Maingear's got a new notebook,
the company has just revealed their newest 17" portable monster, the eX-L 17. According to them, it includes "the most powerful components ever assembled into a 17 inch notebook," and no matter how you spin it, it's perfect for on-the-go gaming.The eX-L is clad in glassy carbon fiber, giving the notebook a cool, black look (though it’s easily marred with smudges). The DVD±RW drive is located, strangely enough, below the palm rest, wedged between two embedded speakers. This setup took some time for us to get used to, but it does have a practical benefit: By removing the speakers from the top of the keyboard, Maingear made the keyboard and palm-rest area feel much more spacious, despite the small-by-comparison touch pad. In fact, we found the palm rest large enough to accommodate not only our palms, but also a significant portion of our forearms, as well.
The company's really getting fancy with this one, offering 4 exclusive M.A.R.C. laser etching, support for Intel Core 2010 mobile CPUs as well as options for ATI and NVIDIA graphics. Users can select a Core i5 or i7 under the hood, paired with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (1GB) or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M (2GB) GPU; for the workstation crowd, there's the NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M. The 17" machine has a Full HD display (1080p) and comes with a "dead pixel warranty," which is certainly something of a rare find these days.
The eX-L 17 is a perfect combination of functionality and design with built-in biometrics security via fingerprint reader for security, touch sensitive hotkeys for executing customizable macros and applications, and five different MAINGEAR's M.A.R.C. laser engraving to choose from that offers a clean and elegant design.
"The launch of the eX-L 17 reiterates the passion and commitment we have for our customers: choice." said Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR. "With the multitude of options available on this notebook, we are offering the performance and quality of our outstanding desktops in the convenience of mobility."
"MAINGEAR's eX-L17 notebook goes hand in hand with Intel's Core i7 mobile processor and Intel Turbo Boost technology," said Greg Baur, Director of Sales, CESG East, Intel Americas Inc. "MAINGEAR understands users that need accelerated performance for demanding applications prefer the Intel Core 2010 processor family , and we're pleased to provide MAINGEAR as well as their customers with this solid solution."
It’s no secret that the eX-L 17 is for those who definitely don’t care about battery life and are more interested in having a super-fast desktop replacement notebook. This Maingear notebook other than letting you customize it’s insides also let’s you choose from various case laser etched designs. Because of their bulk, desktop-replacement notebooks aren’t generally known for their battery life. But the 11-pound eX-L held its own, lasting 1 hour and 38 minutes in our DVD rundown test before puttering out. Of course, if you’re going after such a system, performance, not portability, is probably the first thing on your mind. And with the eX-L, that never comes in second.
