Alienware M17x gaming laptop hands-on: it isn’t quite “all powerful,” but it’ll do in a pinch

Published by Paul Miller on May 30, 2009

We're still not sure where Alienware gets off calling this thing "all powerful" -- where do you go from there? -- but we certainly like what's under the hood. This 17-inch M17x desktop replacement, which is due for E3 next week, has started cropping up early and we've gotten a quick look at one in the flesh. It weighs in at 11.5 pounds, and packed to the gills it can handle dual GeForce NVIDIA GTX 280M GPUs, an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-core processor some fancy overclocking options, and up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. There's also the lovable GeForce 9400M integrated graphics with HybridPower switching for when you want to turn things down a notch and write a nice, long letter to your mother while milking the overtaxed nine-cell battery for all it's worth. Outside the raw horsepower, Alienware's revamped its design, with a hefty aluminum chassis, user-configurable lighting accents and a great many radar-evading accoutrements -- oh, and facial recognition for login and timed auto-logout. The display is configurable up to 1920 x 1200, and the laptop can pump out a good many pixels to an external monitor as well -- we saw it powering Dell's almost-ready 2880 x 900 curved display running Crysis with no problem. Other options include Blu-ray, up to 512GB of SSD storage in the dual drive bays, and perhaps best of all: a $1,799 starting price, which includes a GeForce GTX 260M GPU to get your feet wet.

We got to play with the laptop a bit at a recent event, and were seriously impressed with the look and feel of the thing -- somewhat of a rarity in the over-plasticized gaming space. As we mentioned, Crysis ran fine, and while the hardcore gamer-on-the-go with endless supplies of cash might be a bit of a rare breed these days, at least they haven't been forgotten... though they are in store for some serious back problems in later life.

Gallery: Alienware's new M17x gaming laptop monstrosity