iBuyPower Battalion 101 M865TU review

Unreal Tournament 3 (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

1,280x800, 0X AA, 0X AF*

1,440x900, 4X AA, 8X AF*

Alienware M17x

201.4 

200.1 

MSI GT725-212US @ 1,400x1050 / @ 1,280x768

159.2 

103.4 

Asus W90VP-X1 @ 1,400x1,050 / @ 1,280x768

143.3 

129.6 

iBuyPower M865TU

142.7 

111.4 

Gateway P-7808u

124.9 

100.3 

Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725

116.5 

100.8 

Juice box

iBuyPower Battalion 101 M865TU
Off (watts)	1.16
Sleep (watts)	1.88
Idle (watts)	26.25
Load (watts)	110.24
Raw (annual kWh)	187.09
Annual operating cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$21.23

The included eight-cell battery ran for 2 hours and 6 minutes in our video-playback battery drain test. While that's not as bad as other desktop replacement laptops, the midrange size would have suggested a better battery life. It's sufficient for a laptop in this category, but by no means should you let that AC charger out of your sight.

The iBuyPower M865TU comes with a standard one-year warranty, except for the battery, which has a 90-day warranty. iBuyPower's Web site provides needed drivers and technical support info, although attempting to download drivers will link you confusingly to external manufacturer sites since iBuyPower doesn't make these laptops (we got routed to Clevo). A toll-free support number is available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST, Monday through Friday.

System configurations:

iBuyPower Battalion M865TU
Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (64-bit); 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9800; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M; 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm

Gateway P-7808u
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS; 500GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Asus W90VP-X1
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600; 6GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 512MB Dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2; 320GB Seagate 7,200rpm

MSI GT725-212US
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000; 4GB DDR2 SDRAM 1066MHz; 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850; 320GB Western Digital 7,200rpm

Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX; HDD No. 1: 64GB Toshiba SSD / HDD No. 2: 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

Alienware M17x
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit; 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; (2) 512MB SLI Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M; (2) 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm