Alienware Area-51 m17x

The Alienware really shines when packed out with dual Nvidia GeForce 9800 GPUs and an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor. Of course, few people, even serious gamers, need that much horsepower, but as a display of conspicuous consumption, it's hard to beat, with an illuminated keyboard, imposing new black slab aesthetic, and a Blu-ray drive.

Alienware almost has a better case to make with this system's smaller cousin, the 15 inch m15x, which at least has the distinction of being one of the only mainstream size gaming laptops out there. Gamers with more realistic budgets are encouraged to check out the Gateway P-7811FX, easily the best bang for your gaming buck. Still, excess has its fans, and if your gaming laptop is just as much about making a statement as playing games, few do it as well.

Specification

• Price as reviewed or Starting price $ 1,618
• Processor 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000
• Memory 4GB, 667MHz DDR2
• Hard drive 1TB 5,400rpm (500GB x2)
• Chipset Intel PM965
• Graphics Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT (x2)
• Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dimensions (WDH) 16.1 x 11.5 x 2.1 inches
• Screen size (diagonal) 17.1 inches
• System weight, Weight with AC adapter 10.9 - 13.8 pounds
• Category Desktop Replacement
  

The m17x's 15 inch cousin, the aptly named m15x, suffered from some awkward design cues it was thicker than many desktop replacements and had a fingerprint prone silver finish. The 17 inch version, however, does much better aesthetically, with a matte black all over finish that makes the entire thing look like an imposing slab of high frame rate granite. Like the m15x, instead of having a separate mousing surface, the touch pad sits flush with the remainder of the wrist rest and is made of the same material, delineated only by a backlit outline.

It looks cool, but can be hard to use you can't tell when your finger goes off the edge without looking. In a similar vein, there are a row of touch sensitive system controls above the keyboard etched right into the chassis, for turning on the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas, and for launching Alienware's lighting control app. We liked the look, but the buttons lacked tactile feedback, and you have to hold your finger on them for a few seconds to get a response.

There's nothing we like more these days than a backlit keyboard (see the Dell Latitude E6400), and the m17x goes several steps further, with a backlit keyboard, touch pad border, Alienware logo, alien head, and strip of touch control buttons. The Alienware Command Center is a software app used to control the lighting, and you can assign different colors to every section or use one color across all the lights. The same software package also provides a fairly comprehensive power control suite, which offers more detailed options than the basic Windows Vista power settings.

You can get a nonbacklit keyboard $50 less, but that seems like a poor way to save a couple of bucks. The 17 inch wide screen LCD display offers a 1,920x1,200 native resolution, which is what we expect in a high end desktop replacement. Interestingly, the 15 inch m15x had the same high resolution. A 1,440x900 resolution display is also available for $250 less, but again, if you need to pinch pennies, this may not be the laptop for you.