Maingear EX-L 17 Gaming Notebook

Maingear’s new eX-L17 becomes one of the most powerful notebooks on the market with a choice of Core i7 processors and high-end GPUs from Nvidia and ATI. 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.