Aftershock XG13 - The VFM Gaming Notebook Choice

Build To Order

Aftershock is a Singapore-based custom notebooks specialist. Currently, they offer seven distinct models in a variety of sizes - ranging from the compact 13-inch XG13 we have for review here, to the simply massive 17-inch Titan. However, what really makes Aftershock stand out from the competition is that their notebooks are highly customizable.

The XG13 is Aftershock’s latest addition to their stable and it is their take on the new breed of ultra-slim and ultra-portable gaming notebooks. To begin and to be frank, the XG13 loses out in the portability stakes when compared to its two recently reviewed rivals - the MSI GE40 2OC Dragon Eyes and the Razer Blade. With a thickness of 32mm, it is marginally thicker than the MSI GE40 and nearly twice as thick as the Razer Blade. Its weight of 2kg also makes it slightly heavier than its rivals.

Fortunately, it makes up for its bulkier dimensions by being the only notebook in its class to offer a Full-HD (1080p) IPS display panel and by being highly customizable. This is a boon to users with specific requirements, and it also means that it is possible to spec the XG13 with a faster processor, more memory and greater flexibility when it comes to storage.

The Hardware Bits

As we have mentioned earlier, the XG13 is highly customizable. In fact, apart from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU, everything else, including the processor, can be picked from a pretty extensive options list. Our review unit came with a quad-core Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor (2.4GHz, 6MB cache), 8GB of RAM and a 256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro SSD.

For those of you are familiar with Intel’s various SKUs, you would notice that Aftershock has opted for a slightly more powerful processor than both the Razer Blade and MSI GE40. The Core i7-4700MQ has a 200MHz advantage over the Core i7-4702MQ/HQ processors used in the Razer and MSI notebooks, but it also suffers from a higher TDP - 47W as opposed to 37W. How this will affect battery life will be interesting to see as we share that on the following page. Additionally, users can spec their XG13 with more powerful Core i7-4800MQ (2.7GHz, 6MB cache) and Core i7-4900MQ processors (2.8GHz, 8MB L3 cache).

As for storage, the Aftershock XG13 comes with two mSATA bays and a regular 2.5-inch drive bay. Our unit came with a 256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro SSD, but it can also be equipped with hard disk drives or even hybrid drives. Alternatively, if you have a particular drive in mind that you want to use - maybe a spare SSD lying around at home - you could bring it down to Aftershock and have them fit it in to your notebook. The ideal setup in our books would be to have two mSATA SSDs in RAID 1 configuration and have a standard but spacious hard disk drive in the 2.5-inch drive bay. This would give you the best of both worlds of speed and capacity.

Unlike its rivals which use 1600 x 900 TN display panels, Aftershock has decided to go with a Full-HD (1080p) IPS panel. The difference is night and day. The XG13’s display looks so crisp, sharp and bright when put next to the Razer Blade. For demanding users who require accurate color representation, you could pay an additional fee and have Aftershock calibrate the monitor for you.

Other aspects of the XG13 that you can customize include the amount of RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity (standard, Intel N Advanced 6235 or Killer Wireless), the type of thermal compound used, operating system and length of warranty.

Design & Features

Design is an aspect where the Aftershock XG13 falls a little flat. While the 14-inch Razer Blade is a thing of beauty, the XG13 looks decidedly industrial and bulky. Aftershock offers a skinning service for customers, and they can choose to decorate the notebook with a variety of wraps. Our unit came with a carbon fiber wrap that has a unique color that seems to change depending on the light. This is a nice touch, but it does not detract from the fact that the XG13 is hardly a looker. Fortunately, despite extensive use of plastic for the chassis, the XG13 still feels solid and rigid - the same cannot be said for the MSI GE40. There is no noticeable flex in the chassis.

At 31.9mm thick, it is slightly thicker than the MSI GE40 and nearly twice as thick as the Razer Blade. It makes up for that with a good selection of I/O ports - three USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0 port, VGA and HDMI output. The inclusion of VGA output is slightly puzzling, as we would rather have a DisplayPort so as to easily drive high-resolution displays.

The chiclet keyboard is excellent, but like the Razer, could use with a little more travel to improve tactility. The keys have backlights, which are white by default, but can be customized for a small fee. Additional colors include orange, red, blue, pink and more. Aftershock can even customize backlights for individual keys. For example, Aftershock can fit red backlights on WASD while keeping the rest of the keyboard backlights white.

Like MSI and Razer, the Aftershock eschews the a clickable trackpad for a regular trackpad with two separate button for the left and right click functions. The two buttons are nicely sized, but at the expense of the trackpad, which makes it too small to be used comfortably. If it is any consolation, the trackpad is very responsive and accurate, and we would not mind using them for extended periods if we had no mouse.

The speakers ares sourced from Japanese audio specialists Onkyo, but they sounded like typical notebook speakers, which is to say they sounded flat, thin and generally unimpressive.

Test Setup

To test the Aftershock XG13, we will be putting it through our usual benchmarks. You will find the full list below. As for comparison, the XG13 will be compared mainly against the Razer Blade and MSI GE40 - its closest rivals in the new category of ultra-portable gaming notebooks. We have also included results from other gaming notebooks that we have tested recently, namely the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500, Alienware M17X R4 and MSI GT70 0NE and the old 17-inch Razer Blade from last year.

This is the full list of benchmarks used:

• PCMark 7
• PCMark 8
• 3DMark 11
• 3DMark 2013
• Far Cry 2
• Crysis 2

Here is how the Aftershock XG13 stacks up against its closest rivals.

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PCMark 8

PCMark 8 is the latest benchmarking utility from Futuremark and was designed to measure the performance of Windows 8 systems. We will be testing the system using four different scenarios, Home, Creative, Work and Storage, which simulates different workloads that a user might subject the system to.

The Aftershock XG13 held slight leads on the “Home”, “Creative” and “Storage” workloads, while losing out slightly on “Work”. On the “Adobe” and “MS Office” work loads which involved real-world computing tasks with Microsoft Office 2010 and Adobe CS6 applications, the XG13 had a significant 15% advantage over its rivals. Its superior showing in this benchmark can be alluded to its more powerful processor and very fast Samsung SSD.

PCMark 7

Thanks to Aftershock XG13’s slightly more powerful processor and very fast SSD, it managed to lead on most of the workloads, losing out only very slightly on the “Entertainment” and “Computation” work scenarios. Its overall score is also the highest we have recorded thus far, easily seeing off its rivals and significantly better than last generation's gaming notebooks.

3DMark 2013

3DMark 2013 is the latest graphics benchmarking utility from FutureMark and we will be gauging the systems’ performance using the Cloud Gate and the more intensive Fire Strike benchmark. The Aftershock XG13 and Razer Blade were the clear leaders on the 3DMark 2013 benchmark. The XG13 recorded marginally better scores because of its faster processor which gave it the edge in the physics test scenarios.

3DMark 11

Since 3DMark 11’s Extreme Preset runs in full-HD 1920 x 1080p resolution, we hooked both the Razer and MSI machines up to an external display to ensure they were tested fairly. The Aftershock XG13 once again maintained a slight lead over the Razer Blade despite having the same GeForce GTX 765M thanks to its marginally more powerful processor. However, the MSI GT70 0NE was still the undisputed leader in this benchmark because of its GeForce GTX 680M GPU - NVIDIA's last generation flagship mobile GPU.

Far Cry 2 

Moving on to real-world gaming benchmarks, the Aftershock XG13 and Razer Blade were almost on a par, with the XG13 taking a slight lead - once again because of its slightly more powerful processor. Compared to the MSI GE40, the XG13 was about 15% to 20% faster.

Crysis 2

On Crysis 2, the XG13 continued to command a slight lead over the Razer Blade and MSI GE40. However, overall performance still falls flat when compared to Dell Alienware M17X R4 and MSI GT70 0NE, both which have more powerful GPUs. That said, the fact that it could still run Crysis 2 comfortably at full HD resolution and at "Very High" settings, is certainly impressive when you remember that it is significantly more compact and portable than the Dell and MSI 17-inch notebooks.

However, bear in mind that unlike the Razer Blade and MSI GE40, the XG13’s native resolution is 1920 x 1080. To get the best visuals, it is always recommended to use the display’s native resolution and this will result in an inevitable hit in performance, though the overall experience is likely to be better - sharper and crisper graphics. Gamers will need to take this into account when considering the XG13. 

Battery Life & Power Consumption

Before we begin our analysis of the Aftershock XG13’s performance in our battery tests, it is important to remember that the MSI GE40 scored so well because it could not run our usual benchmark (Powermark) and we had to resort to our old testing methodology, which was to loop a 720p HD video over and over. Clearly, the latest Core processors and NVIDIA graphics are really well optimized for playing video, hence the discrepancy in timings.

As for the XG13, it recorded 144 minutes on Powermark - 28 minutes shorter than Razer Blade - which was not unexpected considering it has a more power-hungry processor and a smaller battery - 62.16Wh vs. the Blade’s 70Wh battery. This puts power consumption at 25.89W, just 6% more than the Blade, which is actually decent when you consider that it also has a higher resolution and more power draining IPS display panel. 

Portability Index

Our Portability Index factors in battery life, weight and volume so you can see which notebook is the most worthwhile to carry around. The Aftershock XG13 managed a Portability Index score of 0.502, which is significantly poorer than the Razer Blade. The reasons for this can be attributed to its poorer battery life and larger dimensions and heavier weight. In practice we have to admit that while the XG13 is noticeably bulkier than the Blade, it was not much heavier - the actual difference in weight between the two is actually just 200g. Overall, the XG13 is still pretty portable and as our performance benchmarks have shown, it is marginally quicker than the Blade, so overall, it’s a fair trade off in our opinion.

Take note that the portability of the MSI GE40 is based on the video looping run which gives it a better footing (no thanks to its inability to run Powermark).

For True Gamers

The Aftershock XG13 might not be the most portable or good-looking ultra-portable gaming notebook, but there is much to like about it.

To begin, we really like the amount of customizable options that Aftershock provides for the XG13. Save for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M and Full-HD dsiplay (we don’t see why anyone would want another display when the default one is pretty good), almost everything else can be customized, right down to even the thermal compound used on the CPU and GPU. Also, the ability to customize keyboard backlights and wraps for the XG13 is also much welcomed and adds much needed spice and pizzazz to an otherwise plain-looking notebook.

In terms of performance, the XG13 was also very competitive and turned out to be marginally quicker than the Blade on almost all of our benchmarks - thanks to its more powerful processor and possibly the speedy Samsung SSD 840 Pro SSD. What’s more, performance-conscious users can spec the XG13 with even more powerful Core i7-4800MQ and Core i7-4900MQ processors, if they so desire. On the flip side, do note that the XG13 suffers slightly in terms of battery life performance.

One thing to note, however, is that when we say that the XG13 is faster, this is based on its gaming performance on a comparable 1600 x 900 resolution (which its competitors use). If one was to use the XG13's native resolution of 1920 x 1080, an inevitable hit in performance is to be expected. After all, 1920 x 1080 vs. 1600 x 900 means an additional 633,600 pixels (40% more) to fill.

As for price, a system like our review unit would set users back about S$2240. This is about S$140 more than the MSI GE40, but a whopping S$560 less than a Razer Blade with equivalent flash storage capacity. For users who are conscious about value and getting their monies’ worth, the XG13 is the clear choice. Even though the MSI GE40 is the most affordable of the trio, the XG13 offers appreciably more performance and is better built.

Furthermore, the good thing about Aftershock notebooks is the ability to customize its components and looks (to a certain extent), hence it is possible to get this notebook for less - but at the cost of lesser performance. For example, the entry-level no-frills XG13 will set you back just S$1679, but do note that this will only get the most basic components - Core i7-4700MQ processor, 4GB RAM and 500GB hard disk and no pre-installed OS. This makes it more affordable than the MSI GE40, but honestly, these specifications are not ideal if you are serious about gaming. 8GB of RAM is almost a prerequisite these days and a SSD would complement the other components much better and deliver a much more enjoyable computing and gaming experience.

In all, the XG13 is a remarkable offering from the home-grown custom notebook specialists. It might not be as portable and polished as the Razer Blade or as affordable as the MSI GE40, but it redeems itself with class-leading performance, a wide range of customizable options and an appealing price that is sure to be attractive to discerning gamers who know what they want.

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