- Sunday, 8 November 2009
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Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair - George Burns
Novatech ships GTX280 laptops at long last
UK E-TAILOR NOVATECH has finally started shipping GTX280 laptops, announced way back in the beginning of March at Cebit, but which seem to have only just tipped up in stock in Britain.
The X90 GTX 280 Clevo whitebox features a 17" display, three 500GB 7200RPM HDDs or three 64GB SSDs in a RAID 5 configuration, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a Blu-ray reader DVD/RW multi burner, Nvidia GTX 280 Graphics, an 802.11n wireless LAN and a whole host of other connectivity options.
Novatech is also giving punters the chance to customise the monster gaming portable even further with a "modify" button on its site allowing prospective buyers to beef up or strip down the specs to suit their budget and tech awesomeness needs.
Certainly compared to the prices we've spotted online for similar systems, Novatech appears to be undercutting the competition a bit cost-wise, with the standard X90 going for £1493.85 including VAT, whilst the Pro version is going for £1666.35.
For those to whom money is no issue, Novatech will bung an Intel Extreme QX9300 2.53GHz 12MB Cache 1066FSB Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor in instead of the standard Core 2 Duo Mobile P8400 for an additional £900. Cost unconscious consumers can also swap out the standard 250GB hard drive for a 160GB Intel X25M MLC Solid State 2.5" Hard Disk Drive, or a 256GB Samsung PB22-J Solid State 2.5" Hard Disk Drive for £600 and £540 respectively.
Punters can also improve their memory, better their battery options, pump up their PSU spending, order an operating system and grasp another graphics card while they're at it.
It certainly is curious as to why the customisable Clevos seem to only just be tipping up now, but the answer may rest in the fact Nvidia's MXMs are reference designs, meaning that Clevo would not have been able to deviate in the slightest. So, if NV used a fairly hard to source component, Clevo would have had little choice but to wait for stock. The INQ heard that very limited supplies were available in the US and Europe a while ago, but the pickings were slim, even across the pond.
The appearance of the souped-up Clevos could be a bit of a blow to Dell, however, which has been spending a fair dollop of advertising dosh on promoting its Alienware offerings as "the fastest notebook on earth." Clevo could give Dell's £1700 machine a run for its money.
Watch this space. µ
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Um... hardly portable is it (well, unless you mean the Osbourne version of portable).
I never understood why anyone would such hardware in a laptop, it's not as if you'd be able to sit it on your lap for extended periods of time without either burning your legs or having them go numb with the weight.
I'd rather spend that sort of cash on a desktop machine myself, at least that way I can upgrade it as I go along.
Not to mention, I've known 2 or 3 laptops bought from Novatech about 3 years ago to have failed already. Might not be due to the quality, it could well be due to the users of the laptops not looking after them too well but I'd certainly look around to see what else there was before buying a Novatech notebook (although I give them a thumbs up that they sell naked PCs).
Rob
Who in their right mind would touch an Nvidia laptop?
These are the type of laptops I would get. I hate laptops because they are so focused on being "thin and light" instead of performing decently. I am not a 10 year old girl, I think I can carry a stupid laptop without getting weak knees. Even when I was a kid in school I would tug a 50lb backpack of schoolbooks for at least a 1-2 miles of walking a day. Have people become spontaneously weaker that they cant handle carrying a real laptop? Anyway, I would still replace the 280 with something less powerful, because a 280 is not necessary for a 17" screen. Battery isn't even relevant and I wouldn't care if it didn't even have one, everywhere I go it gets plugged in.
well... it should beat the pants off an Atom.
Of course, it will weigh about 3 to 4 times as much, too. NV chips run hot, so will this. If you put it on a metal table it should be able to keep your coffee or tea nice and warm.
I would guess it won't be small either, as the space requirements for 3 drives is quite substantial. I suggest they make it 15 inches high and 12 deep and 6 wide, so as to allow for enough room and a decent cooling solution. Heck, beef up the PSU and allow for 2 or 3 optical drives and make the case a nice beige colour. I could seriously get behind that, now.
Battery life is also a factor, anything 'high performance' in notebooks almost instantly denotes that it will have a battery life of around half an hour. That said, some people may want a light laptop because they carry enough crap around as it is, and a gargantuan laptop won't help that situation.
those people who cant carry around much or are too precious for a heavy load need to mix a spoonful of cement in their tea every morning and harden the f**k up!
I bet you have to put the power supply into a freezer.