MaximumPC 2008 06

80 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC| JUN 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

IN THE LAB^

REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

I

t’s easy to be seduced by Alienware’s

m15x notebook. From its handsome sil-

ver-gray case to its cool-yet-tasteful LED

accents to its comfortable lap weight of less

than eight pounds, this 15.4-inch machine

had us at hello. Of course, only excellent

performance would keep us interested.

Our hopes were high. The m15x came

to us sporting Intel’s new 2.8GHz Core 2

Extreme X9000 mobile CPU and Nvidia’s

GeForce 8800M GTX videocard. Those are

the highest performing mobile parts in their

respective categories—a caliber typically

reserved for larger, heavier 17-inch models.

For comparison’s sake, we turned to the

Asus C90S notebook we reviewed in October

2007, rerunning all of our notebook bench-

marks on Vista. The C90S is unique in that it

uses Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6700 desktop CPU.

Clocked at 2.66GHz on a 1,066MHz front-side

bus, the E6700 seemed like a worthy com-

petitor to the X9000 mobile part, which has a

modest 140GHz clock-speed advantage but a

slower 800MHz front-side bus.

Turns out, however, the fi ght wasn’t really

all that fair. The X9000 part has the benefi t of

Intel’s 45nm Penryn core, as well as 6MB of L2

cache (compared with the 4MB found in the

E6700), and apparently that makes all the dif-

ference. In our CPU-dependent benchmarks,

the m15x performed 11 percent to 31 percent

faster than the C90S.

The two notebooks were divided

even further by our gaming bench-

marks. The m15x’s 8800M GTX

walloped the C90S’s 8600M GT, most

dramatically in Quake 4, where it did

178 percent better.

When this type of all-out

graphics power isn’t needed, you

can reboot and switch from the

videocard to the chipset’s

integrated graphics to

preserve battery

power. It’s a nifty

idea, but in

our own

battery

rundown

test—play-

ing a standard-def

DVD until power is depleted—we

gained just nine additional minutes using

the integrated graphics (for a total of one

hour and 35 minutes). The m15x also offers

a Stealth mode, which lets you throttle back

the CPU and GPU for power savings and

quieter operation.

The m15x came to us with a 200GB

7,200rpm hard drive and a Blu-ray burner,

but the latter can be easily popped out of its

Smart Bay and hot-swapped with an optional

320GB 5,400rpm secondary drive ($300) or

secondary battery ($150).

In another nod to customization, a soft-

ware Command Center lets you change the

colors of the m15x’s various LED lights, mak-

ing the power button glow red, for instance,

while the keyboard backlighting glows

green and the illuminated piping around

the notebook’s lid glows blue. A row of

touch-sensitive buttons above the keyboard

contributes to the m15x’s light show, but

while they look cool, they’re not especially

reliable—we sometimes had to press them

several times to get a response.

We have no complaints, however, about

the m15x’s 1920x1200 screen, which offers

a 1920x1080 option for use with high-def

content. Available ports consist of three USB

ports, a FireWire port, HDMI, Ethernet, and

mic. Sadly, no eSATA.

In the end, our infatuation with the

m15x remains strong. It’s as powerful as any

17-inch notebook out there and much easier

to carry around. And it looks good, to boot.

Consider us sold—even if the price does

break us. – K A T H E R I N E S T E V E N S O N

Alienware Area-51 m15x

Peak performance if you want to pony up the cash

+ -

VERDICT

$4,370, http://www.alienware.com

9

Portable size,

powerful parts, and a

stylish aesthetic.

Expensive, gimmicky

touch buttons, and

no eSATA.

ET

ALIENWARE AREA-51 M15X

DT

ZERO POINT

1,860 sec

237 sec

2,416 sec

3,498 sec

21 fps

26 fps

Our current notebook test bed consists of a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, 2GB of Patriot DDR/667 RAM, a GeForce Go 8600M GT videocard, a Seagate 80GB SATA hard drive, and onboard RealTek HD Audio.

Premiere Pro CS3

Photoshop CS3

Proshow

MainConcept

FEAR 1.07

Quake 4

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

BENCHMARKS

1,680 (11%)1,680 (11%)

188 (26%)188 (26%)

1,840 (31%)1,840 (31%)

3,036 (15%)3,036 (15%)

29 (38%)29 (38%)

72 (+172%)(+172%)

The m15x’s 15.4-inch formfactor belies the

powerful parts inside.

SPECIFICATIONS

CPU Intel 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000

RAM 4GB DDR2 /667

HardDrive Hitachi 200GB 7,200rpm

Videocard Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX

Soundcard RealTek HD Audio

Boot/Down 56 sec/36 sec

Lap/Carry 7lb 15oz/9lb 8oz