A portable gaming PC that deserves a better screen
I'm Dan Ackerman and we are here taking a look at the Maingear Pulse 14.
This is another one of a reasonably long line of midsize gaming laptops that we've seen this year.
We've seen examples from Alienware, Origin, and Razer.
Maingear is another boutique PC maker and it's really cool ever seeing people making gaming laptops with 13- and 14-inch screens rather than just the big 17- or 18-inch monitors that we're used to.
Of course, there are some trade-offs
involved.
If you get a system from a boutique PC maker like Maingear or Origin, these guys can't make their own custom bodies from scratch the way Alienware, which is owned by Dell, does.
They basically use an off-the-shelf body which is what you see here and they customize it.
In this case, they do an actually very nice color back of the lid.
This is done in automotive painting.
You're getting different colors.
It's got some really great kind of automotive sparkly detail to it.
Otherwise, it looks like a fairly standard chunky 14-inch laptop and the keyboard and touchpad
are really not designed for gaming.
I'm hoping that you're going to hook up an external mouse and maybe plug the whole thing into a monitor and use your own keyboard with it as well.
Now, this guy, configuration-wise, is just around $2000, but you can get it down to about $1250.
And for that $1250, you still get the same Core i7 CPU and Nvidia 760M Graphics card that we have in a more expensive version which is great.
The big letdown here, however, is the screen.
It is a 1600x900 screen.
It's not a full 1920x1080 screen which most of the other midsize gaming laptops and all of the larger gaming laptops have.
You really do wanna be able to play in full HD.
In order to do that here, you have to do, what I did a lot of time which is take an HDMI output to a larger monitor and then you hook up a mouse and a keyboard and you're basically just using the hardware here.
If this system had a better display, it loses a lot of detail with off-axis viewing, although I like that it's kind of a matte display, not over the glossy.
If you can't get past that display, you can certainly save a couple bucks over some of these other systems and still get those high-end components, but that's if you're gonna plug it into a monitor all the time.
As a standalone gaming laptop, I'd say the 1600x900 display really turned me off.
I'm Dan Ackerman and that is the Maingear Pulse 14.
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Up Next
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Microsoft Surface Pro 10, Surface Laptop 6 Are Here
Microsoft Surface Pro 10, Surface Laptop 6 Are Here
Apple Has Big AI Plans for Mac — and iPhone, Too
Apple Has Big AI Plans for Mac — and iPhone, Too
M3 MacBook Air Review: A Better Reason to Upgrade?
M3 MacBook Air Review: A Better Reason to Upgrade?
Apple Updates 13- and 15-Inch MacBook Air With M3 Chips
Apple Updates 13- and 15-Inch MacBook Air With M3 Chips
Best Laptops of CES 2024
Best Laptops of CES 2024
Best Laptops 2023: Budget Friendly
Best Laptops 2023: Budget Friendly
Apple MacBook Pro 16- and 14-Inch, M3 Series Review
Apple MacBook Pro 16- and 14-Inch, M3 Series Review
Apple's M3 Sparks a New Era of Mac vs. PC Battles
Apple's M3 Sparks a New Era of Mac vs. PC Battles
M3 MacBook Pro, iMac Reactions
M3 MacBook Pro, iMac Reactions
Tech Shows
The Apple Core
The Apple Core
Alphabet City
Alphabet City
CNET Top 5
CNET Top 5
The Daily Charge
The Daily Charge
What the Future
What the Future
Tech Today
Tech Today
Cooley On Cars
Cooley On Cars
Carfection
Carfection
The Apple Core
The Apple Core
Alphabet City
Alphabet City
CNET Top 5
CNET Top 5
The Daily Charge
The Daily Charge
What the Future
What the Future
Tech Today
Tech Today
Cooley On Cars
Cooley On Cars
Carfection
Carfection
Latest News
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Everything Announced at Microsoft's Surface Copilot + PC Event
Everything Announced at Microsoft's Surface Copilot + PC Event
Android 15: See New Features in Action
Android 15: See New Features in Action
If Apple Makes Siri Like ChatGPT or Gemini, I'm Done
If Apple Makes Siri Like ChatGPT or Gemini, I'm Done
Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?
Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?
Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra
Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra
I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery
I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery
How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?
How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?
I Tried Google's Project Astra
I Tried Google's Project Astra
Everything Google Just Announced at I/O 2024
Everything Google Just Announced at I/O 2024
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Microsoft Announces First Surface Copilot Plus PCs Powered by Qualcomm
Everything Announced at Microsoft's Surface Copilot + PC Event
Everything Announced at Microsoft's Surface Copilot + PC Event
Android 15: See New Features in Action
Android 15: See New Features in Action
If Apple Makes Siri Like ChatGPT or Gemini, I'm Done
If Apple Makes Siri Like ChatGPT or Gemini, I'm Done
Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?
Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?
Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra
Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra
I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery
I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery
How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?
How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?
I Tried Google's Project Astra
I Tried Google's Project Astra
Everything Google Just Announced at I/O 2024