Sayonara pint-sized portables. Powerful laptops are large and in charge at CES 2023, fueled by beastly new desktop-like Intel Core HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series chips—but taming those monstrous components usually requires massive designs loaded with cooling technology. Not CyberPowerPC’s new Tracer VII gaming laptops. These eye-catching new pieces of kit make their ultra-fast parts run even faster with an assist from external liquid-cooling.

At first blush, the CyberPowerPC Tracer VII Edge I16G (with a 16-inch, 240Hz IPS display) and Edge I17E (with a 16:10, 240Hz 17-inch panel) look like clean, unassuming gaming laptops. Their simple black exteriors hide the latest high-end components, like Intel’s Core i9-13900HX and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090. That’s impressive enough already but the real draw here, in mullet-like fashion, is the party going on in the back.

These laptops include hose ports in the rear that connect to an optional “optional detachable liquid cooling add-on unit” that packs the usual radiator, pump, and fan you’d see in a desktop AIO cooler. As you can see in the video, plugging and unplugging the unit is incredibly simple. A small bit of liquid can be left around the ports after disconnection, but CyberPowerPC smartly included a port at the top of the cooler that can be used to top it off with (presumably) distilled water, with the water levels visible on the side of the box.

Why would you even want to liquid cool a laptop to begin with? It’s all about the unprecedented, mammoth levels of power unlocked by Intel and Nvidia’s latest chips. Gordon Mah Ung explains:

“Having water-cooling in a laptop is going to make a huge difference with these new CPUs that are so fast, with these new GPUs that are so fast and also very hot. Dealing with thermals in laptops is the biggest challenge. Adding this auxiliary cooling when you need it should make a very huge difference in any gaming laptop. I’ve been doing a lot of gaming laptop reviews and let me tell you: the ones that are bigger and better cooled are faster. This lets you get really good performance out of laptops that aren’t as huge.”

Cyberpower isn’t saying how much of a performance bump you get when the optional liquid cooler is connected, nor how much the accessory will cost. These ferociously capable laptops won’t come cheap though: The 16-inch Tracer VII Edge I16G will cost about $2,800 when it launches, while the larger Edge I17E will debut at around $3,000. Look for both to hit the streets in early February.

For even more CES coverage, check out our roundup of the best laptops of CES 2023. And be sure to subscribe to PCWorld’s YouTube channel for even more must-see videos!

Author: Brad Chacos, Executive editor

Brad Chacos spends his days digging through desktop PCs and tweeting too much. He specializes in graphics cards and gaming, but covers everything from security to Windows tips and all manner of PC hardware.

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