Moves on to Intel's Calpella platform and AMD's mobile GPUs

Apr 21, 2010 07:48 GMT  ·  By

Similar to many of its peers, Maingear has announced that it is upgrading its product offer with the latest computing and graphics components, in the effort to reach higher levels of performance and to increase its product appeal among gaming enthusiasts. As part of this endeavor, the New Jersey-based custom PC maker has upgraded its popular eX-L gaming notebook with Intel Calpella central processing units and DirectX 11-capable mobile GPUs from ATI.

The matter black eX-L 15 comes with a choice of Intel Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs and boasts 4GB or 8GB of RAM, as well as an HDD or SSD with maximum capacities of 750GB and 512GB, respectively. The 15.6-inch display itself, by default, has a maximum resolution of 1600 x 900, but can be upgraded to one with 1920 x 1080 support. This screen will be exploited to the maximum by the ATI mobility Radeon HD 5870, which brings 1GB VRAM and DirectX 11 graphics support to the table. Naturally, a high-end mobile PC would not be complete without a matching set of connectivity and I/O options, which is exactly why the eX-L 15 boasts Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 2 megapixel webcam and a DVD writer or Blu-ray drive.

“The eX-L was designed for maximum performance in a portable package,” said Wallace Santos, CEO and founder of MAINGEAR. “With the DirectX 11 performance of the Radeon HD 5870, we’re not only able to provide that performance, but do it with exceptional visual quality for today’s and tomorrow’s hottest titles.”

The Maingear eX-L 15 is fueled by a 42.18Wh battery. It has already been listed on the company's official website and can come pre-loaded with a number of operating systems, including Windows 7 Home premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. End-users should be prepared, however, as the starting price is of no less than $1,599.