HP Blackbird 002 alpha hits with Intel QX9650 Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor inside

Drop five grand on a HP Blackbird yet? Good, that means you don't have to start crying right now, because HP just unveiled its "best of the best" alpha system, complete with a Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor, for a cool $5,499. There's also a PhysX card inside, and Dual CrossFire ATI Radeon X2900 XT 1GB graphics, but you still have to spring a few more hundies if you want Vista Ultimate and 4GB of ram -- Home Premium and 2GB come standard. Oh, and you'll also be thoroughly depressed the moment HP unveils some sort of "alpha alpha" system with that upcoming QX9770 processor inside. Good thing everything's upgradeable.