Laptop News

Malibal Veda series – Gaming laptop for deep pockets

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Extremely power gaming desktop, good service and support

Thumbs Down:

Speakers are poor, glossy body is a fingerprint magnet, touch pad and keyboard are extremely small.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Malibal Veda series notebook is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 / 2.53 GHz, a dual core processor, with data bus speed is 1066 MHz. It has L2 cache of 3 MB, memory included is 4 GB DDR3 SD RAM of 1333 MHz, expandable to 8 GB. For storing data, there is a 320 GB SATA hard drive of 5400 rpm, DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM has speed of CD/DVD write speed of 8x.

The display of the notebook is 18.4 inches big and has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. The graphic card included is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M (2 cards in SLI) of 1 GB. Above the display, there is a 3 MP camera. Interfaces include 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire), 1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T – RJ-45, 1 x Audio – SPDIF output, 1 x Audio – Line-in – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Audio – Line-out/headphones – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Storage – eSATA-300 – 7 pin external Serial ATA, 3 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x Display / video – DVI-Analog/Digital, 1 x Display / video – HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A.

The notebook is powered by 4650 mAh lithium ion battery. Malibal Veda comes with a one year warranty.

Razzle Dazzle:

Malibal Veda is a great performer, no doubt about that, but it looks pretty average. There is no brand logo on the lid or rest of the body but the lighting system is like a Christmas tree. There are lights on the tribal like tattoo on the lid, front firing speaker grills and rear vent fans. The touch sensitive key row, the touch pad, palm rest, and the lid are all covered in high gloss plastic. This attracts a lot of finger prints and make the device look dirty.

Inside Dope:

This is a desktop replacement notebook from Malibal and no compromise has been made to keep it light or thin. This notebook is the largest that we have had in our test centers, it has 18.4 inch LCD, 8 GB of DDR3 memory, Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300 and for playing games, there is dual Nvidia GeForce GTX280M graphics cards. The hardware inside is top-notch but the manufacturer could have given us a better design.

We were much fans of the lighting system; it looked like a Christmas tree. Above the keyboard, there is a touch sensitive key which lets you cycle through the color options. You can put them off altogether or program it to change after some time. The ports, outputs and inputs are crowded on the right and left sides. If you are going to connect this notebook to bigger monitor, headset or speakers, mouse and keyboard, you will have lots of cables spewing on the sides. The keyboard seems a bit cramped with small keys. It is not good for typing but you won’t notice the small size while gaming. The touch is small too, and it is without a physical border. There is just a blue line on the edge. There are 8 user programmable keys located on the keyboards left, they seem to take a lot of space.

The screen of Malibal Veda is 18.4 inches log and has a display resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The panel is glossy but the display went well with us, it had excellent viewing angles and the contrast and color was good. Above the display, there is a three megapixel Webcam along with built in mics. So far so good, the speakers are bit disappointing. The set consists of a subwoofer and five speakers. Sound in games, movies and music lacked depth even after several tweaks. We will recommend you to purchase a separate set of speakers if you are purchasing this notebook.

When it comes to connectivity options, there is nothing missing on the Malibal Veda. On the right side, there are Audio I/O jacks along with a USB port and a USB 2.0/eSATA combo port. The manufacturer also gives an RF if you wish to connect to an external tuner. On the left side, there is everything else and this is what makes the notebook messy with cables.

Our review model of Malibal Veda has all the high end hardware and this drives the cost up to $5000. For gamers on stiff budgets, this laptop starts at $2272. However, this configuration compromises seriously on specs, you get a DVD burner, 250 gig 5400 rpm hard disk, 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 and no OS. The dual Nvidia graphics cards cannot be left out though.

Our review rig had dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce GTX280M graphics cards, three 80 GB SSDs, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM and 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300. All this comes together to give exceptional performance in audio-encoding, image processing and multitasking applications. This rig was second to only AVADirect Clevo D900F, a notebook which had 3.33GHz Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Quad Core desktop processor.

When tested for gaming, Malibal Veda wasn’t a competiton killer, but it did better than most gaming laptops including Alienware M17x. Frame rates were steady even when we tweaked the resolution all the way up to 1900×1200 pixels and game play was smooth.

Being a desktop replacement, we didn’t expect stellar performance from the battery of Malibal Veda. The weight of this device won’t let you stay outdoors for too long and with just 58 minutes battery life, you indeed won’t stay out long. We won’t complain much about this, with all the high end hardware put inside, we expected the battery juice to finish up quickly. Veda has the worst battery life we have ever seen in our test centers. For an extra $135 you get another battery but it doesn’t seem worth going for because you have to unscrew thrice before you get inside the battery compartment.

Malibal Veda comes with a one year warranty for labor and parts. Warranty extensions are offered at $269 and $149 for three and two years respectively. We usually don’t recommend extended warranties because they are too costly. You can access the toll free helpline from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. along with this, there is 24-7 ticket and live chat support too. Driver downloads and online knowledge base is available too. The system is offered at a reduced price, if you pay through bank wire, money order, check, Paypal eCheck. Finally there is a 30 day money back guarantee.

Nitty Gritty:

The Malibal Veda series laptops are great for gaming but come at a premium. If you are willing to spend big, go get this laptop.