OCZ's Do-It-Yourself Gaming Notebook Now Available

You'll recall when OCZ unveiled their Do-It-Yourself Gaming Notebook, they left out an important thing: when. But you can buy the bare-bones version of the laptop now (at least, if you hurry), courtesy of Buy.com.

The idea of the DIY notebook was OCZ gives you the base model, and you supply components such as the CPU, hard drive, etc., etc. Naturally this assumes you can get a better price for them than a system builder can, which isn't always the case.

Anyway, at least at the time of this writing (Buy.com says they are almost out-of-stock) you can get the bare-bones version for $669 (after $50 mail-in-rebate); shipping is free.

• 15.4" WXGA Display w/ Glossy Finish
• Intel PM965 Chipset + ICH8M
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512 MB DDR2 Video Memory
• PCI-Express 16X
• 8X DVDR/RW + 4x Dual Layer Combo drive
• Built-in HD Audio Codec
• 3D Surround sound
• Integrated Touchpad
• A4 Sized Keyboard
• 1 Lithium-Ion Battery (9 Cell)

That means you need to supply:

• CPU
• Hard drive
• RAM
• OS

As I said when this was introduced, I'm not that impressed. For a gaming notebook, the GPU is rather - oh, let's call it - sedate, and I'm still not convinced the pricing will turn out that good once you price out the remaining parts.

On the other hand, it's not necessarily the case that you need the most uber-powerful GPU for a gaming system. The 8600M GT will be just fine for many. So, if you want to get your hands on this and DIY, hurry: as I said Buy.com is low on inventory, and the rebate only lasts until 6/11.