Review: Alienware laptops for a gamer

A sneak peek into three Alienware gaming laptops: their specs, performance, ratings and price.

1. Alienware M17x: Rating: Super; Price: Rs 1,32,250

This is no game but serious power. Alienware M17x is one beast of a machine in anodised aluminum frame offering 17-inch screen presence with a wickedly expensive combination of two ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870s. When I first got my hand underneath the M17x, the raw power and sheer exuberance did make my heart beat faster as if I have just got behind a set of Ferrari and my feet was craving to hit on the racing pedal.

The Core i7-620M, which clocks up to 2.66 GHz, does a good job in preventing the performance from slowing down and is loaded with the fastest hardware you can put in a notebook today, including two of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards and a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 CPU.

A Kensington security slot will prevent those prying eyes to chance upon total of five USB ports and four audio sockets, which can even send a full-fledged surround signal to external sound systems. Otherwise, it also has a WLAN and Bluetooth module, as well as an integrated webcam. The built-in keyboard, which is next to a separate numerical block, has pleasantly large arrow keys and can convince in both pressure point and stroke length.

It comes with the required software to tweak the keyboard and power settings, called Command Center.

Alienware offers a one-year limited hardware warranty with each purchase, and 24/7 online and phone support but trust me going by the power specs you will not need it.

The Alienware M17x's application performance is awesome and it cuts through hits like Call of Duty: World at War with frame rates to spare. No matter what the processor, graphic card or hard disk, the existing reference rates were always achieved, if not surpassed.

Moreover, the M17x is one of the few notebooks that can, to an extent, keep up with powerful desktop systems.

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We are going lower the order in power and price points but Alien ware Mx15x is a serious player in the gaming laptop category. Without doubt it's a gaming powerhouse for serious gamers who want to dominate their competition.

Not only does this laptop look fierce, with its jagged design and lights emanating from all of its pores, but it performs beastly as well. A solid feature set with plenty of interesting technology comes along for the ride too. Keep reading for a closer look.

The MX15X contains the world's most powerful mobile graphics card. HD video and audio editing, 3D animation and high-end PC gaming suddenly don't seem as resource intensive as before. Increased processor efficiency means you can work away from your power cable worry-free.

The laptop is very comfortable to use over long periods, thanks to its excellent keyboard. The keys themselves have a very good tactile feedback without being noisy and the backlighting is subtle and really adds to whole gaming experience that Alienware is trying to create.

We got a very playable frame rate with Dirt2 at this high resolution.

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Gaming laptops are usually big clunky machines, well how about one that is only 11-inch and featuring a 1GB video card?

This tiny-teeny beast was unveiled at CES 2010. The M11x featuring a new NVIDIA GT335M video card can play all your media from a Blu Ray movie to playing a game at 720p seamlessly. This laptop is a big deal because it is the first of it's kind and practically speaking it's a good buy for office /business people otherwise looking for a power machine with smaller screen size.

The killer looks just add to the oomph factor.

The M11x has discrete NVIDIA GT335M graphics; the keyboard has the same squarish keys with a customisable backlight.

The screen presents itself in a mirroring edge-to-edge design, to be exact a reflective plate over the entire display breadth and beyond the screen's dimensions.

The audio, however, is astounding for the M11x's size; built-in 5.1 speakers are crisp, loud, and good enough to enhance the gaming experience on their own. At maximum volume, the M11x can rock a room. The M11x's 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 screen looked good behind its edge-to-edge glossy veneer, but there was quite a bit of glare, too, and colors weren't as bright or rich as we expected under bright lights.

Alienware hasn't only considered the central processing unit, but also the optimal weight distribution between mobility and performance. Thus, you'll find both an integrated GMA 4500M HD graphic solution as well as a dedicated NVIDIA Geforce GT 335M graphic card with a 1 GB GDDR3 video memory in the M11x.

The user decides when he wants to change between both graphic cards, and can switch between both GPUs with an according key combination when required. The Alienware M11x's case was already convincing after only a few hours of use.

The compact size and the civilised weight allow for mobile use without hesitation. Unfortunately, the display wasn't convincing, as it appeared to be too dark and therefore can get annoying in unfavorable surrounding light conditions with frequent mirroring effect and reflections.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediff.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.