Novatech Nspire 2760 – Black Edition

The high-powered Novatech Nspire 2760 laptop is made for playing games and has some of the best specifications we've recently seen on a laptop.

The graphics card, an Nvidia Geforce GT 555M, is designed for laptops so it emits less heat, but performance was good and the computer didn't have any problems playing the latest games in decent quality.

At 2.8kg the Nspire 2760 wasn't unreasonably hefty – a lot of high-specification laptops with larger screens tend to be bulky, but this model was powerful while still being portable (it weighs 2.8kg). That kept it from feeling like it was a ‘desktop-replacement' computer rather than a true laptop.

Novatech has included the latest and most powerful mobile processor from Intel, a Core i7-2760QM with 8GB of memory. In our video conversion test, which replicates real-world use, the computer came out very well and it was the fastest laptop we had looked at this year by quite some distance.

It uses a 500GB hybrid SSD hard disk, which we've seen before in the excellent Novatech Nspire Pro 2540 (click here to read our review of that model). Once again, performance was very good and the SSD part of the hard disk ensured that the laptop started up quickly while loading times were also fast.

Unfortunately, the high-powered components meant that the laptop had rather poor battery life which we measured at just over 90 minutes at flat-out use, which might mean doing some video editing. In normal use you're likely to see more, but it's still not going to be a good computer if you intend to be away from a power socket for long periods. As the processor and graphics card are both quite demanding, it will be best to keep the Nspire 2760 plugged in when playing games.

The 15.6in screen was good, and the perfect size for watching films or playing games, but not so big as to make the laptop cumbersome. The keyboard was also high-quality, but it felt quite spongy to the touch.

The touchpad had a strange ‘trick of the eye' look: from some angles it looked like it was a raised area, while from others it seemed to be in a recess, which was disconcerting. Eye-confusion aside, the buttons for left- and right-clicking were a little stiff, and the position of the touchpad in relation to the keyboard was awkward. We kept brushing it when typing which caused the cursor to jump around the screen.

For a relatively expensive laptop, the Nspire 2760 wasn't especially well finished: the grey plastic case felt more suited to a low-end budget laptop than one that costs £750. Its brushed-silver finish looked quite cheap too, and the shiny plastic coating wasn't very pleasant. The same plastic is used for the touchpad as well.

We always appreciate a laptop with a lot of sockets, so were pleased to find two USB 2 ports, two faster USB 3 ports, a webcam and a multiple memory card reader. There was also a fingerprint scanner for extra security, but this still feels like a bit of a gimmick on a laptop meant for home use, where there is little software that can make use of it.

At around £750 the Novatech Nspire 2760 represents a large investment but it has some of the best specifications we've seen on a laptop recently – it'll be great for people who want a big laptop and to play the occasional game while not forgoing portability.