Now we get to the benchmarks. Since this machine is a gaming notebook, I will be testing it with 3DMark Vantage, Crysis, Windows Media Encoder and Battery Eater Pro. I normally perform my iTunes encoding test as well, but iTunes simply refused to run on the machine due to some sort of audio hardware conflict I was unable to resolve.

Battery Eater Pro

The battery life in the real world will vary significantly from the time we get with Battery Eater Pro, so your mileage may vary here. You can't expect a huge gaming notebook to do well in battery life.

Considering the hardware inside, I was honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did. Check out the chart below for the test results.

3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is an important benchmark for gaming machines and the Smooth Creations 18.4 notebook absolutely crushed the record in this benchmark. Check out the chart below for the details.

Crysis

Crysis is getting to be an older game now, but it can still bring machines to their knees. The SC 18.4 again crushed records in this benchmark.

Windows Media Encoder

Version and / or Patch Used: 9
Developer Homepage: http://www.microsoft.com
Product Homepage: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx

The final benchmark is my Windows Media Encoder test where I take the 1080p HD Magic of Flight video from Microsoft and use WME to change the video to DVD quality video with CD quality audio. Check out the chart below to see how well the notebook performed.