Clevo D900C laptop touts Core 2 Duo Extreme, SLI NVIDIA 8800s

Sure, we've all heard those short-lived (or outright absurd) claims of a world's most powerful laptop, and the term "desktop replacement" has been around the block a few too many times, but a Taiwanese manufacturer is doing the not-so-unthinkable yet again. The Clevo D900c (which could likely be rebadged as a Sager 9260 and / or Pro-Star 9191D) is a 17-inch monster that packs quite a wallop under the presumably toasty hood, including an option for Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, dual 1GB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8800 graphics cards, up to 4GB of RAM, up to three hard drives in a RAID 0/1/5 array, 7.1-channel audio, built-in stereo speakers, the ability to house dual optical drives, integrated TV tuner, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and a flash card reader to boot. You'll also find a smorgasbord of ports and connectivity options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, FireWire, 56k modem, USB 2.0, and DVI / S-video outputs. Of course, with horsepower like this, we highly doubt the 12-cell Li-ion will last much over an hour (if that) under full strain, but we're fairly certain you won't be using this 11.9-pound beast solely on your lap much at all. We know you're wondering, so if you've been eying a mobile gaming rig and have around $2,700 (or much more for the juiced version) laying around, you can snag one sometime in the April / May timeframe.

[Via NotebookReview, thanks Andrew]

[Chad @ Mar 13th 2007 12:09PM]

I've been waiting for the nvidia 8xxx series to make it into a notebook, but this may be a bit much for my pocketbook. Hopefully this is a sign that other manufacturers will start using it as well.

[Brendan @ Mar 13th 2007 12:35PM]

Could it get any uglier though? Sure, it's what's inside that matters, but the thing looks like cutting-edge laptop design from 1998.

[Mike @ Mar 13th 2007 12:44PM]

The thing I like about ugly is that no one will steal it. They will think it is a cheapie.

[bazald @ Mar 13th 2007 1:01PM]

I'm afraid of buying one. In my notebook with a P4 inside, it scales down from 3.4 GHz to 1.5 GHz to prevent it from melting itself and the motherboard. Not worth it if that happens here too.

Also, Donald Stratton of powernotebooks.com is trying to convince everyone that it won't initially be shipping with the 8000 series GPUs.

[Fanboi @ Mar 13th 2007 1:06PM]

Say what you will, but it still runs crappy Windoze...

[duke @ Mar 13th 2007 3:04PM]

"I'm afraid of buying one. In my notebook with a P4 inside, it scales down from 3.4 GHz to 1.5 GHz to prevent it from melting itself and the motherboard. Not worth it if that happens here too."

You are afraid to buy new generation computer because of your past experience with overheated CPU ?
Pity you, the new core 2 duos runs on pentium M structure, and these babies runs twice the performance comparing to your old pentium 4 chip, and much cooler too. You can keep on afraid, the world is changing and you are still with 1998 trend.

[Jeff @ Mar 13th 2007 1:18PM]

What else would it run? It's a gaming notebook. Wine in Linux? Please. Windows sucks, but it is gaming on the PC.

[Phil Perman @ Mar 13th 2007 1:19PM]

Considering this is a gaming laptop, even given the choice, Windows would be the best OS to go for.

[S @ Mar 13th 2007 2:19PM]

Once again the ambitious, clueless engadget writer makes a mistake.

There is no 1gb 8800gtx, and while in sli they come to 1536mb ram. How could you post that?!

And, in addition, you need to update the post as the website credited with this news has changed their article to reflect the fact that the company is NOT going to have even a single 8800gtx in their laptop, but rather SLI 7950gtx's, for a grand total of 1024 memory.

[Rick @ Mar 13th 2007 2:52PM]

And having had a Clevo-based notebook before (from Hypersonic), I can tell you that you will probably be able to either:

1) cook dinner on it
2) use the 6 or more fans to power a hovercraft

Before anyone thinks of going to buy something like this, just take into consideration that your batter life will be about 45 minutes with a new battery. Sure it will run games, but it will be loud as hell. I sold mine and got a macbook pro. Quiet, quick, and not fugly.

[jegHegy @ Mar 13th 2007 5:58PM]

Did you have a D-series Clevo? If so, you're comparing apples to oranges. This is the desktop replacement line, the Macbook is in the thin & light category, which is a very different market.

Personally, I am a proud owner of an M541N (2GHz Core Duo), which is also thin & light, and it's not hot at all (unlike what I've heard about Macbooks with the same CPU), runs XP really snappy, and being a busy guy I always juggle 10-15 windows around. And the thing's built like a tank. Not ThinkPad tank, but pretty solid compared to bigger brands like some Asus and HP 'books I've used.

[bazald @ Mar 13th 2007 6:36PM]

Well duke, the architecture might have changed, but we are still talking about a desktop chip in a notebook... want to buy one, max out the CPU for an hour, and let me know what clock-speed you're still getting?

[S @ Mar 13th 2007 3:25PM]

Please go read YOUR OWN LINK engadget. The op in the thread you reference made a mistake, and his source posted on the thread stating "The Clevo D900C will not have the 8800 SLi at its release, and may never have it. The original post stating that it does is in error."

The 1024 memory was in reference to the LAPTOP memory, and once again, the op screwed it up and called it gpu memory. Don't blindly follow the mistakes of others.

[mark @ Mar 13th 2007 5:07PM]

"Please go read YOUR OWN LINK engadget. The op in the thread you reference made a mistake, and his source posted on the thread stating "The Clevo D900C will not have the 8800 SLi at its release, and may never have it. The original post stating that it does is in error."

The 1024 memory was in reference to the LAPTOP memory, and once again, the op screwed it up and called it gpu memory. Don't blindly follow the mistakes of others."

Done feeling superior yet? Go outside.

[bluemonq @ Mar 14th 2007 4:50AM]

These things are called "Desktop Replacements" for a good reason. And they're still easier to carry around than even an XPC if you're going to a LAN party.

[AKA_Ben (BenInkEntertainment) @ Mar 14th 2007 8:05PM]

I see "Go" in the graphics card name, does that mean nVidia is finally bringing DX10 to laptops? I sure hope Dell will offer an upgrade of sorts to XPS owners :/

[Muhammad Imran @ Mar 16th 2007 12:47AM]

Is the processor glued, welded and fused on the motherboard or can be upgraded say Core2Quad, as socket remains same.

[Justin Park @ Apr 14th 2007 11:26AM]

That's great news. But I can't seem to order anything from Clevo's website. Am I supposed to get it from a third party or something?