High-end gaming and workstation laptop specialist Eurocom has just released a refresh of its flagship mobile supercomputer, the Raptor X18.
It is one of the fastest laptops ever built and will probably earn a well-deserved spot in our best mobile workstation buying guide.
Its base configuration runs on a Core Ultra 9 275HX, the fastest laptop processor from Intel and the top of the range model will set you back more than $15,000.
For that outlay, you get a mobile Nvidia Geforce RTX5090 GPU with 24GB GDDR7, 256GB of DDR5 RAM – the only one I know that can take that much memory – as well as four WD_Black 8TB PCIe Gen4 SSD configured in RAID-0.
As for previous mobile supercomputers, Eurocom has entrusted an ODM – most probably Clevo – with the design and manufacturing of what is, as of now, the most powerful laptop in the world.
The result is a practical, if underwhelming, finish with its true origins betrayed by the presence of an RGB Keyboard with individual key illumination, N-Key Rollover & anti-ghosting.
A mobile supercomputer can also be one of the best gaming laptops.
The 18-inch screen that completes its setup can be specced up to a UHD+ resolution (that’s 3240 x 2400 pixels with a 16:10 aspect ratio).
Its 200Hz refresh rate shows that it can also be a decent gaming panel.
Where this laptop will be sorely lacking is battery life; even with a 99Whr battery, I don’t expect users to be able to utilize this laptop, under load, for more than 60 minutes; consider the battery as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) instead.
That’s down to the presence of a power-hungry GPU and CPU (that demand up to 175W and 55W respectively) as well as four memory modules, a large screen and four SSDs.
You may also find its weight (7.9 lbs/3.6kg) and its dimensions (400 x 320 x 33mm) to be slightly overwhelming but then again it is more of a desktop replacement rather than a true laptop.
Raptor X18 vs 16-inch MacBook Pro
In comparison, the most powerful Apple laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, one of the best laptops ever built, has a maximum selling price of $7,199 when configured with 128GB of RAM and 8TB SSD.
The 1TB SSD version retails for a mere $4,999 or a third of the price of the X18.
The 275HX is the most powerful laptop CPU available right now reaching, on popular benchmark software Passmar, a CPU Mark of just over 61,000.
The 16-core M4 Max, Apple’s most powerful laptop CPU, delivers about 43,700 points, a 40% speed delta.
When compared to desktop counterparts, the 275HX comes ahead of the EPYC 74F3, a 3-year old server CPU from AMD that has the same number of cores but a TDP 4x higher.
Raptor X18 vs Workstation PC
There are other Core 9 Ultra 275HX laptops scheduled for release in the coming weeks but Eurocom’s laptop is the only one with four SODIMM slots.
I configured a popular workstation PC, the Precision 5860 to match the Raptor X18.
With a slower Intel Xeon W7-2495X CPU, a less capable Nvidia RTX 4500 Ada Generation professional GPU and four 4TB SSDs, Dell’s alter-ego came out with a shocking $15,700 price tag, without a 4K monitor.
The only saving grace for the desktop workstation is the 3-year basic onsite service with remote diagnosis Dell provides.
I love the fact that the X18 has not one but two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, the first time I’ve seen this combination in a laptop, that’s in addition to Wi-Fi 7.
