July 24th, 2009
Maingear debuts eX-L 18, 'world's most powerful laptop'; dual GeForce, triple HD, $3-6K
High-performance computer builders Maingear on Thursday announced its eX-L 18 desktop replacement laptop, ‘the world’s most powerful’ notebook, according to the company.
The system features dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs (1080p HD resolution, of course), Intel Core 2 mobile processors and dual-channel DDR3 memory.
It also offers up to three 2.5-in. SATA or SSD drives configurable in RAID formations, and provides eSATA, HDMI, USB 2.0 and FireWire, as well as a 3-megapixel video camera and full-size keyboard with number pad and programmable gaming buttons.
Naturally, Maingear offers its signature custom laser etching on the system’s shell.
The eX-L 18 is available in three recommended flavors, but can be customized as necessary. The high and low end, after the jump:
The “budget” model starts at $2,999 and nets you:
- Dual 1GB (2GB Total) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280m in SLI
- 18.4-Inch 1920 x 1080 LCD (1080P FullHD)
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz x 2)
- 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
- 1 Western Digital Scorpio Black 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II)
- 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD-RW, CD-RW)
- Integrated Gigabit Network Card
- Intel PRO/Wireless 5300AGN
- Internal Bluetooth
- Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
- Blue Illuminated Keyboard with Numeric Pad
…while a maxed-out “premium” version costing $5,982.62 looks like this:
- Dual 1GB (2GB Total) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280m in SLI
- 18.4-Inch 1920 x 1080 LCD (1080P FullHD)
- Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X9300 (2.53GHz x 4) 45w
- 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
- 1 Intel X25-M 80GB Solid-State Drive
- 2 Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II)
- RAID 1 - Data Redundancy and Protection (requires 2 or 4 HDDs)
- Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Burner (BD-ROM, DVD-RW, CD-RW)
- Integrated Gigabit Network Card
- Intel PRO/Wireless 5300AGN
- Internal Bluetooth
- Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
- Blue Illuminated Keyboard with Numeric Pad
Whether you go low, high or somewhere in the middle, the eX-L 18 can be had from Maingear’s website.
Want to know how Maingear plans to sell such an expensive system? Check out SmartPlanet’s interview with Maingear CTO Chris Morley on how to sell luxury technology in a recession.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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