Alienware m15x

I was afraid that my previous laptop, an Acer 8920g, didn't have the power to run Starcraft 2 at 1080p with decent settings, so I decided to get a new laptop. So along with the game, I got an Alienware m15x, which I purchased as part of my August loot.

I didn't want another monster-sized laptop, so I went for a 15.6" laptop. And I chose this over an Asus G73 as I was hearing some issues with that laptop (most of it resolved by now.

From the previous post, I showed how huge the box was:

When it was shipped to my place, my wife thought that I had ordered a desktop or another 18.4" laptop instead of a 15.6". I guess Alienware/Dell just thought it would be nice that you'd get a huge package since you paid a lot of money for this thing.

Inside the package, we see that the laptop comes with a few goodies:

It comes with a baseball cap, a mousepad, an Alienware logo sticker, and a very thick manual:

The baseball cap is usable, even for my huge head. The mousepad is of a thick plastic kind. I like how the mouse moves on top of it. So again, a usable freebie, which is nice.

Also included in the package is a Windows 7 installer (you have different version options - I decided on the Home Premium), a Resource Disc (drivers, apps, etc), and a Macafee Antivirus installer. It's nice to see that they still included the DVDs for the installers. A lot of companies these days will just ask you to create your own.

I chose the "Lunar Shadow" option, which looks like Gunmetal. Other options are red, which was too flashy, and black, which was too plain.

Left side has the port for the Kensington lock thing if you want to tie it to your desk, the power port, a vga port, network port, display port, usb and firewire ports. The display port also transmits audio and an hdmi adapter is included so you can attach it to an Audio/Video Receiver or TV.

Right side has an Express Slot, audio ports, a USB/eSATA combo port, and a USB port. I don't like the placing of the audio ports on the right side, as it interferes with my mouse (I'm obviously right-handed).

I would have preferred an L-type connector for the power cable. This one uses up a lot of space on the left side. It lights up blue when it's connected to a power source - although the color is not configurable, unlike the other lights, which we'll see later.

Images on the 15.6" LED 1080p are gorgeous and I don't lose that much from my old 18.4" screen. I would advise getting an anti-glare screen protector though, as the reflections are sometimes distracting.
Below the screen is the "ALIENWARE" text. This also lights up once turned on.

The keys have that Star Trek looking font on them. It's quite nice to use. I do miss the numpad on the right side that the 8920g used to have.

And here's how the system looks when powered on. All the colors are programmable. Lights include the alien head on top of the keyboard (which is also the power button), 4 zones on the keyboard, the trackpad, the touch sensors on top of the keyboard (volume, wifi toggle, etc), speaker grills, and the Alienware logo on the lid (very 1st pic on this post).

Aside from choosing the colors, you can also set the behavior - annoying blinking, steady, or gradual rotation.

Right now, I'm using this Rainbow theme that I found in the Notebook Reviewforum.

So how does this laptop perform? Sorry, I'm not much into benchmarking, so I won't be showing graphs and stuff here.

But I would say that it performs very very well, I think. And it is well worth the money. Aside from the good looks and nice packaging, this laptop is a beast.
I've thrown a couple of games at it: Starcraft 2, NBA 2K10, Portal, Street Fighter 4, Lord of the Rings Online, Final Fantasy XIV beta and it was able to play all of these without any problems.
Starcraft 2, it is able to play at 1080p with Ultra Settings. Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p with high settings.

I am very happy with this laptop, and I'm hoping that I'm able to keep it for a couple of years - before I go for the next upgrade :)