Alienware Area-51 m15x Laptop

Processor: 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Storage: 200GB hard drive; 320GB removable hard drive
Optical Drives: Blu-ray burner/DVD±RW
Display: 15.4-inch TFT
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX (512MB)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium

There's been a litany of reasons to hold off on buying a new gaming laptop: the state of the high-definition-disc format war, new 45nm chips on the horizon, the latest graphics processor, or the fact that your wallet coughs up dust bunnies. But with Alienware's new 15.4-inch gaming notebook, the Area-51 m15x, you're out of excuses—except for that last one.

Pricing for the m15x starts at a not-unreasonable $2,149, but Alienware's long list of new shiny parts quickly runs up the bill. Our souped-up review unit, for instance, costs a vertigo-inducing $4,858. What do you get for all that money? Our configuration included a GeForce 8800M GTX graphics chip upgrade—previously available only in larger 17-inch Alienware models; an Intel Penryn-based 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor; 4GB of DDR2 RAM; a Blu-ray burner/DVD±RW combo drive; a 1,920x1,200 screen; a 200GB internal drive; and an additional 320GB swappable hard drive.

While the spec sheet may send gamers into an energy-drink delirium, the presentation is less exciting. The laptop does have portability going for it, measuring 14.6x10.7x1.3 inches and weighing a manageable 7.1 pounds, but gone is some of Alienware's trademark otherworldly décor. The somewhat blocky case is made of plastic that feels like it would crack under the slightest strain, and the matte-black spinal ridges of the Area-51 m9750 have been smoothed out to a glossy finish and crowned with Alienware's insignia, emblazoned with LED eyes.

Lifting the lid reveals a gorgeous 15.4-inch screen topped by a 2-megapixel webcam. Below the bezel you'll notice power, volume, wireless, and system touch controls, which we found to be a bit stubborn and unresponsive. The touch pad sits flush on the case and is delineated by an LED border, which also makes it tough to distinguish from the rest of the case. One presentation aspect we did like is the multitude of LEDs built into the backlit keyboard (a $50 upgrade option) and encircling the case lid, emblem, and touch pad. They can all change color independently using the Alienware Command software, although there are no strobing or color-shifting options available.

Moving around the edges, the m15x sports an up-to-date, if utilitarian, mix of ports, including Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, headphone and mic jacks, three USB and one Firewire port, a SD/MMC memory-card slot, HDMI output, and an ExpressCard slot. We didn't miss VGA or S-Video ports, since they'd seem dated on a machine of this caliber. Watching Blu-ray movies on the high-definition display was breathtaking, but we did make good use of the HDMI port to pipe video and audio directly out to our HDTV in stunning full 1080p HD resolution.

In our benchmark testing, the GeForce 8800M GTX and Core 2 Extreme X9000 tandem positively smoked the competition. The m15x beat one previous champ, the Gateway P-171XL FX Edition, by scoring a blazing 76.2 frames per second (fps) in Company of Heroes and 96fps in F.E.A.R. (both at 1,900x1,200 resolution with anti-aliasing off). The m15x also took our 3DMark test, posting 7,381 at 1,900x1,200, which shattered the score of 5,921 the Dell XPS M1730 recorded. In our productivity tests, the m15x similarly trashed all comers in our PCMark05 test with 7,520, as well as our iTunes conversion test (3 minutes and 13 seconds). The m15x also sets the bar pretty high for our new Cinebench 10 and PCMark Vantage tests, posting 5,543 and 3,368, respectively. The only tests where the m15x didn't run away with the lead were our Cinebench 9.5 and Windows Media Encoding tests, though it still scored a respectable 928 and 5 minutes and 20 seconds, respectively.

Considering that this beast is packed with nothing but hotrod components, battery life naturally took a small hit, scoring 1 hour 22 minutes in our standard-definition DVD disc rundown test. Alienware attempts to manage the machine's power consumption with two key features: U/D GFX and Stealth mode. U/D GFX allows you to toggle between the m15x's power-hungry 8800M GTX graphics and the integrated Intel P965 chipset using the F7 key. Here's the problem: Making that switch requires a reboot, and there's no indicator to tell you in which mode you're running, unless you take a peek at Device Manager. The Stealth mode touch button attempts to curb power consumption as well by scaling back CPU and GPU use. Unfortunately, we did notice that the m15x would sometimes bump us into Stealth mode while gaming, which caused a noticeable hit in performance, but hitting Alt-tab and turning off Stealth mode corrected the issue. (We're waiting for a new system to arrive from Alienware to see if this problem was specific to our test unit.)

Despite some minor quibbles, the Alienware Area-51 m15x earns the title of best gaming laptop on the market. The tradeoffs on the system are minimal, and they're more than compensated for by the m15x's portability and performance. You may need to put your grandma in hock just to afford one, but we can't really say that it isn't worth it.

author : Mike Spitalieri