Alienware M17x

Alienware. The name itself causes eyebrows to rise, pulses to race, and wallets to cry out for mercy. Post its acquisition by Dell, the cult American boutique computer maker known as much for its insanely powerful machines as for its unique sci-fi themed designs is now in India. Dell has in fact phased out its older gaming line, the XPS laptops and desktops, and Alienware takes their place at the top of the technology food chain.

The line will eventually include laptops and desktops, but the first model in India is the M17x, a ridiculously powerful machine that is easily the largest, heaviest and most imposing portable computer we’ve seen in a long time. Weighing over 5 kilos and measuring 40.5 cm wide by 32 cm deep it dwarfs even other 17-inch laptops, but all the space is put to good use with a stunningly clear LCD screen, spacious keyboard with full number pad and arrow cluster, brilliant speakers, and a wrist rest big enough to use a full-sized mouse on. Nothing about this anodized aluminum machine looks dainty or delicate: the corners are sharp, the angles are bold, and it feels like a tank could run it over without causing any harm. And to make it look just that much more hardcore, there are customizable lights in the glowing alien head logos, keyboard, trackpad edge, media control buttons, and speaker grills.

Out of this world
No corners have been cut or budgets considered when it comes to powerful hardware. At the heart of the beast is a quad-core Mobile Core 2 Extreme QZ9300 CPU running at 2.53 GHz with a 12 MB L2 cache. 4 GB of RAM is standard, and you can have up to 8 GB. Graphics are handled by dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 260Ms in SLI mode with 1 GB of RAM each, with the option to upgrade to dual GTX 280Ms. The chipset is the GeForce 9400M, which means you also have the option of HD-capable onboard graphics (Hybrid SLI). You also get two 250 or 500 GB hard drives in your choice of striped or mirrored RAID. You also get a slot-loading Blu-ray reader/DVD-RW combo drive and a multi-format card reader and ExpressCard slot. The screen is an IPS panel rather than the TN panels used in most other laptops, and the color reproduction and viewing angles are simply amazing. It runs at 1920x1200, bucking the current movie-centric 16:9 trend, but surprisingly isn’t LED backlit.

You have Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi b/g/n for networking along with Bluetooth 2.1, four USB 2.0 ports, a USB/eSATA combo port, four audio jacks for line in and headphones or surround sound output, one FireWire port, as well as VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort for video output. The only disappointing thing is that there are absolutely no matching accessories in the box: no carry case of any kind, no headset, no mouse, not even a mousepad! These little additions and maybe some other branded goodies could have done a lot to fuel the enthusiasm that people feel when they look at Alienware as a cult.