Extraordinary
claims demand extraordinary evidence—or, at the least, an extraordinary
laptop. Perennial speed-laptop maker Eurocom must have taken that
advice to heart, because the company set—and met—some very high
expectations with its Racer, a 15.6-inch gaming machine. The company
dubs this machine "the world’s most powerful 15.6-inch notebook," and,
while we can't vouch for the entire world,
our tests supported this lofty claim within Computer Shopper's universe
of all laptops we've tested. This workstation/gaming machine really put
its money where its drive slot is.Design
You
would think that a notebook with a name like the "Racer" would be
decked out in racing stripes or an edgy design, but that isn’t the case
here. The 6.8-pound chassis sports a plain, matte-black finish with a
rubbery texture. The surface doesn’t magnify every fingerprint smudge,
like a glossy finish does, but it's not quite impervious to them,
either. The exterior doesn't flash with the typical signals of a gaming
laptop; there are no lighting effects or shiny chrome trimmings, which
is good for those who would use this as an office workstation instead of
a gaming powerhouse. The only adornment is a slightly raised Eurocom
logo on the center of the lid.
A
generous array of ports provides lots of connectivity options. Video
outputs include HDMI and DVI, and you get a total of five USB ports, two
of which support USB 3.0 connectivity. One of the USB 2.0 ports is an
eSATA/USB combo port that allows you to connect external storage
devices. If your camera or camcorder uses FireWire rather than USB, the
Racer has you covered there, as well; a mini-FireWire port is on the
left side of the notebook, right next to the nine-format card reader.