All right, chumps, so if you’re reading this review right now, chances are you’re already well aware of the performance of this product. As usual, Alienware is about as high-end as you can possibly go, and that philosophy permeates here once again with the upgraded M15x.
Although there are plenty of options (you can score a system for a little as $1,200 or as much as $5,000), in our review unit, we’ve got an Intel Core i7 X920M processor—an absolute beast of a CPU—coupled with a ridiculously capable NVidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU and 4 GB 1366MHz DDR3 RAM. Our unit also features a beautiful 1080p Full HD screen and a Blu-ray ROM/DVD writer slot-load drive. The price as configured? Around $3,300 (approximately $1,400 alone is the processor). About the only area our system skimps is the HDD: rather than packing a solid-state drive, we’ve got a conventional Seagate 7,200 RPM 500 GB drive. Plenty of space, but for performance, you can’t beat an SSD. I suppose if you’re not at all concerned about the cost, you could also opt for 8 GB of RAM.
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Regardless, in terms of performance, although we’re only talking single GPU (no SLI, as well as no dual HDD or RAID array option) here, this is one heck of a machine. It chewed through everything I tossed at it, including Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Borderlands, both configured on highest settings. 3DMark05 grants it a 21,321, and 3DMark06 scored it 11,468, both of which are certainly nothing to sneeze at for a 15” notebook.
But there’s been plenty of talk on the internet already about the raw performance of this machine, and you probably aren’t looking for me to regurgitate that same rhetoric at this point. There is no doubt that this is currently the most powerful 15” notebook option out there, so what about the other subtler, more practical judgments of the M15x’s qualities? You’ve seen the benchmarks already, so I’ll focus my review instead on the nitty-gritty of the hardware, the everyday usability and impressions of my heavy use of the machine after spending over a month with it. (I brought this baby to CES with me two weeks ago to function as a video rendering workstation, and it didn’t disappoint… but more on that later.)
First off, this is the most beautiful screen I’ve seen to date on a notebook. We don’t see so many 1920×1080 15-inchers, but the M15x’s gorgeous display certainly impresses. It’s a staggeringly sharp resolution with intense color that looks beautiful with Windows 7’s enhanced high-DPI display settings. Of course, it’s edge-to-edge glass, which definitely produces some jarring reflections, but with nearly any computer these days that’s the case. Besides, the LED FHD display is so incredibly vibrant that it completely mutes any reflections when it’s lit up. Darker scenes would be the only real issue, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. The viewing angles are also great, and the backlighting is incredibly even across the entire surface.
In terms of speakers, the M15x’s aren’t bad (certainly better than that of many notebooks), but they definitely should have been better if you ask us. The bass rings hollow and the dynamic range isn’t as even as it ought to be, and there’s not much that can be done about it in the way of software. Fortunately, there is a definite sense of stereo separation, however, so if you’re gaming, at least you’ll receive the necessary sensation of your surroundings.
It’s a “notebook,” not a laptop
If you don’t think that term swap is intentional, consider this: our M15x notebook clocked in at just around ten pounds including the 9-cell battery (which, quite frankly, it’d be hard to do without, as the battery life of this beast is predictably wanting—around two hours total). This is in spite of the fact that Alienware has taken steps toward enhanced portability by swapping out some of the less-critical metal (the bottom cover being the most impacting) with hard plastic, as well as subbing aluminum for magnesium. It’s still imposingly large and hefty. You aren’t going to be lugging this thing around if you don’t have to—trust me. So calling it a “notebook” makes a lot more sense, although most accurately, it’s probably more of a portable gaming desktop. Perhaps that’s a bit extreme, but that’s probably how it’ll function in your possession: it provides for easy around-the-house PC gaming, as well as occasional remote gaming when you don’t mind hauling it from A to B. It’s merely a more convenient alternative to your typical gaming desktop setup.
As such, this is clearly a notebook best suited for those who love their PC Games, but don’t so much enjoy being cooped up in their dungeon-like bedroom or office confined to a cumbersome desktop. While it doesn’t offer the top-of-the-line SLI options (or dual hard drives, for that matter) of its larger 17-inch cousin, it provides much of the same mind-blowingly powerful gaming performance in a somewhat smaller and more portable package.
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Heat-wise, the M15x seems to have the issue of cooling mostly licked. However, throughout my time with the system, I did notice some occasions where the system appeared to “throttle” when heavily taxed. This mostly occurred during heavy gaming. I didn’t seem to experience it at all during Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 play, but you will notice in my video of Borderlands the FRAPS counter visibly dropping to around 15 frames per second for a few short seconds. Granted, it quickly hops back up to 30-something, but this is still something worth considering.
As you’re probably aware already if you’re reading our review, many people online have apparently discovered temporary fixes for the problem, and Dell/Alienware seem to have quietly acknowledged the issue and are probably working on a BIOS-level fix. Nevertheless, this is hardly a deal-breaker; my advice would be this: when you’re dealing with such a cutting-edge, ridiculously powerful machine, you’re going to run into a couple of hiccups along the way. Go ahead and make your purchase, test it by playing your favorite games, and see if it affects you. If it does, consider the various solutions posted in places like the NotebookReview forums, or you can always simply return the unit via Dell’s 21-day no-questions-asked return policy.
On that note, the extended 9-cell battery is required if you opt for the top-of-the-line Intel X920 M processor. Not only does the battery provide more power, of course, but it also lifts the notebook up off the surface around an inch. This provides for increased airflow to the bottom two air intake vents, and probably helps to mitigate the issues surrounding cooling to some degree.
Let’s talk about ports, baby
There’s a modest range of ports to be found on the M15x’s stately case. You should watch the hardware tour video if you want to really get a great idea of how these are arranged, but nevertheless, here’s a list for referential purposes:
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(3) USB ports (including one eSATA, and can also charge devices even while the laptop is off)
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(1) VGA out
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(1) DisplayPort out
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(1) 1394A Firewire
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(1) Ethernet
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(2) Headphones ports
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(1) Line in/Microphone port
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(1) ExpressCard
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(1) Memory Card reader
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(1) Slot-load optical drive
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(1) Charging Port
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(1) Kensington Lock
Certainly a capable range of ports, although we would have liked to see at least one additional USB, and we were surprised to be lacking an HDMI out. Of course, with regard to the latter, the included DisplayPort is theoretically more versatile, but considering the amount of empty space on the chassis, both would have been an excellent addition. You also get a 2.0 megapixel webcam with stereo mic input.
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Going CESing
Under permission from our Dell/Alienware PR rep, I decided there’d be no better way to test this baby than to bring it with me to CES 2010 (a couple of weeks ago) to use as our primary video rendering machine (meaning over an hour of HD video on our site was generated by the M15x). Yes, it’s no easy piece of luggage, but that’s okay, because I simply pawned it off on one of our other editors at the airports and plane trips (thanks Eric!).
So, how did it do? My initial thoughts were that the pretty limited battery life and jumpy touchpad (more on this in a moment) would be a huge issue. Surprisingly, however, I didn’t run into much of an issue with either. This is mostly because wherever I was willing to haul the M15x, the power adapter came with it. Sure, it’s an enormous brick (150 watts of one!), but it’s only marginal added weight when you’re already talking about ten pounds. It’s not like I took the M15x out on the show floor with me to all the meetings; that would have been a recipe for worker’s comp.
As for the touchpad interface, yes, it’s jumpy. We’ll get to that more in the next section, but for now, I’ll simply say that I edit video with the help of an external mouse anyway, and with the mouse plugged into the M15x, all’s well.
Overall, the M15x was a critical performer in our coverage of this year’s event. Sure, CES is much lower-key for us still than E3 (where last year we edited well in excess of ten hours of HD video directly on-site), but the M15x’s rendering speed made room for more nighttime events—a prominent part of the CES experience when you’re a member of the press. Get this: on my M1330 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo laptop (8 GB RAM), rendering a 5½-minute stretch of H.264 1280×720 HD video via Sony Vegas Pro (2-pass VBR encoding) took me 50 minutes. On the M15x, it took just 16 minutes. In case you’re counting, that’s over 3 times the speed. Wow.
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Gotchas
Even at this price, however, there’s still some room for improvement. For starters, the touchpad, while perfectly comfortable in terms of its sensible matte finish and ergonomics (though some have criticized it, I actually rather like it), suffers from a disturbingly choppy refresh rate. The pointer stutters across the screen seemingly imprecisely in a way that some have described appears to resemble a “low frame rate” in a videogame. After extensive research into the matter, this doesn’t appear to be a problem which is currently correctable via a driver or software update. I’ve tried the Synaptics drivers, the official Dell-provided driver, and the stock Windows drivers—and there’s no significant variance between any of them, sadly. However, I also don’t believe it’s an issue with the hexagonal texture of the surface.
Fortunately, as you will most likely not be moving the M15x around from place to place too terribly often anyway (and you’ll probably be gaming with it quite often), you more than likely have a perfectly capable wireless mouse to use with it. The same behavior does not apply to external pointing devices, which, in contrast, work perfectly smoothly and accurately.
The only other truly notable problem with our M15x unit was an element of keyboard flex near the bottom-right arrow keys. Although we were under the impression that this was a thing of the past for the M15x, our keyboard definitely feels almost “loose” in the area. The previous Area-51 M15x also was said to have this problem, though most modern M15x owners report precisely the opposite: zero flex anywhere on the keyboard. Because of that, we’re led to believe this might simply be an isolated issue with our review unit.
The M15x sitting suitably right smack dab in my living room. Don’t mind the color choice… I did it for the video, I swear
Get to the point already
So, then, what’s the verdict? Would I accept the M15x as my primary machine? Pricing considered and all else, if I had the money, absolutely. However, I wouldn’t be using this as my primary notebook; rather, it’d be more of a desktop replacement, conveniently movable from one spot to the next in my home. Occasionally I’d probably take it elsewhere as well, but that’d be a much less frequent occurrence.
If you’re looking for the most powerful 15” laptop in the universe, look no further than the Alienware M15x. This baby will chew your games up and spit them out (albeit perhaps in a ball of fire), and if you’re into video rendering, you’ll never have seen H.264 as more practical a format. If you’ve got the money for this beast, chances are you won’t be disappointed. Just be sure to snag yourself a competent wireless mouse while you’re at it.
For benchmarks, I suggest you check out:
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/alienware-m15x.aspx?mode=benchmarks