The Million Dollar Laptop Nobody Can Have
The Bugatti Veyron, one of the world’s fastest production cars. 11.5 seconds of a SuperBowl TV ad. A cardboard box in Manhattan. The Luvaglio luxury laptop. All of these items have one thing in common: their one million dollar price tag.
Back in 2007, a previously unheard of company started proclaiming the news of their marvelous product. It was intended to be something more special, more unique than just a standard fare laptop with jewels on it. An air of exclusivity, unmatched design, and perhaps hidden machine guns or an oil slick seemed to await the first brave soul with a million bucks under the couch cushion.
The company's mantra makes you feel like you'll be part of a billionaire’s secret club.
"We've created our own path - our creations, our designs, our attention to detail are like nothing you've experienced before."
"We're not interested in 'mass production' or designing 'entry level products' - we leave that to others."
"We guarantee that everything we do will exceed expectations."
"We create and hand make the very best."
And that's where the information ends. A pretty light sales pitch for a million dollar product to say the least. Evidently you need a “password” to continue, or you can view the address of their corporate offices in England.
A Luvaglio press release sheds some light on a little more about the laptop & it's specs:
- Solid State storage
- Blu-ray drive
- Built-in USB memory stick & MP3 player
- Integrated screen cleaning
- Jewel-encrusted power button
- Motorized storage box (from video)
While SSD’s were still very new in 2007 and an integrated screen cleaning system seemed a bit far fetched, nothing seemed truly out of the ordinary here. We can only assume that the folks at Luvaglio were aiming for more design than technology in the exclusiveness of their product.
Wait a minute...
Around the time that the Luvaglio was major press, U.K. magazine PC Pro did some investigation of their own into Luvaglio. They managed to get the Luvaglio CEO on the phone and have a vague conversation about availability and production, with the types of answers that sound all to familiar from someone who doesn’t have much to say. After being deflected to an e-mail address for a PR person who never responded, the blokes at PC Pro went down to Luvaglio’s headquarters only to find a small townhouse with nobody home.
To date, there have been no reports of purchases of the Luvaglio million dollar laptop, no further press releases or information from the company, no word of any kind really. After the buzz died down in April-May of 2007, nothing seems to have been heard from Luvaglio save for their ever present, super secretive, invitation-only website.
Whether Luvaglio is a company of empty promises or perhaps the conspirers of an elaborate scam: it seems that the million dollar laptop will never meet the light of day.
Guest article by T.J Aron from laptopical.com, your guide to cheap laptops (definitely priced under 1 million :)
