To consider the Rock Xtreme 786 a routinely luggable laptop would be to would risk months in traction. It weighs in at nearly four kilos and offers a 17.3-inch LCD display which is great for gamers and movie lovers.

Better, therefore, to think of the Xtreme 786 as transportable rather than portable. The sort of one-piece rig that’s perfect to take to university at the beginning of term or to haul to a friend’s house for a special occasion. Just don’t imagine you’ll be whipping it out for five minutes fragging on the tube.

Of course, Rock isn’t entirely responsible for the Xtreme 786′s gargantuanism. The chassis hails from a maker of white label laptops, which have been re-branded by Rock, and packed with some seriously powerful components.

As tested, the headline specification is very impressive. Intel’s Core i7 2630QM CPU is responsible for general computing duties. And very fit for purpose it is, thanks to four cores, and an appetite to tear holes in computational conundrums. This will handle anything you can throw at it, multitasking with ease.

Next up is Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 485M mobile GPU, complete with 2GB of memory. It’s pretty much the same chip as the supposedly new GeForce GTX 580M, so in raw performance terms it’s about as good as it currently gets in laptop graphics.

TechRadar Labs

Battery Eater ’05: 62 minutes
Cinebench: 16495
3DMark 2006: 17946

Rounding out the digital paraphernalia is a pair of conventional 500GB hard disks, 6GB of system memory which results in an extremely responsive system. There’s also a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-ray drive, which really help to future proof this machine.

Active 3D

What really marks the Xtreme 786 from other gaming getups is support for Nvidia’s stereoscopic 3D Vision gubbins. That includes an IR emitter built into the chassis and a pair of 3D Vision active-shutter goggles in USB, rather than wireless trim. Combined with the large, 1080p LCD panel, the result is a gaming spectacle that pretty much defines what is currently possible with a mobile(ish) machine.

OK, the big LCD screen relies on older ‘TN’ technology, which in real terms means that it’s miles behind the Sony F Series in terms of colour saturation and contrast. It’s still a nice panel, which looks pin sharp, and serves the stereoscopic 3D remit with fast response times.

How much of an attraction 3D Vision is, on the other hand, is down to personal preference. We’re not convinced by any stereoscopic tech that requires the wearing of glasses. The Nvidia 3D Vision itself works well enough, even with the most demanding games thanks to the ample performance of the GTX 485M graphics card.

The Rock Xtreme 786 is a powerful gaming machine, and a good buy for all gamers who are interested in 3D fragging. However, we still feel that the excellent Sony VAIO F Series is a better bet for everyday users.

LG Electronics has announced the Xnote A510 laptop with 3D technology and a 15.6-inch full HD display.

The LG Xnote A510 features Intel’s Core i7 740QM and 840QM quad-core processors and Nvidia GeForce GT425M 1GB dedicated video card. It ships with polarized 3D glasses, a set of clip-on 3D lenses for regular glasses, and TriDef 2D to 3D conversion software.

The notebook has SRS TruSurround HD audio technology and HDMI 1.4 output.

LG said it will release the Xnote A510 in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa starting in October 2010. There’s no info on pricing and availability in other continents.

Lenovo announced today that the ThinkPad T410, T410s and T510 business laptops are now optionally available with Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics technology.

The ThinkPad notebooks with Optimus combine the Nvidia NVS 3100M dedicated video card and Intel HD integrated graphics that switch on-the-fly in order to achieve longer battery life.

The new solution additionally enables the ThinkPads with Optimus to display content on up to four screens via select ThinkPad docking stations.

The 14-inch ThinkPad T410, T410s and 15.6-inch T510 with Nvidia Optimus are available now through business partners and lenovo.com. Pricing begins at approximately $1,299 for the T410 and T510 and $1,849 for the T410s.

Lenovo also announced that sales of ThinkPad laptops will surpass 60 million this month. In celebration of the company’s milestone, Lenovo is rewarding customers with a Customer Appreciation Event featuring up to 15% savings on select ThinkPads purchased in the U.S. The promotion runs through October 8th.

Nvidia has released the Quadro 5000M, a new video card for mobile workstations.

Based on “Fermi” architecture, the Quadro 5000M has 2GB of GDDR5 memory, a 256-bit memory interface, and 320 CUDA cores. It’s “the world’s first professional graphics solution with Error Correction Codes (ECC) memory” for the highest computing accuracy.

The GPU uses CUDA, OpenGL 4.1, DirectX 11, DirectCompute and OpenCL technologies and supports the new Nvidia 3D Vision Pro active shutter-glasses solution.

Mobile workstation laptops with the Nvidia Quadro 5000M are expected to be available in the third quarter of 2010 from HP and Dell.

Eurocom has released two new gaming laptops – the 15.6-inch B5100M FOX and 17.3-inch B7110 FOX, both with Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics technology.

The B5100M FOX and B7110 feature the Intel core i3, i5, or i7 processors, Optimus that combines the Nvidia GeForce GT330M dedicated and Intel GMA HD integrated graphics, up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 1.6TB of storage space using two hard disks.

The base prices are $999 for the B5100M FOX, and $1,199 for B7110 FOX.

Asustek has published user manuals of the upcoming Asus Eee PC Lamborghini VX6 ultraportable laptop.

According to the manuals, the Eee PC VX6 features a 12.1″ 1366×768 display, the dual-core Intel Atom D525 1.83GHz processor, NVIDIA ION 2 graphics, and Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

The Lamborghini-inspired and branded notebook has VGA and HDMI outputs, three USB ports, an SD card slot, and a multitouch touchpad.

There is no word on release date and pricing.

Nvidia has officially released the GeForce 400M Series dedicated video cards for laptops.

Besides the recently launched GeForce GTX 480M, which is the top of the line model, the 40nm “Fermi” architecture-based 400M series now includes the hgih-performance GTX 470M and GTX 460M, as well as mid-range GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M.

The new GPUs support DirectX 11, Nvidia Optimus, CUDA, 3D Vision, and PhysX technologies, and performance-boosting Verde notebook drivers.

According to Nvidia, the GeForce 4xxM series GPUs are up to 40% faster on average than their 3xxM counterparts.

The 400 Series chips will be initially incorporated into laptops by Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.

Gateway has released the ID thin-and-light notebook series, including the 14-inch ID49 and 15.6-inch ID59.

Around 1-inch thin, the 5.07-pound ID49 and 5.5-pound ID59 laptops feature the Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, Intel’s HD integrated or switchable Intel HD/NVIDIA GT330M graphics in select 14″ models, 1366 x 768 LED-backlight displays, up to 8GB RAM, up to 500GB hard drives, DVD burners, stereo speakers, Dolby Home Theater audio, 1.3MP web cameras, 802.11n Wi-Fi, up to 6 hours of battery life, and Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

The notebooks have a “sleek silver casing that is punctuated by a unique aqua-blue touchpad that glows when touched, acting as a beacon for accessing entertainment and information”.

The Gateway ID49 and Gateway ID59 start at $679.99 and $799.99, respectively.

NVIDIA is going to release the GeForce GTX 480M high-perfomance video card for laptops, according to a listing at Canadian laptop maker Eurocom.

Starting next month, the GTX 480M will be available in the company’s 17-inch Cheetah and Panther and 18.4-inch Leopard desktop replacement notebooks.

The DirectX 11 mobile graphics card has a 256-bit memory interface and MXM 3.0b form factor.

According to the listing, the GeForce GTX 480M is $380 more expensive than the GTX 280M or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870.

Lenovo is going to release the ThinkPad TopSeller T410i, T410si, and T510i business notebooks, according to a document published on the PC maker’s website.

Unlike the standard ThinkPad T410, T410s, and T510 featuring the Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and optional dedicated NVIDIA graphics, the 14-inch T410i and T410si, and 15.6-inch T510i include the lower-end Core i3-330M CPU and the integrated Intel GMA HD GPU only.

The TopSeller models listed in the document come with Windows XP or Windows 7 pre-installed.

The new notebooks are expected to hit the market by the end of this month. We have no info on pricing.