Mountain Graphite 20 Pro/£1,110 review

This gaming laptop, from Spanish firm Mountain, is an exercise in extremes. It only has a 13.3in screen, which makes it much smaller than every other gaming laptop we’ve reviewed recently, but that panel also has a colossal native resolution of 3,200 x 1,800.

The resolution and 13.3in diagonal creates a pin-sharp pixel density of 276ppi; a long way beyond the 127ppi of 17in gaming laptops with 1,920 x 1,080 panels. It’s even better than 4K screens – our favourite, the 28in Asus PB287Q, has a pixel density of ‘just’ 157ppi. The result is that photos, icons and text look fantastically smooth when they’re rendered properly. 

However, while the huge resolution grabs attention, it also raises concerns. This panel has 5,760,000 pixels; many more than the 2,073,600 on a conventional 1,920 x 1,080 panel, and that’s a problem for gaming: graphics might look sharper, but it’s no good if quality settings need to be reduced for a smooth frame rate.
The high resolution proves problematic outside of games too. Windows 8.1 scales up much of the OS to mimic a 1080p panel now, which makes the screen easy to use (and sharp) without squinting, but a few software vendors still haven’t followed suit. For example, Google Chrome stays at its normal size in terms of buttons and features, but its text looks blurry, while Steam and Origin look similarly fuzzy. That isn’t the fault of the laptop, of course, but it’s worth bearing in mind before  buying a PC laptop with such a high pixel density. Mountain has fitted a GeForce GTX 860M to cope with gaming demands, sitting between the GPUs found in larger laptops we’ve recently reviewed; the 17in  MSI GS60 has a more powerful GTX 870M, but the Asus G550JK and its 15.6in screen makes do with a GTX 850M.

The Mountain’s 2.5GHz Core i7-4710MQis a step ahead of the 2.4GHz i7-4700HQ inside both these machines though.
The boot drive is a 240GB Crucial M500 SSD, and there’s a 750GB hard disk too – a decent enough storage setup. However the single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi systemis disappointing by current standards, especially compared with the MSI GS60’s  dual-band 802.11ac setup.
The Mountain’s exterior isn’t particularly striking, although the build quality is decent  throughout. The third-party chassis is covered in different shades of grey plastic, Mountain Graphite 20 Pro/£1,110inc VAT SUPPLIER www.mountain.es/SPECIFICATIONS CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710MQ Memory 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX  860M 2GB GDDR5 SoundOn-board Screen size 13.3in 3,200 x 1,800 Storage240GB Crucial M500 SSD,750 GB hard disk Networking Gigabit Ethernet, single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi Weight 2.1kg Ports3 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, HDMI 1.4, VGA,2xaudio,SD card slot Dimensions (mm)330 x 227 x 32 (WxDxH) Operating system Windows 8.1
64-bit Extras Bluetooth 4 WarrantyTwo years return to base GAMING LAPTOP lacking the slick design or smart touches of recent rival systems we’ve seen. The logo on the lid is merely a metallic sticker, and gaming laptop fans may already be familiar with the chassis – German firm Schenker uses it for some of its  XMG-branded 13.3in machines, for example. 

The outside has three USB 3 ports, a USB 2 port, and D-SUB and HDMI outputs. There’s Gigabit Ethernet and an SD card slot too. Meanwhile, one panel on the base can be removed to grant access to almost every component. The hard disk and SSD can be easily removed, there’s a spare mSATA slot, and the wireless chip and memory slots are also accessible. 

Even the heatsink and fan can be popped  out and cleaned by removing a few screws. The 13.3in screen means this machine is 330mm wide, which makes it narrower than both of the aforementioned machines. It’s 32mm thick, though, which is chunkier than the 28mm Asus G550JK and thesvelte 20mmframe of the MSI GS-60. The Mountain also tips the scales at 2.1kg, which is 140g heavier than the MSI with its 17in screen; however, it’s still light enough to carry around. The keys are satisfyingly rigid too, although the confines of the chassis means they’re a little on the small side, and there’s also no room for a numeric keypad

Performance

The GTX 860M is a competent GPU, but it couldn’t handle all our test games at 1080p. In fact, it only ran smoothly in BioShock Infinite, with a 37fps minimum. 

Battlefield 4 was hampered by a 23fps minimum, and in Crysis 3, the Mountain’s 17fps minimum was decidedly sluggish. Top-end games will need to be toned down to run smoothly on this GPU, and that’s doubly true when the screen’s native resolution is deployed. Crysis 3’s Very High settings ran at a single-figure frame rate at 3,200 x 1,800, and both BioShock and Battlefield 4 were only a little smoother. The Mountain’s gaming credentials are further hampered by its speakers. Despite the Onkyo branding, they lack volume, the bass is weedy, and the top end is distant.

Disappointingly, the screen’s contrast ratio of 454:1 was also very low – half the figure we saw on the Asus G550JK and MSI GS-60, and the 350cd/m2 brightness level is good but unremarkable. The lack of contrast means that colours lack punch, but that isn’t the only department where colours suffer. The Mountain’s average delta E of 2.95 isn’t stunning either, with the aforementioned MSI system’s screen comparatively managing 2.16. This isn’t a bad screen, but you can definitely get better image quality elsewhere. 

On the plus side, the Core i7 is an impressive CPU. In our new benchmarks, it scored 1,987 points overall, putting it in the same ball park as the MSIGS60– only the toughest Windows software will cause this machine to slow down. Not surprisingly, battery lifewhen gaming isn’t brilliant. When running a looped gaming test with the screen at 100 per cent brightness, the Mountain lasted 56 minutes – that’s  in the same ballpark as most gaming laptops. Cooling ability is more of a concern, however. In the tight  confines of the 13.3inchassis, the processor and GPU temperatures topped out at 97°C and 81°C respectively. The latter figure is fine, but the former is higher than any CPU temperature we’ve seen in other recent gaming laptops. The internal fans also then spun up suddenly to cope with the heat, with excess air pumped from a vent on the lefthand edge – use of a headset is recommended to drown out the noise.

Conclusion

We like the idea of a13.3in gaming laptop with such a high screen resolution, but this system makes numerous sacrifices. Its GTX 860M GPU struggles to maintain playable frame rates at top settings at 1080p, let alone the screen’s native resolution. Plus, while the Mountain has a small  VERDICT A very high screen resolution and decent application performance, but it’s hamperedby slightly disappointing image quality and a hot-running CPU. 

OVERALL SCORE 77% 

SPEED 19/25

HARDWARE 22/25
DESIGN 16/25
VALUE 20/25
width, it’s also thicker and heavier than the 17in MSI GS60. While the Mountain’s screen offers a fantastic pixel density, the MSI’s lower resolution screen is better, thanks to superior contrast and colour accuracy. That said, though, the Mountain remains a 13.3in laptop at a reasonable price that has the power to play high-end games at 1080p, as long as you’re prepared to drop your settings a little. As such, it’s still a decent option for those who want gaming power inside a small frame, and for those who use software that specifically benefits from the higher resolution. If you’re not fussed about the width or the high resolution, though, the MSI GS60 offers a slimmer, lighter laptop with more gaming power and better image quality  for just an extra £160.

SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710MQ
Memory 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX
860M 2GB GDDR5
SoundOn-board
Screen size 13.3in 3,200 x 1,800
Storage 240GB Crucial M500
SSD,750 GB harddisk
Networking Giga bit Ethernet,
single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi
Weight2.1kg
Ports3 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, HDMI
1.4, VGA,2x audio,SD card slot
Dimensions (mm)330 x 227 x 32
(WxDxH)
Operating system Windows 8.1
64-bit
Extras Bluetooth 4
Warranty Two years return to bas