Maximum PC

I regularly browse boutique PC vendors' websites and see a ton of gigantic laptops with desktop processors and dual-videocards. Are these worth the money?

What is a 'desktop processor'?

Like LGA 1366 CPUs

Are laptops with SLI and LGA 1366 CPUs worth the amount of money charged for them?

It depends. If you don't care about cost, battery life, and it being almost harder to lug around than an SFF, then they're worth it. Basically, if you want to most damn powerful laptop you can have for some reason, do it. but its WAY more cost-effective to get a budget gaming laptop and a desktop.

And this was an oversight when asking, but those laptops probably don't have the capacity to cool those procs and the GPUs, do they?

@Spartacus: Can your M11x handle Crysis on medium settings at native-res?

It handles Crysis. generally sits at around 40FPS with lower settings, which looks perfectly smooth on the small screen. Hook it up to a bigger 720p screen and you might notice choppiness, but it remains playable. Middling settings generally kick it down to 25FPS or so, which is pretty choppy- definitely don't expect AA or AF. honestly, the biggest issue the laptop has is with TF2. It barely handles it at lowest settings, which is really annoying because TF2 is a great casual play game and it's not supposed to be demanding. it's just so CPU limited that the i7-640UM limits it pretty badly. It looks smooth on lowest settings on its integrated 11" display, but I like to hook my m11x up to my big 25" 1080p monitor, as I have a KVM for just that purpose. Obviously I have to kick games back to 720p to keep smooth framerates, but TF2 still gets choppy there even. Kind of annoying.

Still pretty good for an ultraportable gaming laptop, and a definite improvement over my current laptop's HD 2600 XT

While I was doing my bit as an "over-the-road" owner operator in trucking, I chose one of those desktop replacements. It was ideal for me because I only moved it from the truck to a motel room or my home once every 2 or 3 weeks. I wanted a full blown computer and battery life was not a consideration nor was there a real need for "portability". I used it both for business and recreation. It survived a quarter million miles on the road and is still in use by the grand kids.

In other words they have there place. As a school notebook or an actual "road warrior" they are totally out of their element. But for me It worked great. I had a printer in the truck and at home so basically one piece SFF computer more or less easily transportable and quick to set up. Between the T/A, Flying-J, Pilot, and Love's truck stops I always had quick wireless access to the internet for business and a good DVD player for an after dinner movie.

Yeah. I'm imagining one of those wouldn't be fun to carry around at school when I go to university next year. Having to plug-in all the time would frustrate me to no end.