Novatech has started shipping GTX280 laptops (at last!). They were announced way back at the beginning of March at Cebit, but finally they seem to be hitting the shop floors in the UK.

The X90 GTX 280 Clevo whitebox features a 17″ display, three 500GB 7200RPM HDDs or three 64GB SSDs in a RAID 5 configuration, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a Blu-ray reader DVD/RW multi burner, Nvidia GTX 280 Graphics, an 802.11n wireless LAN and a whole host of other connectivity options.

Novatech is also handing customers the opportunity to customise the much sought after laptop/console with a ‘modify’ button on their website allowing potential buyers to heighten or strip down the specifications to suit their desires and budget.

Already, Novatech seems to be creating a bit of a buzz as their general prices seem to undercut the competition, with the standard X90 going for £1493.85 including VAT, whilst the Pro version is going for £1666.35. Very reasonable. And that’s not all – for Novatech will be the UK’s first e-tailer to put Nvidia’s GTX280M and GTX260M graphics (and Intel’s Core i7) into a laptop.

For those with money to burn, Novatech will thrown in an Intel Extreme QX9300 2.53GHz 12MB Cache 1066FSB Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor instead of the standard Core 2 Duo Mobile P8400 for an additional £900. Wallet-wadded consumers can also swap out the standard 250GB hard drive for a 160GB Intel X25M MLC Solid State 2.5″ Hard Disk Drive, or a 256GB Samsung PB22-J Solid State 2.5″ Hard Disk Drive for £600 and £540 respectively.

The appearance of these excellent Clevos could be shock to the system for Dell, however, which has been splashing the cash promoting its Alienware offerings as “the fastest notebook on earth.” Alienware reckon they have ‘pwned’ their competition with the unveiling of ‘the most powerful 17-inch gaming laptop in the world’, the M17x, but the Clevo could well give the Dell-owned £1700 machine a run for its money.