Nov 19, 2010 12:11 GMT  ·  By

Although the first thing that comes to one's mind when thinking about Maingear are those outrageous portable workstations that are sometimes referred to as laptops by the company, Maingear also build more down to earth gaming solutions such as these Alt-15 and Alt-17 offerings that pair Nvidia graphics with Intel's Core mobile processors.

Featuring pretty much the same hardware specs, the only thing differentiating the two being the size of the display, these new Alt models can be equipped with either Core i5 or Core i7 processors, the top of the line being the 2.8GHz Core i7 640M, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a wide range of storage solution including SSDs, hybrid drives or regular hard disks, a Blu-ray optical drive being also among the available optionals.

When it comes down the graphics, both these gaming laptops come with an Nvidia built GeForce GT 425M graphics card with 1GB of GDDR3 memory and Optimus support as well as Full HD panels.

Other features include a fingerprint reader, for added security, built-in 2MP digital video camera, USB 3.0 and eSATA ports, HDMI output, a 3-in-1 card reader, an external USB ATSC HDTV/Analog TV tuner being also available as an optional.

“We are proud to offer two new notebooks with Nvidia's Optimus technology that extends battery life which for people on the go is a must.” said Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of Maingear.

“Power, portability, and style is what MAINGEAR is what the Alt series notebooks is all about.”

“Maingear new line of notebooks use GeForce GPUs and their inherent graphics plus features to offer users an experience they cannot get from competing solutions,” said David Ragones, director of GeForce product marketing at Nvidia.

“The battery efficiency of Optimus technology, or the gaming visuals of GeForce GPUs, Nvidia is providing the technology that consumers get excited about.”

Both the 17.3 inch Alt-17 and the 15.6 inch Alt-15 are built using Maingear's own M.A.R.C. laser engraving technology, these laptops starting at $1,099 and $1,049, respectively.