While it can't claim to be the first quad-core laptop, Pioneer Computers' new DreamBook Power D90 SLI can at least claim to be one of the few. This rebranded 17-inch Phantom D900C hails from Australia, and although it features a lot of the same gear -- like the 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600, dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 or 8800 cards in SLI, and up to three (yes, three) hard drives which can operate in RAID 0/1/5 -- it's not exactly identical. The company will build these to order, but the base model is considerably stripped down, sporting a measly Core 2 Duo and only 512MB of RAM. To step up to the full on Quad Core experience it's going to cost you (somewhere near $8000 AU, or $6878 US), but who can put a price on lap-searing, jaw-dropping, nosebleed power?

We've definitely seen some shady reports of a quad-core laptop make the rounds, and it looks like geographically misnamed Canadian laptop outfit Eurocom is going to be first off the line with a Intel Core 2 Quad notebook. A Eurocom spokesperson apparently confirmed to Laptoping that the company is prepping a quad-core Phantom D900C -- which probably means that monster-laptop Clevo (or whichever company is their ODM) is working on a quad-core D900C, since the Phantom is yet another rebrand. Laptoping says the 17-inch machine will feature a 2.4GHz Q6600 "Kentsfield" Core 2 Quad and dual SLI-capable GeForce Go 8700 or Quadro FX3500 graphics, an HD DVD drive, and up to three drives that can be run as a RAID 0/1/5 array -- all of which means battery life on this 11.9-pound monster will probably run down faster than a 6-minute mile. Still, the idea of stuffing four cores into a laptop gets us all excited, but the current $3,200 pricetag on the dual-core Phantom doesn't bode too well for the double the power.