Conclusion: If Not For Competition

Conclusion: If Not For Competition

The Compal PBL21 is a solid evolution of the NBLB2, bringing with it the upgrade to Sandy Bridge, slightly improved graphics hardware, and a much better chassis. Including USB 3.0 is a nice touch, and the 1080p panel is always welcome. In a vacuum, this would be an easy enough laptop to recommend.

Unfortunately, as with the NBLB2, the PBL21 doesn't exist in a vacuum. In our review it butts up squarely against two impressive competitors. The Clevo P151HM sports a great screen, too, and it has a vastly more powerful GPU that's actually capable of handling gaming at 1080p. CyberpowerPC is willing to sell you that notebook upgraded with the new GeForce GTX 560M (which also supports Optimus!) in an otherwise identical configuration to this review unit for $1,460, or about $300 more. At least there you have a reasonably hard decision to make, though if gaming is important to you it will be worth taking the plunge.

And then there's the Dell XPS 15. Jarred's been a big fan of Dell's revived XPS line and it's not hard to see why. Dell will sell you the XPS 15 in a comparable configuration for $1,344, although you sacrifice the SSD. In exchange you get better speakers, an even better screen, a good keyboard, and improved battery life.

Pricewise the PBL21 is more or less where it needs to be. It's the least expensive option in the bunch, with a fairly well-rounded form factor and a decent GPU. This is if nothing else a balanced design, and the benefit of ordering from a boutique like CyberpowerPC or AVADirect is that they're far less likely to rip you off on upgrade costs. Case in point: CyberpowerPC upgrades you from 4GB to 8GB of RAM for $69, while Dell will ding you $120 for the privilege. You can grab the Compal PBL21 (Xplorer X6-9600) with a quad-core processor starting at less than $1000, which is a lot of performance all things considered.

The price is right on the PBL21 and it's not necessarily a bad notebook. I just can't help but feel like it's a situation where you may want to budge in one direction or the other. But if you want a 1080p screen, quad-core processor, SSD, and a decent GPU at a good price, you'll have a hard time doing better.

We'd like to thank CyberpowerPC for giving us the opportunity to review the Compal PBL21.

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