The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds
80%

Alienware Area-51 m15x gaming laptop

Out of this world - or the laptop that fell to Earth

What you need to know about cloud backup

Review Alienware claims that its Area-51 m15x gaming laptop is the "fastest 15.4in notebook ever". Not true if you opt for the basic m15x with Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor however.

You can get a comparable Sony Vaio BZ11 for £850, and it’s safe to say that any time Sony is being used as a comparison, the value-for-money part of the equation is taking a back seat. So we’d suggest you shy away from the vanilla m15x.

Alienware Area-51 m15x

Alienware's Area-51 m15x: quite possibly the fastest laptop ever

Our review sample was packed with the fastest hardware that money can buy so we’d like to start this review by stating on the record that this is the fastest notebook we’ve ever seen, regardless of screen size.

The two key components are the 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000 mobile 'Penryn' processor and GeForce Go 8800M GTX graphics chip, both of which pack a punch and also bump the price up to stratospheric levels. We’ve previously seen the 8800M in the Rock Xtreme 770 and were extremely impressed: this GPU has epic gaming performance.

As you’d expect, the 8800M will suck the life out of your battery when they’re working at full tilt during a game, but it’s a different story when you’re surfing the web or writing emails as the power saving features in 8800M are surprisingly effective.

Cloud based data management

Latest Comments

re: aha!, bbbut.,.

Not sure whether you were trying for humour or not, but in case you weren't:

1> Alienware IS Dell nowadays...

2> Alienware also have a twin 8800 capable model (m17x) - but it's an absolute beast compared to the m15x.

0
0

Audio

It's Realtek audio - to the best of my knowledge there's no such thing as Intel audio

0
0

RE: compares badly

I don't think that Acer compares very well, it's much bigger at 18.4in, the CPU is slower and the graphics card is a 9650M GS so it'll give you about 9000 3DMarks compared to the 15000 of the 8800 GTX. It's not a bad laptop, but if you want the best gaming performance in a relatively small package, the Alienware is the better option.

0
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
Apple said to be 'exploring' 5.7-inch iPhone
Who's the copycat this time, Mr. Cook?
Review: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock
Missing Mac ports reunited, for a price
 breaking news
Australian 'Apple tax' repealed for MacBook Air
But the new MacPro is priced at a premium