PC MicroWorks's Vega super notebook tops out at over $7,000

Although it's a re-brand of another 20.1-inch laptop design, and it certainly isn't the first dual core, SLI capable notebook in the world, the step up in specifications that the new Vega laptop brings to the -- hopefully fortified -- table is quite impressive. When it's maxed-out, the Vega packs a dual core AMD Turion X2 processor, 20.1-inch 1,680 x 1,050 display, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 600GB of storage, a dual layer Blu-Ray burner, and dual nVIDIA GeForce GO 7950GTX graphics cards running in SLI mode. Tack on options like EV-DO, GPS, and a TV tuner and you're looking at a desktop replacement to rule all others: until the Vega Mk.2 comes out, that is. The only drag, as always, is the price. For the above configuration you'll have to pay $7,175, or commit yourself and your family to a life of crime. We have a feeling your spouse won't be OK with that, so you'd better mark this one down on your "to do: if I win the lottery" list.

[Via Yahoo]

[Richard Lai @ Dec 17th 2006 3:35AM]

I wonder how much is the manufacturing cost for each unit?

[John S. @ Dec 17th 2006 3:45AM]

That price and no 1920 x 1200!!!! Unbelievable!!!

[SHOTT3R @ Dec 17th 2006 4:18AM]

Exactly what I was going to post. Heck, I would replace the 1680 panel in my 15.4" lcd with a 1920 off eBay if I could spare the cash right now. Not even an option on a 20"? That's just unforgivable.

[nivz @ Dec 17th 2006 4:28AM]

yep.. the first thing to strike the eye is the crappy resolution.. I mean it wouldn't be bad at all on something like a 15incher,, but 20 inch screen, over $7k and 1680x1050? that just ruined everything...

[Z @ Dec 17th 2006 5:32AM]

I also can't understand what manufacturers' obsession is with SXGA+ resolution. Everything is SXGA+ out there, except for a few laptops. There's no excuse not to have full UXGA res on screens that are 17" and above; ESPECIALLY a 20+ screen. That's just stupid.

Without UXGA, you won't experience true 1080p/1080i HD resolution on that screen with an HD movie, etc.

Who would drop seven grand on a system without that as an option?

Not me. Not many.

For $7000, I could get a Samsung 56+" Cable-card-ready 1080p LED-DLP HDTV, an Xbox 360 w/HD-DVD, and some other high-end laptop.

[Z @ Dec 17th 2006 6:28AM]

And a few other things...

After looking closer at the configuration options, I noticed they don't even offer XP MCE as an OS choice, which is an extremely odd omission these days, especially considering the hardware.

Also, why doesn't any laptop manufacturer offer an SLI graphics system with an Intel Core 2 Duo proc? Why are the SLI systems always AMD? I want to see Intel with SLI.

And why don't they offer dual-link DVI on a system with dual video cards? I'd want to know with all that graphics horsepower and so on, that I could run those 30" LCD panels. Without dual-link DVI, you can't. You get dual-link DVI on Macbook Pros and they only have a single video card.

The last questions I have, are concerning the EV-DO, GPS, TV tuner, and biometric fingerprint reader options. Are these internal components or just some lame external or PC Card solutions? On a laptop that big, they should be integrated...

...More specifically, why don't they offer a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA option? Does the GPS solution offer a SIRFstarIII or MTK chipset? (Because these are the best chipsets out there right now). Is the TV tuner an analog/DVB hybrid tuner or just analog? (A hybrid tuner would be best - they're out there - use analog now and DVB if and when it's available). These answers are not found on their website.

And how about including a swiveling video camera (like we see with Asus laptops), instead of just a stationary one? It's much more effective to be able to adjust the camera without always subsequently affecting the angle of your screen.

And why not offer an HD-DVD drive as a second option? I'm not interested in Blu-ray, myself. Many others aren't either.

The last issue I have with this system is the keyboard. It's too cramped and I don't like the three-column keypads. Four column keypads are the way to go. They should also have a bit of separation between the keyboard and the keypad, along with separation between each group of four Function keys. If you want to see the best extended keyboard available in a laptop, look at HP's higher end laptops. I own one. Now that's the way an extended keyboard on a laptop should be laid out. Not to mention, solid and quiet (as quiet as they can be, anyway).


Fix these things, and maybe they'll have something. Hey, for $5000-$7000, we have the right to demand some things.

[H�kan @ Dec 17th 2006 1:51PM]

Z, dual-link DVI and SLI has nothing in common, I'm sure it would be possible to create a dual-link solution with a GMA950 since that chip is able to process the 2560*1600 resolution used by the Dell 2007WFP, the Apple Cinema Display 30" and many others.

[duke @ Dec 17th 2006 7:29AM]

bad choice on amd if anyone's crazy enough to put down 7k on a laptop, for that price it better come with T7600. my T7200 could beat this machine on computing power easily.

[bobdole @ Dec 17th 2006 11:54AM]

anyone know the size of this behemoth? I'm picturing something much, much larger than my lap... certainly not something I'd want to carry.

also, I have the feeling the battery life on something like this would probably be measured in seconds...

another thing that makes me wonder here is heat... if this thing gets as hot as my presario, except scaled up to size, they ought to stick a george foreman grill on the bottom of it.

[Richard @ Dec 17th 2006 12:38PM]

I just configured the top of the line system, and it's $10,111....

[Z @ Dec 17th 2006 3:53PM]

"Z, dual-link DVI and SLI has nothing in common..."

I never said they did. What I was merely pointing out was, having TWO screaming video cards working in tandem and not even ONE dual-link DVI port, is a severe oversight.

[shawn @ Dec 17th 2006 3:51PM]

Nice laptop from MicroWorks's, but why is the price is so much. If the price is less everyone can buy.

http://laptops-latest.blogspot.com

[Eric Glassman @ Dec 17th 2006 6:37PM]

Stop underestimating "consumers." Trust me, you want people to spend 6-7 thous., you have a 20.1 inch screen on a laptop, and top of the line graphics cards, people are gonna check out the resolution. Missed the boat there.

[Jonathan @ Dec 17th 2006 7:40PM]

This is a sweet laptop! Yes it is expensive, but in my opinion, you get what you pay for! Check out the competitor website, compamerica offers a simlar notebook but without many of the options that PC MicroWorks offers. The first configuration from PC MicroWorks at $3599 rings up at $4500.18 for the compamerica tigershark with the same configuration options. The base models at compamerica offer only 1 GPU, and you must customize to get both GPUS in SLI. The Vega with 4GB of Ram, SLI, and Blu-ray-rw is making me drool! I want one of these bad boys under my christmas tree!

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2006 10:28AM]

So they just took Clevo parts and jacked the price up huge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevo

I have a Sager NP5720 that I got a year ago for $2600...it has 2.13GHz Centrino, 2G DDR2 RAM, GeGorce Go 7800 GTX w/ 256MB GDDR3 vram, and a WUXGA screen. All these companys basicly get the parts from Clevo and rebrand them.

Sager's rebranded version is just cheaper, check the pics:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/notebooks/product2.cfm?ProductType=5960&SubType=V

[Maff @ Dec 19th 2006 4:39PM]

that chick is fiiine!

[Jonathan @ Dec 20th 2006 12:59PM]

Mike,

Actually with the same options configured at Sager to match the base PC MicroWorks configuration, The PC MicroWorks configuration is cheaper ($3599 vs $3624) even though it also includes the more powerful TL-60 CPU! The fastest CPU you can get at sager with their similar model is the TL-56. Also, the sager can't be configured with 4GB of Ram, Blu-Ray-RW, 600GB HD, and many other options that the PC MicroWorks does offer, so in my opinion if you are looking for the true extreme notebook, there is no other choice but PC MicroWorks simply because of the more powerful options. Yes several of the PC MicroWorks systems are more expensive; however, they offer more options and are more powerful than the competition's offerings, but this goes along with the old saying, "You get what you pay for". Also, Clevo is the ODM, but ODMs are also responsible for all notebook computer systems. OEM's such as Dell, HP, Sony, Apple, Alienware, PC MicroWorks, ETC all purchase their notebooks from ODMs such as Clveo, Compal, Quanta, Asus, ETC and brand them. Clevo happens to be one of the most innovative and high performance notebook ODMs around now, so I consider their product of a very high quality, and I respect the companies carrying their product around the world. Hope this helps! Best wishes to everyone this Holiday Season!

[Lord Vader @ May 12th 2007 5:42PM]

How do u compare this with the Alienware m9750

ANYONE ???

[lory @ Mar 12th 2008 9:00PM]

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