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The Alienware M17x was always a good laptop, although it did suffer a little from some build quality issues with earlier versions. Revision 3, is an evolutionary release with many aspects of the design enhanced and fine tuned for 2011.
Build quality is outstanding, and while we noticed a little keyboard flex, it is certainly not as pronounced as earlier versions. The touchpad was a pleasure to use, easily one of the best we have used in recent years, although we would assume that most users (especially gamers), will immediately pick up a high quality optical mouse.
The sound system is exceptionally good within the physical confines of a laptop chassis, offering high clarity and acceptable levels of bass. While it won't replace a dedicated sound system at home, this partnership with Klipsch has certainly helped push this machine to the upper echelons of audio performance.
The Intel 2630 QM processor is a mobile powerhouse, delivering incredible results and easily capable of professional level rendering on the move. The nVidia 460M also proved to be an integral part of the hardware jigsaw, allowing gamers to enjoy their titles at the native resolution of the 17.3 inch screen. If these components aren't fast enough, there are further upgrades available from the Dell site. Just be sure to keep an eye on your credit card bill.
The highlight of the system for me however is the screen, it is one of the finest laptop screens I have used, and easily comparible with the class leading LED panels I have tested in the latest Apple 17 inch MacBook Pro's. Offset viewing angles are great, and there is very little colour shift and bleeding throughout most of the diameter.
Battery life as expected, is a slight weakness, and within the space of an hour mobile gamers will be looking for a spot to recharge. In other, less stressful conditions however a lifespan of 3 hours is fairly plausible.
The machine we tested today will set you back £2,269 inc vat, which is actually a fairly reasonable price considering the results we achieved today. Like all premium products, you do pay extra for the badge, but the performance and quality under the hood speaks for itself.
KitGuru says: If you want the ultimate performance desktop replacement, then this might just hit the spot. Just be aware of the weight and the short battery life, this is a desktop replacement, not a ‘portable, everyday' machine. Carrying it to LAN parties, then back home should be extent of its travels.
EDIT: The Alienware M17x R.3 notebook launched in January is affected by the design issue in the recently released Intel 6 Series support chip set, code-name Cougar Point. Effective immediately, Dell is removing this platform from their website until further notice.
Well thats damn nice. its also the price of my car mind you :p
Looks a lot nicer than the earlier versions. Although I loved that 11 inch version, that was sexy. these aren’t for me, too bulky to carry about.
Brilliant. Not sure id ever pay that for a laptop, but certainly made for nice reading.
Gotta love twitter alerts. need my daily review fix 😉
Very impressed with this unit, but the 15 inch one might make more physical sense. im all for desktop replacements, but it doesnt work for me. insane performance, thats without question.
Id love one of these, see them on tv shows a lot (as well as apple machine obviously).
Id be tempted to look at one, once they get the mobos replaced. When will that be? march?
Wow even this machine is affected by the bloody intel mess. will it ever end. its like the end of the world, i tell ya !
Its good, but they need a stronger GFX for such a high end machine.
My mate has a alienware, he uses it alot, but his keyboard fell apart over 3 years. hopefully they fixed that.
I read a lot of horror stories about these previous versions, google them ! I love the looks, but its hard to review long term strenght. some of these companies should let the reviewers hold onto them for months, so they can do follow ups. but they wont do that.
The lighting is awesome, that sold me before anything else :p
Its nice, and its fast, but why dont they make a ferrari one ? like the cars. I know acer did it, but dell would make them nicer.
Great laptop. I have the first revision and I agree, it wasn’t built to really last a long time, but ive looked after mine and its been great.
Pricing the components and the system isnt bad, including the overhead for the lighting and custom chassis etc. the SSD alone takes up a big portion of the price. but well worth it as the HD tests show.
Id love a 17 inch laptop, but Id need one for college and I dont fancy hauling this around. shall look at their 15 inch models, once the sandybridge fiasco is sorted.
I always loved their case designs and these look stunning, my professor has one in college and all the kids think he is cool for owning it (he is a 65 year old guy who can really use it too!)
I was going to order one, then realised at the last part of the review that this uses one of the troubled sandybridge motherboard. so will have to wait. Any ideas on the time frame for the fix? march? april?
Yes, the laptop is terrific, but that is one seriously awesome review guys! Boot time; acoustics; SSD; screen quality! Wow! Best I’ve read! Keep it up! (and rustle up a Eurocom equivalent!)
I’m prefered to call it M17X 2G rather than M17 R3 because: i) new redesign, and, ii) new ports (USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4)
I bought the m17x r3 before it was removed. One feature that was listed on the Alienware site was the wireless HD. I have not been able to figure out how this feature works. I looked for a WirelessHD icon or WiDi icon but did not find it on my system. I did find it on the resource CD. When I tried to run it there was an error stating it could not find the wireless Display card. I looked in the BIOS and found an entry under wireless that read DMC Sibeam. Have you tested this feature? If so what is missing?
Its back on sale now! ordered mine yesterday 🙂 nice and complete review!
You forgot to do a section on the audio quality………
For such an expensive laptop, headphone/speaker performance is important to prospective buyers.