Maingear's eX-L 18 grabs for "world's most powerful gaming laptop" title
By Darren Murph 
posted July 24th 2009 1:08AM
posted July 24th 2009 1:08AM
MAINGEAR Unveils the World's Most Powerful Gaming Notebook
eX-L 18 laptop delivers unprecedented performance with Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs with NVIDIA SLI technology, GPU Computing with NVIDIA CUDA, 1080p HD resolution support and an Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU
Union, New Jersey – July 23, 2009 – 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.
"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."
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M GPUs are the fastest GeForce notebook GPUs ever. Built-in support for NVIDIA® PhysX™ technology enables a new world of ultra realistic gaming effects from lifelike explosions to natural water. Stay on top of your game with the highest performance using the latest notebook drivers direct from NVIDIA.com. When you're not gaming, NVIDIA® CUDA™ technology offers breakthrough performance in compute-intensive tasks like video transcoding and photo editing, delivering up to 10x faster performance compared to traditional CPUs. Watch high-definition videos come alive with sharp images and vibrant colors supported by NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD technology, which enables extended battery life so you never miss a scene.
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 ."
The eX-L 18 also features MAINGEAR's M.A.R.C. custom laser etching technology. Customers can upload the image or logo of their choice and MAINGEAR will customize your notebook to specifically fit your personal style or corporate brand.
Consumers can purchase the MAINGEAR eX-L 18 at MAINGEAR's Web site www.maingear.com or order by phone at (888-MAINGEAR). The base price $2,999. eX-L 18 comes standard with MAINGEAR's standard 14 month warranty and is backed by the best in-house support team
And all this, with a whopping 30minutes of battery life!
*seconds :D
Why must some fool always make a sarcastic remark about the battery life? It's getting old. People who buy laptops like this usually don't give a damn about battery life because they keep em plugged in most of the time. Even an hour of battery life is enough for something like this.
@aznofazns
People dont buy laptops because they're going to keep them plugged in all the time.
To be honest, laptops like this are too big to truly be portable, yet are still considered laptops and therefore more expensive for a desktop with the same specs.
Greater battery life is something that should always be strived for. The more people complain about battery life, the more companies will do to try to improve it, so i dont understand why you're getting upset at people criticizing a chunk of silicon and metal. Its not a member of your family, its a computer.
I'm not trying to defend giant laptops because I like them. In fact, I would never buy one because it doesn't suit my needs and is far too expensive for my budget. However, you can't overlook the fact that these, while not as portable as mainstream laptops, are still far more portable than desktop gaming rigs. Even if you were to build a small LAN box it would still be comparatively hard to move around since you've also got to carry the monitor, speakers, cables, and whatnot. If the price can be overlooked, a beastly laptop makes it so much more convenient to have desktop gaming power on the go, and it's not like it's impossible to use one for an hour of web surfing or word editing.
@Trey
He said "People who buy laptops like this.." He's not referring to everyone who buys a laptop. He's saying that people who usually buy powerful laptops use them as desktop replacements, keep them plugged in all the time, and don't care about battery life
@Trey
People who buy laptops like this use them for lan parties, and have them sitting on their coputer desk when not at a lan party. The only reason these things have batteries is so that hen you blow a breaker, you can keep gaming for the 5-10 minutes for someone to flip it back.
@ Trey
I bought my laptop specifically because I knew it would be plugged in all the time, such that size and battery life were a non-issue. At university and in the last year frequently alternating between two home locations it was easier to have a laptop portable to the extent that I didn't have to lug around a separate tower, monitor keyboard and speakers, as opposed to a single unit that could fit in a laptop bag.
My mom has a 24in dell lcd. Her monitor is bigger than mine. :\
It's not the size that matters but rather how you use it
thats what she said. yes, i had to
aeth I hope you were trying to make a "that's what she said" statement because that was just too easy.
if you did the "that's what she said" on this one, go kill yourself because you are entirely too manipulative
Ok well....HorizonSmoker. Make sure you completely understand the conversation before you jump in. "Manipulative" would be defined as changing an art or in this case a comment by treating it unfairly to one's gain. The way that aeth stated his comment is pretty much a guarantee that he knew what he was trying to convey, and I've also seen his similar comments in the past. So no, manipulative would not be the right word since he was most likely in on it too and would not justify making fun for "one's gain". So how about you go kill yourself by using a highly knowledgeable word incorrectly.
What puzzles me is with the size, why they couldn't squeeze in a full size number pad. It's not asking much, especially from an 18.4".
It does have a num pad
i lol'd.
A full size, not a 3 column one but a 4 column one.
These laptops are the Lamborghinis of the geek world. People think your a tosser with too much money if you own one but secretly deep down you wish you had all that power...
Oh and the obligatory battery joke *here*.
tosser...?
fugly
Uh, that's just a rebranded Clevo M980NU / Sager NP9850. Hardly news worthy.
Yeah, basically whenever you see a "world's most powerful laptop" claim, it's just a rebranded Clevo (unless Clevo itself is making the claim)
posts like these are a good measure of the quality of the poster...
That's it exactly. Ever since Alienware quite using Clevo, they've been lagging in the "most powerful notebook" market, and it's downright silly seeing all these companies selling rebranded Clevos claim they have the most powerful gaming notebook. Naturally, none of them want to admit that their "most powerful gaming notebook" is identical to the one being sold by 20 other sellers, and they keep hoping their consumers will be gullible enough to not notice that they're tacking an extra $500 - $1000 onto their price tag over Clevo OEMs like Sager and Pro-Star, even though they're selling the same thing.
In buying a laptop for gaming performance, the weight & battery life was a complete non-issue compared to the desktop alternative. I welcome the "most powerful laptop" game.
this things WAY to big to be an actual laptop. i find my tx2z to be bad to carry around. this thing would be useful for lan partys or something, and there arent very many of those to blow 3k on a laptop when you can get the same thing in a desktop, which may weight LESS and cost a fraction!
some people are just not smart on this.
its kinda like how alot of people buy alienwares cause they are "SOOO GOOD" but in reality its just a dell in a pretty package for 2x the cost of something less flashy
It's not too big to be a 'real laptop' at all. I've got an 18.5 inch, 9.5 pound laptop [same as the weight and size listed on the maingear website] that I hauled all over europe. Not a gaming laptop, but a nice piece of equipment nonetheless.
Show me a desktop that performs the same and weighs less.
My whole reason for clicking on this post was to point that out. Oh and sager has ones in i7(desktop version) variaties. Those are definately in the "battery is just an onboard UPS" class.
Hey, my mom's screen isn't smaller, it's the same size!!!
I was expecting the price to be more for that. Not that I would spend that much money on a computer.
Larger than my desktop LCD (at home at least). Stupid 15".
Perfect, thats what everyone wants in a recession
Anyone willing to take a wager on how much this thing weighs? I'm guessing at least 14 lbs.
There's no reason to guess. The specs on this Clevo have been out for quite some time now. It's 12.5 lbs with battery.
no one even realizes that you're advertising a website, but you will be reported nonetheless.
How is it a more powerful laptop when the Alienware 17x offers the same power? Plus, 16:9 is a dead deal to me anyway.
Hoping for price war.
Wasn't there a C2Q for laptops coming out soon...or already?
Not only Core 2 Quad, but Core i7. I don't care how fast you run a Core 2 Duo, there is no way this thing takes ANY title. Perhaps "most powerful" for 2006.
Not again..such claim to be the " Worlds most powerful "..is becoming too much hype..
doesnt even have a Corei7...
Might jsut be called World most powerhungry notebook...("_ )
again, "gaming" and "laptop" are mutually exclusive. its plain stupid.
How's this for a gaming laptop...
http://benheck.com/xbox-360-laptop-3-elite
right. I only play TF2 or COD4 or CSS on my laptop. good thing those aren't games.
Um this is Identical to the Alienware m17x Cept for the screen, and the Solid state drives on this one are 80 gigs vers alienwares 256gigs.
and, its about 1500 dollars more than the alienware
Mainger's eX-L 18 grabs for "world's thickest gaming laptop"
^^^that's all I read
i'm sorry but there are core i7 laptops with dual gtx280m's in so this isn't the most powerful... *rolleyes*
You should read your sources a little closer. There are laptops with corei7s (Clevo D901F) and there are laptops with dual 280M GTX SLI (Clevo M980NU and Quanta's Alienware m17x). Nobody has come out with a combination of both. If you read otherwise then it was poor reporting.
On a side note, I wish people would stop saying the Alienware is a rebranded Clevo, because its not! Alienware is a rebrand of Quanta's rig based on a 17" chassis with 2HDD bays, while this Maingear eX-L 18 is just the same rebrand of the ClevoM980NU we have seen over and over based on a 18" chassis and 3HDD bays.
Please stop giving us the same info over and over and trying to pass it off as something new!
/rant
I was expecting a higher price. 3 g's isn't bad.
It looks like if it gets warm enough, it could be an excellent hair straightener.
I luld
This laptop has been on sale in the UK for a month or so now... In fact i played on it at the Gadget Show Live here in the UK in April...
http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/comanchesli_overview.php