Alienware M15x Review

Model: Alienware M15x

Manufacturer: Dell

Price: £1,199.00

Available: Out now

We were recently lucky enough to get out hands on the Dell Alienware M15x. Read on for the review.

AESTHETICS: On first glance this wasn’t the most attractive laptop I’ve ever seen (granted we had the Lunar Silver option, the other two shades are far more attractive) – but then I own a Macbook Pro – however once I got this thing booted up, my opinion soon changed. Alienware Command Center is bloody brilliant! It allowed me to change the LED colours around the entire laptop; the back badge, the front grills and the keyboard backlights are split into 4 different sections! This may sound gimicky, but it honestly looks awesome. A little bit of customisation gives you a good sense of ownership.

The laptop itself isn’t ugly, but it’s a bit bulky for me, which leads me onto the weight. This isn’t a laptop you’ll be carrying around with you on a regular basis. It’s quite obvious from handling it, that this laptop is designed to be a desktop replacement, at 4.3kg it’s about three times the weight of my laptop. Saying that, I’d gladly accept another 0.7kg for a bigger screen – the 15.6inches just doesn’t cut it these days.

PERFORMANCE: Now this is where the M15x comes into its own. As you’d expect with any Alienware computer, this thing packs a punch. I must say I was a little surprised at first, when I ran the Steam Graphics Test and only scored 72fps, but then I popped in the power supply and hit a suprising 222fps. Yet another hint that this thing is a desktop replacement – not made for gaming on the go. The M15x will handle any of the current titles on the market, but you might want to up the specs if you want it to be a little more future proof. Of course that’s possible with Dell’s customisation option on the website.

SPECIFICATIONS:
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 820QM (1.73Ghz, 8MB L3 cache)
4gb DDR3 RAM
250GB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GT240M graphics card
15.6-inch Wide HD+ (1600 x 900) WLED display
6-cell 56Whr Lithium Ion battery
Windows 7

The SLI graphics card supports DirectX 10.1 of course, which paired with Windows 7 makes for spectacular gameplay.

On paper the specs may not be as high as Alienware’s PC range, but this laptop lives up to its name when it comes to speed and stability.

VERDICT: There are three things you’d usually expect from an Alienware computer; looks, power and a high price point. The only time this laptop doesn’t stick to the Alienware reputation is price. At only £1,199 you certainly get your monies worth. Keep this thing plugged in, and grab yourself an external monitor (with a better resolution) and you’re good to go.