Eurocom Monster 1.0/Clevo W110ERF: Conclusion

Heat and Noise

The Monster is surprisingly well-mannered for possessing so many high-powered components in an 11.6-inch chassis. At idle the notebook is all but silent; the single fan is running but not audible. The fan spools up under load and develops a slight whine but isn't annoying. The chassis gets lukewarm on the left side after extended gaming sessions, but nothing that could be considered "hot". It's not easy to use this notebook on a lap due to the cooling vent placement; be careful not to block it. Warm air is expelled out the left side of the notebook; visible through the opening is a high-quality copper heatsink. Overall I couldn't be more impressed with this cooling solution; I was holding my breath. It still seems crazy to pack a full power quad-core processor and high-performance Nvidia graphics card into an 11.6-inch chassis!

Battery Life

The included 6-cell battery has a respectable power rating of 62Wh. Our standard battery rundown test consists of Windows 7 Balanced power profile, 70% screen brightness, wireless active and refreshing a web page every 60 seconds. I managed four hours, 10 minutes of life before Windows demanded I find a plug.

Four hours isn?t exactly impressive for an 11.6-inch notebook ? but then again this isn?t a normal 11.6-inch notebook. Notebooks with as much power as this one are in the 14-15.6? range or larger and would get about the same amount of life on a six-cell. Overall it?s hard to complain.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion

The W110ERF achieves its goal of packing the most amount of power in the smallest package possible while still maintaining usability. Stuffing the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processor and a powerful Nvidia GT 650M graphics card in an 11.6? chassis is no small engineering feat. Overall performance is outstanding for any task, especially gaming.

The W110ERF is a great travel companion thanks to its four pound weight and durable exterior. The four hours of battery life should suffice but it?s not as much as a normal ultraportable gets. The screen is a disappointment, with no better quality than most mainstream notebooks; I imagine many customers will hook this unit up to a TV or external monitor. But everything else about the notebook checked out.

Eurocom sells the W110ERF as the Monster 1.0; it starts at under $900 though be careful with the options as they add up fast. In the low-$1,000 range it?s a respectable value.

Pros:

• Phenomenal performance
• Manages heat well
• Good keyboard and touchpad

Cons:

• Bland looking design

Individual Ratings: *

Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score