat it would generate and also the battery wont last long..
    Reply
  • Crashman
    comptonIt could be a mobile workstation or for AV production work on site instead of just for gaming. Clearly these ultra powerful 'notebooks' are a niche segment, but there are quite a few now. Someone must be buying them.Actually, that's what the X7200 is! Tom's Hardware got the "gaming" version simply to show off its capabilities to enthusiasts, but the Quadro versions are equally viable (and likely more valuable) in their own respective markets.
    Reply