Notebooks make a play as gamer machines

Thanks xStainDx. PC makers are gearing up to market notebooks more aggressively to PC gaming enthusiasts.

Although PC manufacturers have been selling game-oriented desktops for years, they're now bent on expanding their horizons via notebooks capable of handling high-clock speed desktop processors.

A number of brand-name PC manufacturers, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, are planning to offer notebooks with Intel's gaming-oriented Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor over the next two weeks. The chip comes with extra onboard memory, or cache, which helps it offer higher performance than a standard Pentium 4, Intel has said.

In many ways, the gamebook is an outgrowth of the popularity of Pentium 4 desktop-replacement notebooks. Consumers have been buying these supersize notebooks to replace their desktops for years, but the trend toward them has picked up speed recently, and manufacturers have been more aggressively marketing such notebooks. The machines generally pack near-desktop performance, by pairing the fastest Pentium 4s with 15-inch or larger displays, and even at weights ranging between about 7 to 10 pounds, they're still more portable than desktops and can also be more easily stowed out of the way.

The move to gaming notebooks also shows PC manufacturers are following the money in the market, NPD Techworld analyst Steve Baker said. As computer users start thinking about going mobile, PC makers are moving to meet their expectations, leaving no niche unexplored, he said.

Dell, for one, is expected to deliver a game-oriented Inspiron XPS notebook on Thursday. The machine will offer Intel's Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor, a 15.4-inch wide-angle display and a top-of-the-line graphics card, sources familiar with Dell's plans said.

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