Design
One would expect a gaming rig with such a high price tag to come with some form of glowing eyes, chassis flames, or tribal tattoo printing, but the is remarkably subdued—some might even say dull. The all-black machine is highlighted with silver trim, but it's brought down a couple of notches by being a big-time fingerprint magnet. After a few minutes of hands-on time with the notebook, we had to grab a paper towel to remove the smudges. Hardcore fraggers may also lament the fact that the design isn't customizable.
Our biggest beef with the Satori is the build quality. During our testing, the back side of dell battery got caught in the area beneath the display's bezel when just opening the notebook. As a result, this piece detached from the chassis, and throughout the rest of our testing we had to hold it in place when opening the lid. Another design flaw is the flip-down door that hides the power jack, HDMI port, and other connections on the back of the system. This piece felt as if it would snap off after a few months of use. We hope
Heat
The good is that the Satori didn't become overly warm in most areas. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the temperature of the touchpad was 88 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys reached 94 degrees, and the middle of the underside was 104 degrees. We don't consider the touchpad or keyboard temperatures hot, but the underside may be too warm for those who venture to place this big boy in their laps.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The fujitsu battery is made of island-style keys that provided a decent amount of feedback when keying in URLs or tapping the WASD keys when navigating our protagonist through the submerged world of BioShock 2. The specious base affords a full number pad and large Shift keys, although the right one could be a bit wider. We would have also preferred backlit keys, which you'll find on Alienware notebooks. North of the keyboard are three touch-sensitive icons that launch Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, and a user-defined application.
South of the keyboard is a non-textured 3.2 x 2.0-inch touchpad that allowed us to quickly whip the cursor around the desktop. Unfortunately, also attracted fingerprints. A pair of lightly textured mouse buttons (separated by a biometric fingerprint reader) didn't offer great feedback when left- or right-clicking.
Display and Audio
An episode of Community streamed from Hulu to the Satori's 17.3-inch (1920 x 1080) display played back smoothly, and we enjoyed nice colors and skin tones. Firing up our Iron Man Blu-ray really showcased the red and gold in Tony Starks' armor, andremained crisp when we output the video feed to a 32-inch television via HDMI.
A pair of stereo churned out clear audio with solid low ends when we fired up Lauryn Hill's "Sweetest Thing," but we would've preferred more volume.
Ports and Webcam
The thick base (which measures 2.2 inches at its thickest point) is home to all manner of ports and connections. On the right side you'll find headphone, microphone, line in, and S/PDIF jacks, one USB 2.0, eSATA, DVI, Expresscard/54, and a Kengsington lock slot; the left side of the system houses Ethernet, a cable TV connection, 7-in-1 memory card reader, FireWire 400, another USB port, and a 2X Blu-ray burner; on the back of the notebook (hidden awkwardly behind the flip-down door) HDMI, modem, and the power connection.
The 2.0-megapixel positioned above the display served up rich colors and skin tones, but the visuals became murky when we weren't bathed in the brightest light. Friends reported choppy video when we moved about quickly, but we enjoyed crisp sound.