Clevo D900C Surfaces -- The World's Fastest Notebook (UPDATED 4/12)

[Andrew Baxter]

UPDATE 4/12/07:

We've found out that the Clevo D900C will be even faster and more powerful than originally thought -- the Q6600 quad core processor from Intel has been tested and proven to work in the D900C and it is now showing up as an option at some online retailers in the form of the Sager NP9260. This means the D900 will be the first laptop to support quad core. Discussion regarding this can be found here.

Clevo is a notebook maker based in Taiwan that's in the business of cranking out gaming laptops that often get rebadged by companies such as Alienware, Sager and VoodooPC. The new Clevo D900c model will certainly have gamers drooling over the specs given the inclusion of the desktop Core 2 Duo Extreme and support for dual NVidia 8800 DX 10 graphics cards nVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX w/512MB (each) in SLi

Clevo D900C notebook (ointer">view large image)

The specs can do most of the talking here (there's some confusion on whether it will be the 7950GTX or Nvidia 8800 card at the moment, we're leaning towards 7950GTX but a leaked spec sheet does show the 8800 card):

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo / Extreme X6800 (1.86GHz, 2.13GHz, 2.4GHz, 2.67GHz, 2.93GHz)
• Chipset: Intel 965 desktop platform chipset
• Graphics: Dual PCI Express 16x Nvidia GeForce Go 8800 graphics, supports up to 1024MB DDR3 fast memory nVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX w/512MB (each) in SLi
• Display: 17-inch WXGA (1680 x 1050) or WUXGA (1920 x 1200) (both glossy)
• Memory: Max 4GB, 2 slots
• Storage: up to 3 Hard Drives - changeable 2.5" variety that support RAID 0,1,5
• Audio: A3D Compatible; 7.1 Channel with 2 built-in internal speakers
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Optical Drive: 2-bay optical drive support, Optional 8x DVD Super Multi-Drive Slot Drive (no indication of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD though)
• Integrated TV Tuner
• Integrated Web Cam (1.3MP)
• Integrated BlueTooth
• Ports
  • 4 USB 2.0
  • 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Pro Dup/SD/SD Mini/MMC)
  • 2 FireWire IEEE 1394
  • RJ-45 LAN / RJ-11 Modem
  • S-Video out
  • DVI out
  • Monitor out
• Dimensions: 15.88" (width) x 11.92" (depth) x 2.04 - 2.4 " (height)
• Weight: 11.9 lbs with battery

To power all of this the D900c will need a whopping 280 watt Power Supply. That's right, this machine will likely be boosting your electricity bill, but hey, it'll be worth it given the frame rates you'll get when gaming. And yes, it has a battery, but Clevo doesn't even bother to list what the battery life would be (think sub 1-hour).

According to our contact at PowerNotebooks.com, the Clevo D900c is going to be sold by Sager as the NP9260 with a price tag of around $2,700. Availability should be in the late April to early May time frame. Boutique gaming manufacturer Pro-Star has confirmed they will also sell the D900c as the Pro-Star 9191D and it is highly likely Alienware and other manufacturers will take the D900c and rebadge it as their own.

The word is that Clevo will be at CeBIT in Hannover Germany this week where they'll have the D900c on display to show off. We'll be there too and hope to be able to hunt this "laptop" down.

You can find discussion of the D900C in our forums here

[Andrew Baxter]

Thanks for the post Gophn, those specs do read like a desktop. It looks like they took a desktop and smooshed it inside of a laptop -- just don't try using this in your lap.

[sunjhoon]

Now that is going to be a real beast! So there will be a geforce go 8800 inside a laptop end of march thats jus crazy!

[paladin44]

Gophn, please correct the ship date.

As I said in the other thread - "Sager releases NP9260 with desktop Core 2 Duo" - "The release date will be late April at the earliest, more likely mid-May.

However Sager and Pro-Star resellers will start taking pre-orders for them sometime later this week...

We know it is early for a pre-order but this beast will indeed be King of the Jungle.

When you have this much power in a laptop it is only for the bold. Those who worry about heat and noise should stay away. If you want a Bugatti, don't expect it to be cool and quiet....just expect it to be FASSSSSSSSSSSSST "

(why do we have 2 threads going on this topic?)

[sunjhoon]

Gophn, please correct the ship date.

As I said in the other thread - "Sager releases NP9260 with desktop Core 2 Duo" - "The release date will be late April at the earliest, more likely mid-May.

However Sager and Pro-Star resellers will start taking pre-orders for them sometime later this week...

We know it is early for a pre-order but this beast will indeed be King of the Jungle.

When you have this much power in a laptop it is only for the bold. Those who worry about heat and noise should stay away. If you want a Bugatti, don't expect it to be cool and quiet....just expect it to be FASSSSSSSSSSSSST "

(why do we have 2 threads going on this topic?)

Yeah i jus read elsewhere mid may was the release here
but still an awesome fine!

[Gophn]

Gophn, please correct the ship date.

As I said in the other thread - "Sager releases NP9260 with desktop Core 2 Duo" - "The release date will be late April at the earliest, more likely mid-May.

However Sager and Pro-Star resellers will start taking pre-orders for them sometime later this week...

We know it is early for a pre-order but this beast will indeed be King of the Jungle.

When you have this much power in a laptop it is only for the bold. Those who worry about heat and noise should stay away. If you want a Bugatti, don't expect it to be cool and quiet....just expect it to be FASSSSSSSSSSSSST "

(why do we have 2 threads going on this topic?)

thanks for the warning, but i'll confirm the pricing and shipping dates this Thursday.

[JM]

Does it double as a commercial-grade heating unit?

[usapatriot]

It needs more USB ports.

[Berek Halfhand]

Thank the lord, this is what I have been hoping for! I'm still suprised that 8800s, in whatever notebook, will be available... they are large, take a lot of power, and run hot! WARNING PEOPLE... this may not be a true 8800... they've lied before. My friend's 8800gts runs 85c in a spacious desktop case AND a huge cooler... what do you think will happen in this laptop? I was hopeful, but I dunno... maybe its a 8800 with 8900 technology... shrunk die.

Is this true? Especially for 2500....

NOISE:

I purchased a Sager 8890 years ago and it had this high pinch fan that would suddenly come on... "WHEEEE!!!!!!!"... it was rediculous. Tell me it wont be THAT annoying...

[khanhfat]

Nasty machine... And unbelieable power, how can they squeeze 2 gfx card in a 17" frame. Seems like Dell needs to work on a single 8800 with 1gb memory. The heat gonna melt the laptop down soon.