The 12 Most Expensive Laptops In The World

The phrase expensive laptop probably conjures up images of power-hungry gaming devices that can keep pace with most high-end desktops. While a new gaming laptop can undoubtedly hurt your wallet, even the most powerful commercially available laptops sell for pocket change compared to some of the devices on this list.

Spending over $2,000 will get you into the "high-end," but believe it or not, some laptops cost millions. This list has laptops that broke both boundaries and bank accounts. Some cost more than a car, some cost more than a house, and a few will make a yacht look cheap. One device on this list is so dangerous it has been banned from the internet. As you may expect, the closer you get to the top, the shadier things become. But we've done our best to fight through the mist and compile a list of the 12 most expensive laptops ever.

Two NVIDIA GTX 1080s, an overclocked i7 processor, 64 GB RAM, and a couple of SSDs are not bad for a current high-end PC, never mind a six-year-old laptop. The Asus ROG GX800VH could still hold its own today, which is astonishing when you consider a console generation has almost passed between its release and now.

There is always a tradeoff, and the GX800VH lost some of the portability you expect with a laptop when Asus decided to cram a high-end gaming desktop's worth of hardware in there. The enormous battery and water cooling system needed to make this thing function also piled on the pounds.

The ROG GX800VH originally retailed for $6,300. However, its value has appreciated somewhat. You can currently pick one up from Aztec Computers for $7,583.75 — which they claim is a hefty discount from the $10,238 they usually have it listed for. At least they throw in free shipping. So those of you desperate for a half-decade old, boundary-pushing, water-cooled laptop are still in luck!

Despite sounding like a new strain of flu, the Voodoo Envy H171 was a cutting-edge piece of kit in 2007. The Voodoo Envy came with Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, a Dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a hard drive capacity of up to 600GB. To put the hard-drive capacity into context for folks reading this on their 2TB SSD packing notebooks — Voodoo had to use three hard drives to get to 600GB. It was a lot of room back then.

In terms of specs, the Voodoo Envy H171 was at the extreme high end of what you could fit into a laptop during that time. However, that time was 15 years ago. It might still be able to run the current version of Minecraft, but even streaming someone playing a demanding modern game will probably make the Voodoo Envy catch fire.

A luxury car manufacturer's badge appearing on something without an engine isn't anything new. Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche have thrown their branding on everything from mugs to bath towels. Bentley is no different and licensed its branding for a limited run of high-end laptops. However, unlike an overpriced Lamborghini pencil case, not everyone had the funds to get an Ego for Bentley Laptop. The $20,000 price tag meant the Ego was one of the most expensive laptops globally at the time (Via. Laptop Mag). According to Autotrader, a used Bentley is still cheaper than Ego's laptop was.

Ego for Bentleys's run was limited to 250 units. The device boasted a "64-bit processor, and a 160GB hard drive." It also ran Windows Vista, so you could argue a car-crash experience was packaged with the Bentley branded laptop. According to an analyst at the Gabriel Consulting Group, the Ego was about $1,500 worth of laptop in a $1,000 case. So Bentley's foray into the tech world has a far more significant markup than Ferrari's bath towel.

If $2,000+ for one of Apple's standard MacBook Pros feels a bit cheap, Goldgenie has you covered. They've also covered a MacBook Pro in 24 karat gold and are selling it for around $22,000. Several options are available if a particular set of specs or decoration style speaks to you. Goldgenie offers 512GB and 1TB MacBooks; you can also choose between a 13 and 16-inch Retina display. If simple gold cladding seems too plain, opt for the diamond logo. Goldgenie also includes a few extras like free worldwide shipping, a lifetime warranty, and a certificate of authenticity so you can silence all of the doubters in your local Starbucks. It's also the cheapest gold-clad laptop on this list—nothing screams entry-level like 24 karat gold.

There are some issues to consider. Apple clads standard MacBooks in aluminum, which is a relatively soft metal. However, 24 karat gold is even more delicate than that. Assuming you've bought one of these and aren't just going to sit it in a display case forever, using it without scratching, scuffing, or denting the soft surface will be a chore. Gold is also a lot heavier than aluminum, so your new MacBook might be a literal pain to lug around.

If plain gold is a bit boring, and you have a spare $40k, you might want to consider a laptop from Bling my Thing. The company covered their "Golden Age" laptops in approximately 12,000 Swarovski crystals, each receiving a 24 karat gold coating. The gems were not just randomly thrown on; Bling My Thing arranged them in a traditional Japanese pattern. The work was done by hand, with each crystal being placed one at a time and each laptop taking a week to create. (Via LuxuryLaunches/Pocket Lint)

Twenty "Golden Age" laptops were produced, some of which made their way to high-end department stores like London's Selfridges where they were displayed as art pieces until sold. Bling My Thing's Macbook was priced in British Pounds so the price will fluctuate with the exchange rate. At the time of launch, the price tag was close to $40,000 due to a weak dollar and strong pound. 

Liverpool native Stuart Hughes is a big name in the custom MacBook world, so you'll be sick of seeing his name by the time you finish this article. Hughes' "MacBook Air Supreme Ice Edition" is platinum coated and features a diamond-studded Apple logo. The Supreme Ice Edition is Hughes' entry-level effort—with a price tag of $200,000.

Hughes claims 53 gems have been set into this MacBook, totaling 25.5 carats. The platinum coating bumps the MacBook Air's weight up to around five and a half pounds, around double the weight of the standard laptop. Hughes describes the device's weight as "immense," which may not have been what Steve Jobs had in mind when he signed off the design on Apple's notoriously light line of devices. Hughes has only produced 10 Supreme Ice Editions, though a few seem to still be available at the time of writing.

The John Lennon of high-end notebook design is at it again, this time with a "Supreme Fire" edition of the MacBook Air. Stuart Hughes used platinum, a silvery colored metal, to coat his "Ice" edition. His "Fire" edition quite predictably goes with the obvious choice of 24 karat gold and another diamond-studded Apple logo. Although platinum is a rarer metal, gold is more expensive, and the MacBook Air Supreme Fire edition will cost you $88,500 more than its platinum-clad brother.

It also comes with some positives and negatives. The "Fire" weighs more than the "Ice" even though platinum is a denser metal. So you could be getting more precious metal around your electronics if you opt for the "Fire." However, platinum is around twice as hard as gold, so the ice is far more scratch-resistant than the fire. Like the "Ice," Hughes' MacBook Air FIre is limited to 10 devices.

The Bentley collaboration wasn't Ego Lifestyle's only foray into the world of high-fashion laptops. In 2006, they released the far more expensive Tulip E-Go Platinum Diamond Notebook, which cost a staggering $350,000. While the Bentley branding costs as much as a car, styling by jewelry designer Rodrigo Otazu, and 470 diamonds, will cost you as much as a house. Those diamonds surround a 12.1-inch screen, an AMD Turion processor, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a DVD/CD burner.

Some unique features were added to Ego's line of notebooks — they weren't just gluing diamonds to things like some other manufacturers in this list. The E-Go Platinum Diamond Notebook arrived with a series of interchangeable covers, so you could keep your look fresh and match your laptop with your shoes if you wanted. It also had a very interesting "Auto DJ" feature, which could play your stored media without booting into Windows — a lifesaver in the days before solid-state drives. These features were also available on the standard line of Ego laptops, which were available for a mere $5,000 apiece. (via CNET)

If you were considering a MacBook Air Ice Edition, but it didn't have enough rare metal to meet your needs, Stuart Hughes still has you covered. The MacBook Air Supreme comes in a solid platinum case and weighs in at a hefty 14 pounds. Hughes has not listed any specs on his website, but given the price, you should assume it's probably something from the top end of the Air range.

The Air Supreme will set you back around half a million dollars, but you are getting a lot of utility for that money. MacBooks don't tend to depreciate too severely, so you can sleep soundly knowing you can sell your laptop's components for several hundred dollars a few years down the line. Then there's the precious metal content, and platinum is currently trading at over $36,000 per kilogram; the Supreme weighs seven kilograms. Finally, Hughes considers his work art, so you own a Picasso — if Picasso had gone around coating electronics in rare metals instead of inventing cubism. Overall, the MacBook Air Supreme is an absolute bargain, and you should do whatever you can to get your hands on one of the five available.

You may have noticed that many laptops on this list are just regular devices with precious metals and/or diamonds stuck to them. So did Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio, so he decided to "develop something out of the ordinary with real attention to detail." What he developed was, on paper, a pretty cutting-edge laptop for 2013. The "fully upgradable" device was to feature an SSD, Blu-Ray player, and a 17" widescreen LED screen with an integrated cleaning device. All of that tech would be clad in whatever rare metal or luxury leather the buyer specified, while a "rare-colored" diamond would function as a power button and fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, like many extreme high-end laptops, the whole thing is shrouded in mystery.

The only remaining sources that confirm the release are PSFK and LuxuryLaunches, while Luvagio's website featured an image of the laptop on the front page. Everything else centers around the years of hype that preceded the "launch," — including a very exasperated CNET article. So the final specs, sales numbers, and other details about the Luvaglio are as shrouded in mystery as the laptop was during its build-up. In an attempt to solve the near decade-old mystery, SlashGear has reached out to Rohan Luvaglio for more details.

The second most expensive laptop ever sold is currently 13-years-old and has been infected with six of the worst computer viruses known to man. The Samsung notebook sold for a staggering $1.345 million, which is a fraction of the $95 million worth of damage the viruses it comes with have caused globally. The malware included consists of WannaCry, BlackEnergy, ILOVEYOU, MyDoom, SoBig, and DarkTequila.

Like many expensive laptops on this list, the laptop falls into the "art" category. Titled "The Persistence of Chaos," the laptop was commissioned by cyber security firm Deep Instinct to illustrate digital threats. Chinese artist Guo O Dong put the piece together for around $10,000. Most of the money went towards security measures designed to stop the laptop from spreading its potentially dangerous contents. One of those measures is "air-gapping" — the laptop has been rendered unable to connect to unsecured networks and has had its USB ports disabled. Due to laws around the sale of malware, Deep Instinct and Dong for the sale. The buyer has chosen to remain anonymous.

MJ's Swarovski and Diamond Studded Notebook is the most expensive laptop in MJ's 777 range and the most expensive laptop ever sold. Studded with black and white diamonds and adorned in gold, the Ukrainian design house's notebook took the title of the world's most expensive laptop in 2010 and has held onto it ever since.

The money didn't just get you the notebook; some accessories were included. The Swarovski and Diamond Studded Notebook came with a designer cover and solid gold mouse. The electronics in the notebook came with a 10-year warranty, but MJ guarantees the jewelry surrounding the laptop for life. (via LuxuryLaunches)

As with other extreme high-end laptops, specs are hard to come by. Prices are also quite vague, but after contacting MJ, SlashGear was told the studio can customize any object to our exact specification, and fees range from €500 to €5,000,000 depending on the object, materials, and work requested. MJ also offers free worldwide shipping.