NVIDIA's new RTX 5090 is nigh impossible to find for sale at a reasonable price, but a desktop version of the GPU could be headed into this unique prototype laptop.
That's the plan, anyway, assuming an intriguing Kickstarter project created by UHPILCL turns out to be legitimate.
Touted as the "world's first built-in split type water-cooled gaming laptop," its unfinalized design looks more like a brick of magnesium with a screen attached than a standard gaming laptop.
Videocardz was the first to report on the new laptop, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't immediately pique my interest.
While most gaming laptops aim to balance power and size to keep things mobile, the UHPILCL laptop goes all out on the former front with seemingly no regard for aesthetics.
In the above video posted by the UHPILCL YouTube channel, the laptop is pulled out of a massive backpack and set up, with the 17.3-inch screen dwarfed by the chassis.
Although the laptop appears by all means to still be in a prototype stage, it's shown streaming video and playing games.
This is, according to the Kickstarter page, the sixth iteration of UHPILCL water-cooled gaming laptops; the first five did not make it out of the prototype stage.
The Kickstarter campaign is yet to begin, but you can sign up for notifications if you're interested in keeping track of the project.
How does a desktop RTX 5090 fit inside this laptop?
It appears that UHPILCL plans to offer two models, the T1000 and T1000 Super, with the main differences being the thermal and power support.
The T1000 Super laptop is larger than the T1000 — it measures 420mm (W) x 340mm (D) x 30-46mm (H) — but offers up to 735W of power for the CPU and GPU combined.
The standard T1000 is thinner along the back edge by about 7mm, and UHPILCL says it's not meant to house the RTX 5090. Makes sense.
Like me, you're probably wondering how an RTX 5090 can fit inside. The answer lies in the liquid cooling system, which shaves off a lot of the GPU's bulk that's usually reserved for air cooling.
The custom cooling system is advertised as having an 18W water pump and a 320mm radiator to keep the CPU and GPU cool; the massive exhaust venting is evident along the top of the laptop behind the display's hinges.
It appears that the cooling system will be customized depending on the CPU and GPU you desire.
The UHPILCL certainly isn't the first water-cooled laptop I've seen, but it might have the most elegant solution compared to something like the XMG laptops with external radiator and hoses.
There was also the ASUS ROG GX700 from 2015 that featured a similar external liquid cooling setup.
A system like this understandably requires a lot of power, and a full-size AC plug is evident on the left side of the chassis.
Listed in the laptop's specs is a 980W PSU that's assumedly built right into the PC.
The best thing about this laptop is the upgradeability
Whereas most gaming laptops might come with upgradeable memory and storage, it's rare to see something — at least outside of Framework's laptops — that uses standard desktop parts for easy upgrades.
UHPILCL claims to use standard ITX motherboards (Z790i, Z890i, X870i), which support AMD's AM5 platform and Intel's last four generations of processors.
Listed are AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K CPUs. It's unclear if more options will be available at some point.
The laptop's DDR5 RAM, M.2 PCIe 5.0/PCIe 4.0, dual SATA storage slots, and desktop GPU will also be upgradeable.
The prototype supports desktop GPUs with a PCB size less than 230mm, but of course, you'll have to remove the air cooler and attach the water cooler head to make it fit properly.
There's plenty of room for ports on the oversized chassis, and you can expect DisplayPort, HDMI, three USB-A 3.0, two USB-A 2.0, two USB-C, Thunderbolt 4/USB4, Ethernet, and 3.5mm audio.
UHPILCL does not specify how large of a battery is inside, but it does state that the laptop can run for up to three hours on DC power when not gaming.
Understandably, with this level of PC performance hardware inside, gaming on DC power won't be possible.
The ultrawide display is no slouch, either
The UHPILCL's 17.3-inch display looks relatively small when attached to the laptop chassis, but it offers plenty of space without having to hook up to an external monitor.
It's listed as having a 21:10 aspect ratio — making it an ultrawide — with a 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, WLED backlight, and 100% DCI-P3 color.
The bezels are thin, especially along the top, but that also means there's no space for a webcam. It appears that a 4K camera is instead located below the display between the keyboard and hinges.
Not much is shared regarding the keyboard, but it appears to be backlit and comes with several shortcut or macro keys off to the side. Also off to the side is the laptop's RGB touchpad.
I'm eager to see how this Kickstarter project pans out
UHPILCL's mega gaming laptop hasn't yet gone live on Kickstarter, so it's hard to judge how much interest there will actually be.
I can see it working well in specialized cases where weaker mobile performance hardware just won't do the trick, but for most people, it'll simply be too large (and, no doubt, expensive) to justify.
It's worth noting that this isn't an advertisement for the product; I saw it in my news feed and wanted to share it with you as a cool prototype.
The removal of upgradeable parts in laptops has long been a point of contention, and — at the very least — UHPILCL is demonstrating what a desktop PC turned into a laptop might look like.
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