Introducing the Dell Alienware M15x

The Alienware M15x is a 15.6" widescreen laptop with a high-quality white-LED display and some hefty customisation options. This PC is squarely targeted at gamers - the serious graphics card and intimidating design leave little room for doubt on that count.

Inside the Alienware M15x

Power users will be pleased to see that the Alienware M15x comes with the latest Intel Core i processors. The improved architecture of this platform provides much greater energy-and-clock-efficiency over the Core 2 Duo processors, leading to a much improved performance for a given GHz rating, and given extra oomph by the tri-channel RAM.

Alienware M15x Graphics

This is where the M15x really stomps all over the competition; the 512MB Nvidia GeForce GT240M is an absolute beast of a graphics card, and will embarrass most desktop computers, let alone laptops. But that's not even the limit - the 1GB GTX 260M can push the boundaries of performance even further...

Alienware M15

Podcomplex Guides | Alienware M15x Review

The Dell Alienware M15x is a type of laptop that would suit someone from the 'gamer' profile category, as outlined in the laptops overview page.

Since Dell acquired the elite gaming brand of Alienware, they have begun to rely on Alienware as their only source of high-end machines targeted specifically at gamers. Previously, Dell were actually competing with Alienware through their hulking XPS M1730 laptops and its other XPS siblings, but these have since been phased out, leaving Alienware to spearhead Dell's assault on the hearts and minds of the gaming community.

Gaming is one of the areas that always pushes hardware to the limit, so if you want bleeding edge performance, you'll generally find it in a laptop that markets itself as a gaming rig - but it won't come cheap. As such, the Alienware M15x only comes with Core i processor options - those tawdry old Core 2 units are just so yesterday. Although Dell gives you options of Core i3 and Core i5 processors, let's face it - if you're getting a gaming machine, you're going to want at least the 720QM i7 Processor.

In terms of graphics, the M15x comes with a 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GT240M video card, which is a very tasty performer indeed. You'll want to combine this with at least 3GB of DDR3 RAM, or even 6GB - the operating system will be a flavour of Windows 7 64-bit, so it can address more than 4GB of RAM, and the Core i architecture means that you should be installing your memory in batches of three rather than in twos, as had previously been the optimal approach.

Screen, Interface and Form Factor

The M15x comes with a slightly larger fifteen inch screen than standard consumer laptops, measuring 15.6" diagonally. The default is a 1600x900 white LED display, but for a mere £20 extra you can upgrade to a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel screen. Again, I imagine that for a gamer this upgrade would be the very epitome of a no-brainer.

In terms of size, this laptop is portable, but certainly no lightweight - it tips the scales at just over 4kg, with a width of 14.88", height of 1.92" (when closed) and a depth of 12.15". In fact, this may be an ideal compromise for gamers who like to move their rig around a lot - its a bit heavier than a standard laptop, but immensely powerful, and still significantly less cumbersome than its big brother, the M17x.

The keyboard is slightly raised, and each key has a backlit border which is useful for locating keys in a darkened gaming chamber, but this backlighting also has the additional advantage of making the laptop look pretty fierce. However, this model doesn't feature a dedicated numeric keypad - you'll have to scale up to the M17x for that.

Alienware M15x Battery Life

The default configuration ships with a 6-cell 56Whr battery, but it should come as no surprise that the M15x is something of a power hog. Despite the improved efficiency of the Core i architecture, this machine will drain your battery faster than you can say "Call Of Duty". This may not actually be much of a problem, as you will probably just be bringing it from your home to a LAN party and plugging it in again, but if you want to actually use it while running on batteries, then you should upgrade to the 9-cell 85Whr option.

See More Details and Customise An Alienware M15x...

M15x

(affiliate link to the Alienware M15x page)

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