Eurocom's Monster 4 is a 14-inch ultraportable laptop with gaming chops

Gaming laptops don't have to be big, massive machines that cause you to throw your back out every time you lug 'em around. Today's thin-and-light systems actually pack enough power for decent gaming, as the specs of Eurocom's 14-inch Monster 4 show. Eurocom announced the system today: a 14-inch laptop with Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M graphics and either a 1080p or 1440p panel, with a 1-inch thick upgradeable chassis. Not too bad for 4.4 pounds (2kg).

There's no option to upgrade the GTX 970M with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM to a GTX 980M, though given the laptop's thin profile, that might not be a bad thing.

On the storage side, the Monster 4 can accommodate a single 7mm SSD/HDD and an M.2 SSD. There's also a 6-in-1 memory card reader.

Other notable features include four USB 3.0 ports, two mini DisplayPorts, a single HDMI output, GbE LAN, backlit keyboard, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and choice of Windows 7, 8.1, or 10.

You can configure a Monster 4 now starting at just under $1,300 (without OS).

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).