Voodoo Envy u:909

Design/Features
One look at the Envy u:909, and you know Voodoo means business. It weighs a taxing 16 pounds and at 19 x 13.7 x 2.1 inches is nearly as big as a side table. Opening the metallic painted cover reveals a titanic 19-inch widescreen. With such a large display there’s always a fear of damage, but this is the sturdiest 19-inch notebook we’ve held. The keyboard panel is uncluttered, and the base has enough space to include a full layout with number pad without having to squish keys. Speakers adorn the top corners, and the increasingly standard series of quick-launch buttons rides above the keyboard. Though no self-respecting frag artiste would use the touchpad for gaming, it’s at least large enough to make the action possible. Voodoo also keeps the garish gaming aesthetic to a minimum, offering instead custom colors and decals to create an individual stamp.

 

Performance
We were impressed when Dell’s XPS M1710 ran up a 3DMark03 score of 18,319, but the Envy decimated that result with a score of 23,702. In 3DMark06 the Voodoo performed equally well, notching a score of 5,478. With autodetect settings and 1024 x 768 resolution, F.E.A.R. averaged a hefty 115 frames per second (good enough for a first-place tie with the Vigor) while performance dipped only slightly to 84 fps with anti-aliasing maxed. Alongside the visual performance, the u:909 delivers possibly the best sound we’ve heard in a notebook of any type. The eight-speaker system and imbedded subwoofer are loud and very clear; details popped right out of music, DVD audio, and games with almost no distortion. This won’t replace your home sound system, but when lugging the rig to LAN parties, you might be tempted to game without headphones just to show off. Unfortunately, the noise and heat levels were higher while gaming than with the competition.

 

Verdict
The Vigor edged out its performance numbers by a slight margin, but the Voodoo Envy u:909 never slipped, stuttered, or implied any weakness. The build quality is exceptional; the screen big, bright, and clear; and the sound system unimpeachable. For its price, we expect to be able to render our own cinema-ready Gollum for $6,000. For those ready to lay out that much cash, the Envy u:909 is very nearly able to grant that wish and is certainly enough PC to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s games.