Maingear is pushing its new eX-L 17 custom gaming notebook as “the most powerful components crammed into any 17-inch notebook,” and while the folks at AVADirect (who make similar claims from time to time) might care to quibble over stats, we’re quite sure gamers would be happy with either.
The eX-L 17 starts with either an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, pads it with DDR3 memory, and a choice of three video cards: ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 5890, Nvidia’s GeForce 285m, or Nvidia’s more business-oriented Quadro 2800m for engineers and artists who happen to be closet gamers. Buyers also get a choice of solid-state drives, a 2.0-megapixel webcam, and a full 1080p LED-backlit display.
The whole package can be laser-etched with one of four designs, or your own custom artwork. It measures 16.25 inches long, 10.75 inches deep, and 1.75 inches thick. Maingear conveniently left out any mention of weight, which makes us suspect it isn’t too flattering on the scale.
The base unit, which includes the ATI graphics card and an i5 Processor, starts at $1,899, while buyers will have to take a $600 leap up to $2,499 for the Nvidia goods. They’re available now, but as with all of Maingear’s custom goods, you can expect to wait a few weeks while the parts go together.
Our review unit is in the mail, so stay tuned for a full review of Maingear’s eX-L17 after we peel ourselves away from marathon sessions of Crysis.
Or AutoCAD, if they send us the Quadro version.
