Asetek Unveils Liquid-Cooled Notebook Prototype

Asetek has modified an Alienware M18x gaming notebook with liquid cooling and, of course, an overclocked processor.

Instead of the standard heat pipes, the system combines liquid cooling and heat exchange to provide room for CPU overclocking.

The system uses a 2.5 GHz / 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM processor that runs at 4.4 GHz. The two GPUs were overclocked from 680 to 800 MHz. Asetek claims that the overclocking resulted in an 18 percent performance improvement in 3D Mark 11, 16 percent in PCMark Vantage and 23 percent in 3D Mark Vantage.

There was no information if and when this cooling system might be available and how much the modification may cost. However, a base M18x laptop lists already for $2000 and will cost at least $3300 if configured with a 2.5 GHz i7 2860QM processor (the i7-2920XM is not available in Dell's charts) and dual AMD Radeon 6990M GPUs.

Inside Asetek Labs - Liquid Cooling an Overclocked Alienware Laptop

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9

tinmann , March 22, 2012 9:23 AM

That's actually pretty Awesome. It would be cool if the keyboard was detachable or even if it folded back towards you transformer style or a touch screen style keyboard like on smart phones.
5

alidan , March 22, 2012 9:26 AM

these arent meant to be use without being plugged into the wall...

very nice, thank god someone is going thicker and heavier than thinner and lighter
-5

amuffin , March 22, 2012 9:27 AM

What happens if you run out of coolant? Say, in 1-2 years, that is about when even Corsair's own Hydro series screws itself over. Think about it, consumers won't spend another 3000 for a laptop, so there has to be a way of adding coolant? Especially in a laptop, where it is very compact and crucial to someones entire system.
5

iknowhowtofixit , March 22, 2012 9:27 AM

There goes the little battery life that thing had...
6

dontcrosthestreams , March 22, 2012 9:46 AM

if 6990m were something other than marketing fraud, i would like this computer.
6

Brandon S , March 22, 2012 9:54 AM

I wish more companies made high powered super cooled laptops. They would be so much better for lan parties than a tower.
3

christarp , March 22, 2012 10:09 AM

Doesn't coolant start to gel up after a couple of years?
2

e56imfg , March 22, 2012 10:28 AM

Battery life won't be affected as much as you might think. I think this is really cool. I've never seen a WC laptop before!
2

danwat1234 , March 22, 2012 10:46 AM

4.4GHZ momentary single core turbo, or 4.4GHZ constant all 4 cores? It's most probably just turbo because all 4 cores at 4.4GHZ would produce ALOT of heat, and probably ALOT of Vcore boost, and hence lower life.
3

cee2cee , March 22, 2012 10:54 AM

For all of you that are commenting on battery life: yeah of course this thing won't have as much. But the point is this is made for people who need to move their pc around but still will plug it into a wall like lan party gamers or mobile production studio use.
3

slicedtoad , March 22, 2012 11:06 AM

amuffinWhat happens if you run out of coolant? Say, in 1-2 years, that is about when even Corsair's own Hydro series screws itself over. Think about it, consumers won't spend another 3000 for a laptop, so there has to be a way of adding coolant? Especially in a laptop, where it is very compact and crucial to someones entire system.

run out of coolant? those are metal pipes, water is going to take a long time to evaporate.

christarpDoesn't coolant start to gel up after a couple of years?

some does but water doesn't. I don't know what they are using but i'd imagine it would be something that won't change it's state.
2

Marco925 , March 22, 2012 11:20 AM

Looks expensive
-4

A Bad Day , March 22, 2012 11:36 AM

Interesting. I'd like an i5 2500k and a Radeon 7970 (preferably two of them in CF) though.
-3

aidynphoenix , March 22, 2012 11:40 AM

one solid heatsink that ran across the entire back would do the same thing. the whole point to liquid cooling is to take the heat away from the sources and bring them to a large radiator so that it can be cooled more effectively. take a look, 3 small radiators right next to the heat sources. this laptop is nothing more than something to brag about.
2

alidan , March 22, 2012 12:02 PM

dontcrosthestreamsif 6990m were something other than marketing fraud, i would like this computer.

how is it a fraud? are they charging 700$ for a single gpu?
mobile=/=desktop
this is the best mobile they offer if memory serves.
so they gave it the highest number.
1

jankeke , March 22, 2012 12:22 PM

For someone who moves about a lot for lan parties, it's perfect.
If someone can afford such a thing, he can probably also afford a more conventional laptop for daily unplugged use.
-1

anonymous@guest , March 22, 2012 12:30 PM

I have the R1 M18x, and it does run quite hot, 2920XM is able to get 4.4GHz on air for a good boost, 4.0GHz constant. this would be a welcome addition to help cool it down.
sidenote: battery life isn't as bad as you think, plugged in with discrete enabled it's about 2hrs, on integrated it's around 5hrs... although everything does underclock itself, but still not bad for a 20lb monstrosity.
1

welshmousepk , March 22, 2012 12:45 PM

some day...
5

phamhlam , March 22, 2012 1:32 PM

They should just remove the battery. This laptop is basically a ultraportable desktop. I love the use of liquid cooling.
0

willard , March 22, 2012 5:38 PM

amuffinWhat happens if you run out of coolant? Say, in 1-2 years, that is about when even Corsair's own Hydro series screws itself over. Think about it, consumers won't spend another 3000 for a laptop, so there has to be a way of adding coolant? Especially in a laptop, where it is very compact and crucial to someones entire system.

It's a closed loop, you won't run out of coolant because it is not evaporating at an appreciable rate. Corsair's Hydro coolers are also closed loop, and don't run out of coolant either.

Think about it. If you fill a plastic bottle with water, would you expect to come back a year later and find an empty bottle? Of course not, you'd find it with pretty much the same level you left it at. I'd be surprised if you could measure the evaporation without some fairly sophisticated equipment.

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