Malibal Nine X7200

With its six-core Core i7 Extreme processor, dual Nvidia SLI graphics chips, and pair of solid-state drives configured for RAID, the Malibal Nine X7200 is as tricked out as laptops come. Not surprisingly, this desktop-replacement notebook blows the competition away in terms of performance, and it has more features than you can shake a stick at. You don’t get much in the way of battery life, however, and its huge 13-pound chassis will keep you close to home. The price starts at $2,610 for a base configuration, but our fully loaded review system will take a massive $5,325 bite out of your bank account. But if you want the fastest notebook ever, it doesn't come cheap.

If you have only about $2,000 to spend, you can get this system with a 3.06GHz Core i7-950, 6GB of RAM, one Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M graphics card, and a 320GB standard hard drive. But configuration options abound in all of those categories, with storage being the one we're most concerned with. Our test configuration came with two 80GB solid-state drives (SSDs), which left us with only 160GB of total storage—fast, but hardly enough to store games and videos. However, you can equip your system with up to three standard 5,400rpm hard drives at 640GB each. If you kept the rest of the configuration the same as our tested config, you could choose this option for a total price of $4,554, or a savings of $771. (Of course, these slower drives would affect performance.)

Processor: 3.33GHz Intel Core i7-980X Extreme
Memory: 12GB RAM
Storage: Dual 80GB solid-state drives
Optical Drive : Blu-ray burner/DVD±RW combo
Screen: 17.3 inches (1,920x1,080 native resolution)
Graphics: Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M cards (2GB each)
Weight: 12.8 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 2.4x16.5x11.3 inches
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

The Malibal Nine X7200 uses the sturdy Clevo X7200 chassis, which is done up in a black, brushed-aluminum finish. A slice of smoked mirror trim bisects the lid and has a backlit pattern in its center. This system is huge, measuring 2.4x16.5x11.3 inches, and at just under 13 pounds, it’s one of the heaviest notebooks around. If necessity forces you to take it on the road, a rolling suitcase is probably in order. And you’ll have to make room for the gargantuan power brick, which measures 2.7x8x4.4 inches and adds 3.6 pounds to your total travel weight. The power brick alone weighs more than most netbooks do.