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Just a little over a month after MAINGEAR held the launch of its new ML-16 gaming laptop, the company is back at it with a brand-new model of the ML-17. This new model promises unchecked levels of power and performance as it boasts a beefy graphics card. To really boost the performance, the new ML-17 also comes with oodles of RAM and storage. It’s the kind of gaming laptop you buy when you don’t just want to have a powerful gaming laptop that keeps you mobile, but also dominates most other gaming laptops while running circles around a fair amount of desktops too.
If you’re unfamiliar with MAINGEAR, it’s been in the business of custom, prebuilt gaming PCs for many years. Its specialty is desktops but like the majority of the most popular gaming PC brands, it builds laptops as well. And the ML-17 is the latest of its creations to hit the market. On the inside, there are at least a few similarities to MAINGEAR’s older version of the ML-17. Namely the GPU and RAM capacity which aren’t changing. For reference, the older model came with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile GPU, and it had options for up to 64GB of RAM. Both of these things are staying the same.
However, it’s now using a newer CPU and MAINGEAR has updated the design of the laptop quite a bit. The end result is a better laptop with better performance, and let’s be honest, a better design.
The launch of the MAINGEAR ML-17 starts today
If you’re looking to get your hands on this bad boy, you can place your order for one starting today. That being said, don’t expect this laptop to come cheap. It’s considerably more expensive than the highest tier ML-16 with all the trimmings – I.E. two SSD slots with 4TB of storage each, 64GB of DDR5 RAM, an RTX 4070 mobile GPU, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU. That config also has the custom artwork that MAINGEAR offers and the whole thing comes out to about $3,017.
The base configuration of the MAINGEAR ML-17 will be $3,899 at launch. And it only goes up from there based on the component options you pick, assuming you go for the custom option and upgrade those components. Then again, this laptop is custom built and all the specs are top of the line. In addition to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile GPU, the new ML-17 is bumping up from the Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU to the Intel Core i9-14900HX. It also supports Thunderbolt 5 and Wi-Fi 7.
What about storage? You can have up to three SSD slots if you want them and each one can hold a 4TB SSD. Will you need that much storage? Who knows. Some people might. The key takeaway is that you’d never want for storage space. You’d never again have to play this game of uninstalling something to make room for something new. And it’s hard to put a price on that.
When it comes to ports, you have plenty of those as well. With one HDMI out port, a 3.5mm audio port, two Thunderbolt 5 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one Mini DisplayPort 1.4 port, a LAN port, and a Mic/S/PDIF combo jack.
The updated design promotes a more comfortable user experience
Whether this was the intention or not, there are things about the design that look to improve the comfort when using this laptop. Mainly with the larger touchpad. MAINGEAR says this will help with precise control for a more comfortable gaming experience. Now you could play games with the touchpad instead of a proper gaming mouse, but I wouldn’t recommend it. If you did, however, it should feel better than it did on the last model.
MAINGEAR has also moved the touchpad further to the left, compared to the completely centered touchpad on the older version. Additionally, MAINGEAR is using new keys. They’re still chiclet style, but the lower edge of each key is now a slightly translucent white for the RGB to shine through. In my experience with the new ML-16 model so far, this helps to light up the keys a bit better. So it’s nice to see MAINGEAR employ this design with its new ML-17 as well. The RGB backlighting still comes through on the top of the keys too though, so you’re not giving that up.
The number pad is also still there as this is using a full-size keyboard. Not content to stop there, MAINGEAR has updated the hinge for the display. It’s now wider and spans almost the entire width of the chassis which should be more durable. Another bonus is the fact that you can connect dual 6K monitors with high refresh rates thanks to the use of Thunderbolt 5. Or you can go for a single 6K or 8K monitor if you don’t have or need a second monitor. All-in-all, the new ML-17 is a powerhouse, and you’re going to want one.