Alienware invades with new notebook
- — 30 May, 2009 00:17
Alienware M17
Ever since Dell bought a stake in Alienware, people have been wondering: What becomes of Dell's gaming-friendly XPS line? As of today, it goes away. Or at least it stops trying to cater to gaming enthusiasts. Henceforth, Dell-owned Alienware is the official game face of the organization. After all, Alienware also crafts game-centric mice, keyboards, headsets...and funky monitors. In fact, at next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Alienware plans to update everyone on its progress with a huge 42.8-inch curved monitor.
A big part of Dell/Alienware's gaming gambit involves aggressive expansion. An "All Powerful" campaign will launch as the brand attempts to expand its reach from 6 countries to 35. The first machine to show off Alienware's new message is the M17x laptop.
More Than Meets the Eye
Like the Alienware M17, the latest Alienware laptop looks to load up on features while still achieving a fairly reasonable price (US$1799 in this case). The base-level 17-inch machine will come with a host of perks that should earn a warm reception from gamers.
Among the configuration delights lurking under the anodized aluminum hood of the starter model are the following:
o A single 1GB nVidia GeForce GTX260M GPU (upgradable to dual 1GB nVidia GeForce GTX 280M GPUs for your sweet high-end graphic needs)
o An Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz P8600 CPU (upgradable to a Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core CPU)
o 4GB of RAM (Up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM)
o A 250GB 7200-rpm hard drive (upgradable to a 1TB 7200-rpm or to 512MB of solid-state storage capacity [Raid 1 or Raid 0]; users can swap out hard drives by removing the battery)
o A slot-loading DVD-RW drive (upgradable to dual-layer Blu-ray Disc)
o A nine-cell battery
o An nVidia GeForce 9400M G1 GPU with HybridPower technology (the big bonus here on the motherboard helps you get decent scaled-down graphics when you don't need the dual-card megaton firepower; it kicks in when plugged into AC power)
o 802.11n Wi-Fi
o An optional 1920-by-1200-resolution edge-to-edge LCD
Like any self-respecting desktop replacement, this laptop uses its monstrous size to accommodate a gaggle of ports. Crammed around the sides are a four-pin FireWire port, four USB plugs, an eSATA/USB combo port, an ExpressCard Slot, and an eight-in-one Media Card reader. The M17x also makes room for DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA video-outs. A bunch of audio-out jacks for 6.1 sound provide a pretty strong indication that you won't be tempted to stick with the two built-in speakers. (Pro tip #1: It may not provide the best sound. We'll give you the lowdown once we get our hands on a review unit.)
Otherwise, the M17x comes with a pimp-my-rig-worthy lighting kit for the keyboard, numberpad, touchpad, and trim lights. (Pro tip #2: Don't bank on long battery life from this traveling arcade.) Want to optimize features or tweak the way the lights twinkle? Alienware still has its user-friendly performance-shifting software on hand.
For the moment, though, I'm working off a quick glance and limited interaction. My initial impression after a quick hands-on with the machine: It makes my short list of gaming machines with serious sex appeal. But that's before we've thrown our usual truckload of benchmarks at it. We'll just have to wait and see how the M17x stands up to the challenge of PC WorldBench 6.
Stano
Thu 25/06/2009 - 23:22
Stay away from buying Alienware. I spent over $6K on a Area 51 m9750. 1 & 1/2 years and many frustrating return trips later for heating issues the thing has finally blown.
Even though I had a 2 year warranty they will no longer honour it (they say they are a new company now after the first australian company went bankrupt). The customer support is rubbish and will only make you life torture (they have an answering service that will take your messages and will not return calls unless you call at least 5 or 6 times within the span of 2 weeks).
Spend your money on a laptop from a company that values customers and can make a laptop that will last.