Think that image looks sweet? Wait until you read the specs! According to the press release “MAINGEAR Computers, award-winning builders of high performance custom computers for PC gamers and enthusiasts, is proud to announce the world’s most powerful desktop replacement notebook, the eX-L 18. Featuring dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M graphics processing units (GPUs) with NVIDIA SLI technology, the eX-L 18 brings your games and multimedia to life with brilliant 3D graphics and movies in 1080p HD resolution. With powerful Intel Core 2 mobile processors, eX-L 18 delivers breakthrough multi-core performance and dual-channel DDR3 memory.”

Here are more details:

“MainGear has equipped the eX-L 18 with the world’s fastest notebook graphics solution,” said Rene Hass, General Manager of the notebook business unit at NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, MainGear’s customers will experience breathtaking in gaming physics from titles such as Terminator Salvation or Darkest of Days and are ready for GPU computing applications such as Badaboom, vReveal and Arcsoft SimHD.”

The eX-L 18 is chock full of expansion potential, with up to 3 2.5″ SATA or SSD drives configurable in RAID formations. eSATA, HDMI, USB 2.0, and FireWire ensure that you can use the eX-L 18 just
like you would a desktop and without compromise. Additional features include a 3 Megapixel video camera provides high definition video conferencing, and a full sized keyboard with a number pad, and programmable gaming buttons.

“With the increasing demand for mobile high performance computing solutions, we wanted to offer our customers with the most powerful gaming desktop replacement possible” said Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR. “With the co-processing power of the Intel Core 2 CPU and dual NVIDIA GPUs , you’re able to get the same cutting edge technology available to desktop users in a balanced computing configuration that is ideal for today’s GPU computing environment .”

MAINGEAR eX-L 18 Notebook Specifications
- Windows Vista Premium with Free Windows 7 Upgrade Offer
- up to Intel Core 2 Extreme quad processor
- Intel MCP79
- Single or Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M
- up to 8GB DDR3-1333
- Up to 3 2.5″ SATA or SSD drives (RAID Available)
- DVD or Blu-ray
- 18.4″ LCD 1920×1080

Here are a couple of images:

Price on this monster? Starts at $2,999.

OK, that isn’t a bad starting price, but looking at the specs I assumed it would go north pretty fast. So I visited the site, clicked to configure one (a very easy process) and chose ‘Premium’ and looked at the total – $5,982.62. Of course, that had a 1TB RAID hard drive pair PLUS a 80GB solid state drive, a BluRay Disk as well as everything else maxed out. Huge amount of money, but quite a machine.

Just to check, I went back and chose what I would buy for myself, which was the ‘moderate’ option, but with the processor maxed out and the optical drive set to a BluRay reader, and the price came to ~$4,000. Still a lot of cash, but in line with what I have been paying for gaming laptops through the years.

Source: Maingear