Maingear Element

A new gaming laptop enters the ring, and it can box all 10 rounds

- JOANNA NELIUS

WITH SO MANY BRANDS, such as Asus and MSI, dominating the gaming laptop landscape, it’s exciting when an unfamiliar name comes along. Granted, Maingear isn’t a no-name company— the boutique system builder has been around since 2002—but it’s entering the notebook arena for the first time with its Element and Vector laptops.

The model tested here is the retail version of the Element, which is slim, sleek, and weighs barely over four pounds, with a bezel of just 0.25 inches. The tenkeyless keyboard also helps give the Element its slim dimensions. The keys themselves are very square and packed tight, leaving more room at the bottom for a larger than average touchpad—but they also respond quickly, thanks to the lightweight, optical silent switches. For “silent” switches, though, they are surprisingly loud and clicky.

Also, it took this reviewer a while to adapt to the compressed keyboard layout, being used to the spaced-out keys of something like the Lenovo Legion Y740. Several hours of typing on the Element were required to get accustomed to the keyboard, and it might be a little too compact for anyone with large hands.