Zardon

Read The review here
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Today we look at the new M15x from Alienware - they are one of the first companies to introduce Intels Core-i7 architecture in the mobile marketplace. Back that up with an impressive graphics processor from Nvidia and the new Intel PM55 chipset and we have a very interesting and theoretically capable product.

macbiter

That is seriously mega CPU performance.

comp_ali

That's really nice laptop . besides being the first laptop to bring i7 to use it does have decent generation GPU (GTX 260M) that's why it performs very well in demanding games like Batman or Crysis. The battery time isn't impressing which is very expected with the usage of i7+DDR3 ram+GTX 260M .
One thing I didn't like the temperatures I feel they are too much for a laptop.

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"It is doubtful how DRM could reduce piracy and there no way it can boost games sales either"

Byshop

It's actually not the first i7 laptop, nor the first with a decent video card. The Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX 17" laptop has been sporting an i7 (950 3.06 or 975 3.33ghz) with a 280m for a while now. It aint cheap though...

I'd be curious to see some comparison benches. I'm currently on an m17x 2.8 with dual 280s which I love. I wonder how the video card downgrade works in conjunction with the faster CPU.

-Byshop

Veridian3

I guess that wording could have been slightly better, its one of the first laptops to use Intel's new mobile i7/PM55 combination.

Byshop

It's an impressive piece of hardware in any case. As mentioned I'm running an m17x and I love it (minus the fact that I could bludgeon someone to death with it if I so chose). A faster, maybe cheaper depending on the config 15" version might be worth a trade in for me but I'll have to wait for some more info about exactly how an i7/260m performs against a core2duo/sli 280ms.

-Byshop

Veridian3

Its pretty simple, if you are a gamer you go for the M17x. If you use the machine more for productivity then the M15x will run rings around the larger model.

The M17x certainly wont disappoint in productivity and the M15x is fine for games as long as you set your expectation about resolution but they are each very stong in one particular area compared to the other.

Byshop

Of course the I7 will blow away the core 2 duo in non gaming apps, but again I'm curious to see exactly how the two machines compare. Cross platform development of most games for consoles has put a cap on the specs required to play new titles over the last few years. I've seen benchmarks that put a 280m a bit under a desktop 9800 in terms of perf, so I'm curious to see how a 260m fairs with a significant bump in CPU power.

-Byshop

BlueMak

Good review. This laptop looks like a very good piece of equipment. I decided to check the price.
I stopped smiling.

I have to give it to them, they make good looking laptops.

__________________
The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

FortuneGT

I was wondering, in the battery testing, was Stealth Mode Enabled?

Veridian3

Nope, standard settings for the system with BIOS defaults.

FortuneGT

Would it be possible to find out how long the battery lasts in stealth mode?

It switches to on-board graphics and is supposed the throttle back the CPU and should be able to push the web browsing and basic use well past 2 hours.

duffyanneal

Thanks for the review and pics. Could you elaborate a little on the actual clock speed with turbo mode enabled? How is the display viewing angles and backlight bleed? Fan noise? Thanks again.

Veridian3

HI, the laptop is now with another person so I cannot test this. What I would say is that the M15x doesnt have onboard graphics, only the 240/260. The M17x does switch to an onboard 9400 though.

Veridian3

HI, when actually in windows with the brightness set to your preffered level the screen is great but I did notice that things like the BIOS did suffer from a reduced viewing angle (darker areas). Overall its one of the better laptop screens I have seen.

There were no problems with fan noise, in general use the machine is near silent but it remains quieter than a standard desktop most of the time when gaming. In the last couple of generations Alienware/Dell have done a lot of work with the thermals and these machines are nowhere near the rocket sounding devices they used to be.

As for turbo mode, that depends on the CPU and the application. The Turbo mode works like the desktop chips where single core apps get more of a boost than multi core etc. For the 920XM the maximum turbo speed is 3.2ghz. The 920 reaches 3.06GHz and the 720, 2.8GHz.

duffyanneal

Thanks for the answers. Ha, I don't know what I was thinking concerning "Turbo Mode". I knew about the i7 turbo features, but I was thinking that the M15x offered something above and beyond that. Anyways, I have one on order that should be here in a few weeks. Thanks again.

FortuneGT

Okay, appreciate the replies, thanks.

tououse2k

I just wanted to complement you on a comprehensive review of the Alienware M15x. I had just ordered it and was having a few second thoughts....but your review convinced me to follow through. I have the Alienware Area 51 58x and it is blazingly fast for rendering my animations in Vue and C4D...if the laptop can process at half that speed I will be happy. I feel like I've already opened the box and started it up. Thanks again for the great article.

One newbie question....does this Turbo have to be activated manually in the BIOs or is it already set at the factory? I know you guys are really experts, so please just grin, but don't laugh out loud at my question.

Thank you, in advance, for your time and advice.

Veridian3

Enabled was the default option in our BIOS. Enjoy your new toy

on3eighteen

The only thing not covered in this great review is the audio. I cannot seem to get a Dell rep to tell me which output formats it supports (Dolby Digital, Dolby True-HD, DTS, and/or DTS-HD). Some just point me to the audio card spec (IDT 92HD83 "Black River") but that doesn't get me too far.

I would like to use this as a media center & hook it up to my 40" 1080p Samsung LCD & I'd really like to know if the laptop outputs any of the formats above. I know this is a powerful gaming machine, but I think it will also be a great machine to hook up to a LCD in one's living room & watch Blu-ray & MKVs. Does anybody know the audio output?

Veridian3

My gut feel is that this is not the machine for you. The connectors for the intel output will not get you digital sound. On the Nvidia side the DisplayPort output may provide audio but from what I can remember the desktop chips in the same series as this were limited in terms of audio pass through (ATI have always been better at that) and it is very unlikely that True-HD etc are supported.

I think it would be fair to say that if they were then Dell/Alienware would be publicising it.

I will look into it further to see if we can get a concrete answer but as I said above, assume it doesnt meet your needs for now.

Edit 2: Just spoken to Dell, they say that the machine does audio over DisplayPort and True-HD is supported. I cannot confirm this as the machine is now with another reviewer but thats the info I have from Dell.

on3eighteen

That would be great if it supported DTS-HD. I have gotten a different answer from Dell each time. I am almost positive it supports Dolby Digital out via the headphone jack via a TOSLINK connector (headphone can double as analog & digital). I have one contact at Dell pretty high up & I'm going to see if she can point me to someone in the Alienware dept who knows for sure. Thanks for your reply.

Zardon

EDIT 15/10/09: Check out coverage of the Alienware 15x in an esports setting on our sister site Cadred.org. http://www.cadred.org/News/Article/80188/

j-train

Hey guys, I came across your review before buying my M15X, it is what made me buy it in the 1st place.
After I got this laptop the 1st thing I did was drop a Summit 120GB in this guy (I got the version with 3GB 1066 RAM, I have 4GB of 1333 OCZ on the way from New Egg. I also have my upgrade of Win7 on the way. Without tweaking the system with 3GB of RAM and the Summit I get a WE rating of 5.8, which is decent. So let me ask you guys a question. Why does this machine appear to suck? I loaded L4D from my Steam account and fired it up. Using the default settings it ran like junk. I then installed Red Faction: Guerrilla from Steam, and started it and it would not run AT ALL. I couldn't get past the menus. Here is the kicker. I have a Dell XPS M1530 (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz,64GB SSD, 4GB DDR2, GF 8600GT M) that plays L4D on high settings BEAUTIFULLY! It won't play RF:G but I expected that. My 1530 plays almost every other game very well, even great! So what is the deal? I have essentially an 8-core processor, SSD drive and the equivalent of a desktop 9800GTX (that is what the 260GTX M runs like) and my games run like garbage. It is a "gaming machine", so how is it my little 1530 runs circles around it? Any ideas?
BTW, I called Dell and shared my opinions with them, they told me that they are not responsible for machines not playing games. I said what if I return this machine since it does not live up to its claims? They told me they would charge me a 15% restocking fee (or $249.00), I told them that was a shame.

Any assistance would be great! I am new to the world of laptop gaming, so don't beat me up...

BlueMak

Wonderful support as expected.

If the hardware is all what it is supposed to be, then it must be a software problem or perhaps a BIOS one.

__________________
The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Veridian3

Can you check what drivers are installed for the graphics, let me know the version number. Also, check the BIOS version. Post this info and I will point Alienware at this thread so they can assist too.

j-train

Updated to new BIOS and new Geforce Drivers, installed L4D2 demo and it ran beautifully!

Veridian3

Good news.

j-train

Obviously I am a lazy dumb-a$$. I should have done this 1st. I also got my Win7 disk yesterday and installed it. It runs great!

Zardon

Good to hear, we had Alienware at the ready to help, but its always important to keep these systems updated, especially such a new platform.

Glad to see its all working good post your feedback when you play a few games, the system looks wicked.