It is unarguable that Intel's 32nm Sandy Bridge-E enthusiast desktop processors were one of the most welcomed performance hardware upgrades of 2011. From a performance scaling perspective, a significant portion of last year was plagued down with technological recession and a confusing variety of product refreshes from the information technology sector at large, leaving number-crunching diehards a bit unsatisfied and disconcerted.

Nevertheless, several high-end notebook vendors have sought to restore the excitement and gratitude that Intel's 32nm Sandy Bridge-E desktop platform brought performance enthusiasts in the last quarter of 2011. This week, vendors Clevo, Eurocom and MAINGEAR are all proud to have launched new Desktop-Replacement (DTR) notebooks with the options of Intel Core i7 Extreme 3960X and Intel Core i7 3930K Sandy Bridge-E processors, respectively.

Clevo P270WM

Clevo has released a platform-refresh to its flagship X7200 gaming notebook, which was based on the aging Intel X58 platform and sported an LGA 1366 socket for use with Intel's Nehalem lineup. Out with the old and in with the new, the company now has an Intel X79-based successor with an LGA 2011 socket called the Clevo P270WM gaming notebook. Clevo is preparing to ship this new notebook with options for up to two Nvidia Geforce GTX 580M's in SLI or a 4GB Nvidia Quadro 5010M, up to 32GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory, three USB 3.0 ports and the choice of an Intel Core i7 Extreme 3960X or Core i7 3930K.

The base model starts at $3,000 and pre-orders from have just begun this week from AvaDirect.





Eurocom Panther 4.0

Canada-based Eurocom Corporation has also introduced its new Intel X79-based Desktop Replacement (DTR) flagship notebook, dubbed the Eurocom Panther 4.0. The company is preparing to ship this beast of a computing device with options for up to two Nvidia Geforce GTX 580M's in SLI, two AMD Radeon HD 6990M's in CrossFireX or a 4GB Nvidia Quadro 5010M, up to 64GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory, three USB 3.0 ports and the choice of an Intel Core i7 Extreme 3960X or Core i7 3930K.

Eurocom has yet to reveal customization-based pricing options for the Panther 4.0, but the new model is expected to start shipping on Thursday, March 15th.





MAINGEAR Titan 17

Our friends over at MAINGEAR have also launched their own Intel X79-based Desktop Replacement (DTR) gaming notebook, dubbed the MAINGEAR Titan 17. This new model also packs a competitive punch, with options for up to two Nvidia Geforce GTX 580M's in SLI, up to 32GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory, three USB 3.0 ports (one of which is a powered eSATA / USB 3.0 combo port) and the choice of an Intel Core i7 Extreme 3960X or Core i7 3930K.

MAINGEAR's customization-based pricing for the Titan 17 begins at $3499 and the notebooks are expected to start shipping on Monday, March 12th.