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Alienware M18x Laptop Review (with i7-2960XM Extreme Edition)

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

  • Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
  • Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
  • Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
  • Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
  • Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
  • Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.

Nvidia Cuda acceleration is enabled.

A final time of 10 minutes and 44 seconds is class leading, and the best time we have recorded from a laptop. It is actually faster than many desktop systems we have reviewed this year.

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11 comments

  1. That really is insane. the price makes my wallet cry however
    🙁

  2. That is an incredible computer, kind of a dream machien for most people. Also that CPU is amazing, its like a desktop chip in a mobile package.

  3. The 2960 extreme edition is breaking new groud, especially for mobile systems. problem is the price, its a hell of a lot more than the closest CPU which is only moderately slower (until its overclocked anyway).

  4. The red is much nicer than the boring black IMO. the bare bones system isn’t a bad price, do you get the same panel for the entry level priced model?

  5. How did you update the driver? my m17x says it isnt a supported device on the Nvidia site? ill have to try again with that driver you used.

  6. This is a great laptop system, I have the m17x and love it, but im sorry I didnt buy the 18 🙁 id love dual 560m

  7. They cost so much money, but they make a statement. I dont think this machine could be carried about however it is far too big and heavy. almost 6kg? ouch!

  8. The appearance is spectacular, the black one looks so dull. Its interesting to see they dont charge more for the red in this range, but the lower specification machines it costs £10 extra.

    They should make some with specialised Alienware skins, like they allow for on the inspiron 17 inch range, but make them all alien based transfers for the lid.

  9. I would not pay this much money just to get so little in return. But i’m not reach and i don’t need/like laptops, if i were all that i guess i’d take it. As stands i can make a desktop that outperforms that laptop with $1k.

  10. Sure, I think we all could, but its missing the point. its a laptop, and it looks pretty nice to me, with a very impressive screen.