Discussions

Most gamers will agree on a base recipe for the ultimate gaming laptop: First, begin by choosing the most obscene GPU matrix available -- the more “X’s” and “Hyper-Extremes!!!” in the brand names, the better. Next, suffocate it with multiple near-melting processing cores alongside more RAM than Windows can physically access. Last but not least, we’ll need solid-state RAID array large enough to copy the Library of Congress eight times over, mounted to the largest organic LED display known to man … but not without wrapping that up in a 1-ounce ice-cold Adamantium chassis with a 69-hour solar-powered soybean battery -- all for three easy payments of $19.95. Am I right?

Surely I’m being facetious, but given the global state of PC sales I suspect some of you are secretly hoping this Holy Grail shows up at Wal-Mart. Dream a little dream, kids as my absurd uberlaptop won’t be on the market anytime soon -- but that’s not to say we shouldn’t aspire to something better than what’s on the shelf. Technology changes fast. Moore’s Law, baby. It’s also in the lore of rock: Mr. Jagger said we can’t always get what we want, but if you try sometimes, you can get what we need. Drugs and loose women aside, can’t this wisdom also hold true for gaming notebooks?

Today, we have the ear of the Asus Corporation and an opportunity to influence a crowd-sourced gaming PC, so let’s seize that moment. This is a terrific chance to emotionally scar the PC industry for life: Let’s share put down the gamers’ insatiable appetite for killer hardware into words and see what these engineers actually do with it. While it may seem that the task is on us, the real job is on them to deliver it. Nevertheless, the ultimate bi-product of this experiment begins a conversation amongst ourselves.

A few of you may know me from Destructoid.com – my fanatic gaming discussion community. I’ve been invited here to plant a thumb for gamers seeking that great gaming notebook they’ve perhaps yet to find. While my love of PCs stretches back a decade when I was repairing 166 MHz gamer PCs with “MMX Technology”, I certainly don’t pretend to pass myself as a guru: You’ll also have access to a variety of editors from other web sites like Ars Technica, Ubergizmo, and NotCot bringing something new to the table, too. In my gaming column I’ve committed to posting a weekly question or challenge for our collective to brainstorm. In exchange for our time Asus is committed to taking the best ideas and actually building this thing, which is nothing short of awesome. (No pressure, guys.)

So without further ado, here’s my first question to you:

If you were building your dream gaming laptop, what are the top five strengths you’d include?

I’ve suggested that gamers are probably looking for some common basics: Insane video cards, multi-core 64-bit processors, ungodly amounts of futuristic memory, solid state drive arrays, and a big glossy HD display. That typically yields a notebook in the $4000 range though – a steep proposition for dorm jockeys and guys whose sensible wives have long since taken reigns of the checkbook.

If price is an issue, what big ticket item would you cut? What would you add? Maybe you’d want integrated mobile broadband, a hidden retractable mouse, Blu-RAY, an integrated Xbox 360, and a fog machine for Rock Band on the go? Maybe a hotkey with a retractable robot arm that gave your opponent the finger without taking your real hands off the death-match will prove useful in heated moments. (I also want one of these for my car, have you ever driven in Miami?)

What about the weight and style: If this laptop looked like a stolen artifact from Area 51 and plays all the current games at their minimum system requirements for $1399 of the price, do we have a winner?

Whatever you lust after, this is your chance to make it happen. Think about it, mull it over, and squeeze it down to five core features. I’d especially like to hear from gamers that already have gaming notebooks that they feel are unbalanced in some way. I pledge to be among the first – I’m between a monolithic 17” dual-video McWhopper and a much wimpier 15” with (get ready to laugh) integrated video that I picked up for a fourth of the price. Perhaps my perfect gaming laptop is less of a Lou Ferrigno and more of a Michael Phelps. M y sweet spot is somewhere in-between hulking and accessible – although I’m also irrationally lusting over the portability of Intel Atom netbooks (too bad we can’t run Crysis on that).

As for my ridiculous intro? Oh yeah, that’s totally my dream gaming notebook. I’ll take two. Sure, it has no basis in reality but I’m determined to propose all kinds of bizarre ways to make the realistic proximity of that to really happen. I’ve been sketching all kinds of stuff involving detachable parts, alternative lightweight materials, bleeding-edge display technologies. I’m not wasting the opportunity to be heard -- and neither should you. I dare you to think big and put the Asus engineers to the test – let’s see if they can bottle our collective imaginations into a viable form factor. Can we do a better job than the experts?

Can we inspire the next big thing? Who knows! At the end of this you might find that you can get what you need.