Alienware M15 and Alienware M17 gaming laptops were introduced to the Russian market by DELL

Global laptop trends are now moving towards ultrabooks and business models. Almost all laptop companies have already released thin and light models that are not particularly performant. What should gamers do? Fortunately, there are still manufacturers who think about them. This time, such a benefactor was a subsidiary of Dell, which created the “alien” laptop Alienware M17x . It’s big and heavy, but it can run games that not everyone can run on a desktop computer these days. The M17x laptop can become a reliable companion in any game and will appeal to even the most picky gamer. Let's quickly take a look at this miracle of engineering and design.

Dell Alienware M17x R3 Review

Dell Alienware M17x R3 Specifications

Alienware laptops are a construction kit that you need to assemble yourself, depending on your requirements. That is why there is such a range of prices and technical specifications for these models. characteristics. Here everyone chooses for themselves. Here is just a list of some of the main components that may be included in this laptop.

CPU:

• Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
• Intel Core i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
• Intel Core i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)

Video card:

• 1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6870M
• 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
• 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
• 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M

The range of RAM can be from 4 GB DDR3 to 24 GB. In general, everything is to the taste of the buyer.

Stranger in a strange land

DELL ALIENWARE M17X SPECIFICATIONS

CPU:

dual-core Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4 GHz, 1066 MHz, 3 MB L3 cache)

RAM:

4 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz

VIDEO CARD:

GeForce GTX 260M (1 GB, GDDR3)

DISPLAY:

17 inches (1440×900)

HDD:

320 GB

DRIVE UNIT:

BD-ROM, DVD±RW

CONNECTION:

LAN 1000 Mbit/s, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

MAIN CONNECTORS:

4x USB 2.0, 1 combined eSATA/USB 2.0, RJ45, DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA, audio

SOUND:

Built-in 5.1 high-definition surround sound audio system

FRAME:

Anodized aluminum

BATTERY:

9-cell lithium-ion

ADDITIONALLY:

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, eight-in-one card reader

SIZE:

40.6x32.1x5.1-5.4 cm

WEIGHT:

from 5.3 kg

PRICE for December 2009 (depending on the configuration):

from 99,990 rubles

The Alienware brand is well known abroad, but until recently it was not represented in our latitudes. By and large, Alienware remained almost the only noteworthy laptop manufacturer whose products were impossible to buy in Russia - at least officially. However, this year the brand owner, Dell

, decided to bring it to our market.

Alienware is perhaps the most famous representative of the category that is called “boutique manufacturers” on the other side of the Atlantic. This is a company dedicated to building truly high-performance systems. Dell Alienware M17x model

is the most impressive laptop ever created under this brand.

It's all about the design: it's truly impressive. There's something distinctly alien about it, characteristic of a brand influenced by, say, The X-Files.

The non-standard shaped body is made of anodized aluminum and is generously decorated with decorative LEDs. Here the logos, the edge of the touchpad, the speakers, and the keyboard are illuminated. The backlight color can be changed as you like, and you can make one part of the keyboard glow orange and the other bright blue.

The laptop is huge - it weighs more than five kilograms, so this computer can only be considered portable with a fair amount of convention. It is unlikely that anyone would think of carrying it with them to work or to college - its size and weight do not contribute to this at all. On the other hand, such a computer is still much more suitable for quick relocation than a regular desktop computer.

Of course, the weight is not at all due to the desire of the designers to make life difficult for the future owner of the laptop. It's just that this laptop has a very powerful filling that requires a serious cooling system.

The range of processors available for this model is large. The base for the Russian market is the dual-core Core 2 Duo P8600

frequency 2.4 GHz.
The top one is the Core 2 Extreme QX9300
- four cores, 2.53 GHz and guaranteed old age for the one who sells you such a configuration.
Between these extremes there are two more options: the dual-core Core 2 Duo T9800
(2.93 GHz) and the quad-core
Core 2 Quad Q9000
(2 GHz).

But the video cards are much more interesting. In the low-end configuration, which will cost the same starting 100,000 rubles, there is only one adapter - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M

.
Moreover, you should not think that it is equivalent to the desktop GeForce GTX 260
.
The letter “M” in the model name is immediately minus one to the level of the video adapter. In numbers, instead of 192 stream processors, the mobile namesake got only 112. However, by laptop standards, this is very good. Especially if there are two such video cards in the laptop at once, there is also such a version. Well, the very top is the SLI shotgun from the GeForce GTX 280M
. Each of these chips contains 128 stream processors, and in tandem they make up the most powerful graphics solution found in laptop computers. True, in this situation, the cost of the laptop becomes twice the starting price.

Of course, you can’t just carry such laptops (and most importantly, for such a price!) under your arm. The best vehicle for traveling with a supernote is, of course, a cash-in-transit armored car, and the best place to store a gaming machine is a safe. But you can’t really travel with a safe – it’s much smarter to find a good backpack or a spacious shoulder bag.

A gaming laptop carrier should have hard, thick walls and a soft interior lining. It would be good if the bag had a Velcro strap inside so that the machine would not dangle back and forth with every step. For travel, it is better to choose a special suitcase with wheels: firstly, it is very difficult to find a bag or backpack for laptops like Alienware, and secondly, carrying it with you is much easier than carrying it on yourself. Pay attention to the straps and handles: they should be strong, stitched or even riveted.

Nowadays, finding a bag for a non-standard laptop is much easier than even a year and a half ago, when all the stores were littered with black fabric trunks of incomprehensible shape. But in online stores there is still more choice (and the bag, fortunately, is a product that can be selected from a photograph). There are plenty of roomy and colorful laptop bags at https://golla-bags.ru

.

Appearance

As you can see, the design of the laptop is very unusual. Of course, in appearance, this is a laptop, one part of which is the screen, and the other is the body with the keyboard and all the stuffing. But just look how interesting it is designed. The laptop's design is similar to alien devices, at least that's how they are portrayed in the movies. Futuristic look, smooth, incomprehensible shapes, such a laptop belongs on the desktop of aliens from Mars. In principle, the appearance justifies the name of the Alienware company, because Alien is precisely an “alien”. At the same time, the design of the laptop is very beautiful and stylish, perhaps one of those laptops that looks good both outside and inside.

The backlighting of the front panel, keyboard and touchpad gives it a special charm, and it can be customized the way you want. But more on setting colors a little later.

From above, the laptop looks more or less ordinary. Yes, it’s an incomprehensible shape, close to a rectangle, a matte cover material, a relief pattern on it and a glossy convex company logo that glows when the laptop is running. I would like to immediately note that the material from which the laptop cover is made is not bad, it does not slip, but even though it is matte, a lot of fingerprints and dust remain on it. Alas, you have to come to terms with this; the laptop will only be nice and clean for the first few minutes after you take it out of the box. Considering that the inside of the laptop has a lot of black material on which dust is visible, be prepared to wipe it down more often than you think, especially if you always want it to remain in its original condition.

From below, the laptop also looks rather ascetic. There are two grilles for hot air exhaust, anti-slip feet and a battery. By the way, the battery has an indication of its status, this is convenient, but it is not clear why it is made from the bottom, because when the laptop is on the table, it is inconvenient to see the battery charge.

Dell Alienware M17x R3 Review

Perhaps the front panel of the laptop is the most unusual. Firstly, it has a very interesting shape, which is difficult to describe, but easier to see. Secondly, these are two laptop speakers, which have a stylish design with chrome inserts, bright backlighting, and also look very aggressive.

But there is nothing special at the back. Only a couple of holes for air exhaust, and a hole for charging a laptop. As you can see, when connected, there is an indicator on the plug that indicates the operation of the charger. Also, on the back you can see two powerful hinges with which the laptop screen opens.

By the way, about the charger. Its size is simply enormous. Combined with the weight of the laptop, it will also be very difficult to carry the charger with you. Just look at its size, it is even larger than the battery. However, it is clear why the device is made so powerful, because you need to power all the productive stuff that is inside the laptop.

There are more than enough ports here. Needless to say, the gaming laptop is fully equipped. Let's start from the left side. There are two headphone outputs, a line-in input, SP DIF for transmitting digital audio between various components of audio equipment, two USB 3.0, a VGA port, an HDMI output, a Multi-Display Port for digital displays, RJ-45 Ethernet and a Kensington Lock for laptop security. . This set is already progress, but the laptop also has a right side, which also has several ports.

On the right, of course, there are fewer connectors, due to the fact that there is a hole for disks. Directly above the drive is a card reader for SD cards. And nearby there are 2 USB 2.0, HDMI-in, as well as an e-Sata port for connecting external hard drives. In general, this laptop is crammed with all the interfaces possible. It is unlikely that you will ever use them all. The great thing is that the laptop can be used as an external monitor thanks to HDMI technology, and the screen is good.

In general, the design of the laptop turned out just right. He's stylish, aggressive and cool. I was especially pleased with the interesting lighting, incomprehensible but interesting shapes, as well as the presence of a huge number of ports for connecting external devices. Alienware has once again proven that it knows how to create good laptops for gamers, and I am sure that anyone who loves games will like this laptop. I was only a little disappointed by the material of the case, which leaves fingerprints on it.

Screen and keyboard

The Dell Alienware M17x has a 17-inch diagonal display with a resolution of 1920x1080 (FullHD), 16:9 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, the screen is glossy, which means glare and fingerprints are guaranteed. Someday companies will understand that it is more convenient to work with a matte screen, even if it does not look as stylish and the photo does not produce beautiful reflections. In general, all the charm of a huge screen for a laptop fades against the background of its gloss. You will have to play with a minimum amount of light, or without changing position, otherwise you will look into a perfectly flat 17-inch mirror.

As for viewing angles, they are quite large. Only at a strong tilt was it noticeable that the colors were inverted or faded. So the quality here is top notch. The brightness of the screen is adjustable, there are no problems with this, at maximum, however, it is not possible to eliminate the shortcomings of gloss, it still glares.

The frame around the screen is quite thin; it is widest just above the screen. The black frame and the display itself are covered with a single glass. Above the screen there is a camera and two microphones for video calling. The camera, by the way, is quite good; you can use it to call friends and record videos.

The laptop has a very cool keyboard. This is a standard laptop keyboard, but it is very nice and comfortable to use. It is made of black matte plastic, the keys are ergonomic, they press softly and smoothly, without clicks. During testing, no discomfort was detected. The keyboard is divided into 4 zones: 5 programmable keys, 82 AlienFX backlit keys, 17 backlit numeric keypad keys and additional keys (volume control, player control, etc.). To be honest, I was disappointed by the material from which the interior of the laptop was made. It would seem that the plastic is not glossy, but fingerprints and dust are still clearly visible; this, of course, is a drawback.

Thanks to a special program, you can customize the backlight of the keyboard, and other parts of the laptop, the way you want. This is very cool, because not everyone, for example, likes the green color, which is turned on by default in all elements. It's great that the company made sure that the user has a choice.

Above the keyboard is another company logo. But, unlike the logo on the lid, here it also performs the function of turning the laptop on and off. Naturally, the backlight of this “alien,” as well as on the lid, can be customized.

Below the keyboard is a touchpad. It is the simplest, albeit with multi-touch, two separate buttons, in general, nothing supernatural.

On the left above the keyboard are indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock.

This is what the laptop looks like when playing at night. Everything is backlit, it’s impossible to miss the keys, the backlighting of the touchpad is especially good, but if you play with a mouse that also has more than one button, then it’s better to buy one that can also be seen in the dark.

Filling

Review of Dell Alienware M17x R3
So we slowly get to the most important thing. Yes, the appearance of a gaming laptop is great, because they are always interestingly made, but still, its technical characteristics are much more important, because you cannot run Crysis 2 with the help of design alone. So, our sample has a powerful Intel Core i7 2720 QM 2.2 GHz processor. This processor is more than enough for powerful games and highly demanding calculations. And if it works together with a good discrete video card, then such a system will be able to handle everything.

But the video card here is powerful, Nvidia 2GB GDDR5 GeForce GTX 580M. By the way, this is the fastest mobile video card that NVIDIA has. Such a video card is capable of running modern games. Dell took care of fans of modern toys and made sure that there was no need to change the video card for another year or two. The performance results of video cards can be seen in the testing section, but even without tests we can say that the presence of such a video card in a laptop is a breakthrough; you can play anything.

The GTX 580M is made on the updated GF110 graphics processor and is a logical update of the GTX 480. The video card operates at higher clock speeds compared to the GF100, and the cooling system is now less noisy, and the card itself consumes less electricity. The card has a wide range of technologies: DirectCompute11, OpenCL 1.0, nVidia PhysX, CUDA, CUDA C++. And also, there is NVidia Optimus technology, which provides maximum performance when connected to the mains and maximum operating time when running on battery power. Agree, this is a very necessary feature, because you rarely have to play on the road, where operating time is much more important.

Don’t discount the HD 3000 video processor built into the Core i7, which helps discrete video cards, albeit a little.

The memory in our copy is only 8GB, but the maximum you can install is 24GB. There are no games yet that require so much memory, but if you want to have the coolest configuration or are planning huge calculations on this laptop, then you can set the maximum allowable amount of memory.

The hard drive let us down a little. It is only 320GB, which is, of course, very small for a gaming laptop. And its speed is too low, games can slow down because of this. The ideal option would be a 500-700 GB SSD, although it is expensive, it will achieve good data transfer speeds. Fortunately, laptops come in all sorts of configurations. By the way, the laptop has a free compartment for a second hard drive, so you can always expand the internal memory yourself.

In addition to the components described, the laptop is equipped with Bluetooth version 3.0 and WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n (Intel Advanced-N 6200), as well as sound from Intel Cougar Point PCH. The quality of the reproduced sound is quite good, what is especially pleasing is that the speakers can play both low and high frequencies. In general, these speakers are enough for videos and games.

Alienware M17x: Features, Graphics, Battery

Functional characteristics

The M17x is equipped with a quad-core processor: Sandy Bridge 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-2820QM. Like the AMD Fusion APU, this new 32nm design combines both the CPU and GPU on a single piece of silicon, which means better multitasking, especially when it comes to graphics-intensive tasks like video editing or gaming. While this is somewhat lacking with a powerful AMD CPU, users will be able to take advantage of the integrated GPU when the device is unplugged.

Regardless, coupled with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB Samsung SSD, the M17x is a serious powerhouse. In PCMark Vantage, which measures overall functional performance, this laptop scored 17,486; This is an outrageous figure, and the highest result we have seen. This is more than three times the average score (5.715). Another powerful laptop we tested, the Origin Eon 18 (2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300, 8GB RAM, dual 160GB SSDS) scored 11,039 points.

Balls (the more the better)

The Samsung SSD is a speedster, allowing the M17x to boot 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium in a record 29 seconds - a third of the time it takes to boot the average desktop. It duplicated a 5GB folder of multimedia in just 51 seconds, at a speed of 99.8 MB/s. The SSD result is the same in the Origin Eon 18, but the Toshiba SSD in the Sony VAIO Z is even faster – 108 MB/s.

The M17x took just 36 seconds to convert a 5-minute, 114MB MPEG4 to AVI using the Oxelon Media Encoder. This is 30 seconds faster than the average result, and 16 seconds faster than the VAIO Z. Everything we did on this laptop - opening applications, movies, files - worked instantly.

Alienware M17x GPU (video card) and games

As you'd expect, the M17x has a top-notch graphics card. Inside this beast is also an AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPU with 2GB of DDR5 memory, the most powerful GPU we've tested to date. In 3DMark06, the device scored 20,048 points, more than double the average score of 7,866 and beating the previous record holder, the latest M17x, by 6,500 points. In 3DMark Vantage, the M17x achieves a score of 13,414, again more than double the average (6,600).

Balls (The more the better)

Of course, we're talking about frame rates here, and the M17x delivered excellent results. In World of Warcraft, with graphics settings at maximum and a resolution of 1920 x 1080, we got a result of 107 frames per second, 50 frames per second more than the average.

Using an AMD GPU, in Far Cry 2, the M17x achieved 82 fps with Very High effects settings at 1080p; That's about 30 fps more than the G73Jw and 50 fps more than average. Modern Warfare 2 has never looked better. Even at native resolution and with all the effects turned on, we still got 90 frames per second. This result is twice as high as the Toshiba Qosmio X505.

Frames per second (The more the better)

How powerful is the M17x GPU? Using a wireless Vizio HDMI adapter, we stretched the display to a 32-inch Samsung HDTV. While a Blu-ray movie was playing in full screen (1080p), we shot Call of Duty on the M17x's display. At 1920 x 1080p resolution, we were still able to achieve approximately 34 frames per second.

While there's no Nvidia Optimus technology (which automatically switches between discrete and integrated GPU), the M17x automatically switches between its AMD GPU and the power-saving integrated Intel HD GPU when the laptop is unplugged. Unfortunately, the display goes dark for a second when the M17x switches; with Nvidia technology, this process occurs smoothly, without sudden transitions.

Battery M17x

We were pleasantly surprised that the battery lasted us 5 hours and 2 minutes, thanks to the switchable GPU. Even taking into account that during testing we were just surfing the Internet, this result is very respectable.

Tests

The Windows system score is not very high. This is all because of the hard drive, which is small in size and slow in speed. But for all other characteristics, the laptop remains firmly above 7 points; taking into account that 7.9 is the maximum score, the results of the M17x are very, very good.

In addition to the traditional gaming tests, the results of which are slightly below, we played several games. So, subjective impressions of games that were launched at maximum settings.

• TES V: Skyrim - The game practically flies. It slows down a little when there are a large number of objects, but overall it’s comfortable to play.
• Battlefield 3 - Everything is fine, there are no delays, the game flies.
• Batman: Arkham City - In general, the game runs well, there were only a couple of slowdowns, otherwise the color rendering, quality, and speed are very good. The brakes in the game are mainly due to powerful physics.
• Crysis 2 - Slightly slows down, with a subtle decrease in image quality, all the brakes are gone.
• Alice Madness - At maximum settings everything is fast, no slowdowns were noticed.

Thus, no special slowdowns were noticed in games, which means that the processor and video card fully met expectations. It is not clear what to blame, the hard drive that was slow to transfer data, or the processing of this data. For more indicative results, we conducted several synthetic tests.

As you can see from the results, the laptop lives up to all expectations and is indeed a very powerful gaming laptop. Agree, for a laptop such results in gaming tests are very good, considering that in some tests it even beat a powerful all-in-one.

Dell Alienware R2 M17 review: a gaming laptop that impresses

Greetings, dear reader! Just recently, gaming laptops couldn’t even come close to competing with desktop PCs. Times are changing, and manufacturers are starting to delight us with more powerful fillings at a lower price. Today I would like to look at one of the new products from DELL, namely the Alienware R2 M17 .

Configuration and equipment

This gaming laptop is available for every pocket and taste. You can buy it from $1400 and up to $4000. This difference in price is explained by the variation of the processor and video card. In the minimum configuration, Alienware R2 has an Intel® Core™ i5-9300H and NVIDIA® GeForce GTX® 1650 , and in the most advanced configuration, Intel® Core™ i9-9980HK , and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 Max-Q .

A small spec sheet of exactly my configuration:

Data from 3DMark

In the kit we have a cord and a heavy 240W power adapter, as well as a small envelope with a manual and information.

Ergonomics and Design

The first thing I came across was the beautifully designed box. Alienware lettering in silver with the number 17 in space style.

There is enough soft material inside the box, which gives confidence in safety during transportation. The cord and the power adapter itself are neatly hidden, and right under the laptop we see an envelope with documentation and a small label with a brief greeting from Alienware.

Appearance

The laptop itself is very different in design from the previous generation. There are 2 color options available, namely Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon.

The body is made of high quality magnesium alloy

Inside, the laptop is made of high-quality plastic, which feels similar to a soft touch. However, it hardly gets dirty, and if you do manage to get it dirty, all dirt can be easily wiped off.

The keyboard has also been updated. The key travel has been increased relative to the old version m17 (1.7 mm). The keyboard is one of the nicest I've ever worked on. Supports Anti Ghostling technology with tracking of all clicks individually. Well, where would we be without AlienFx with backlighting of all keys, with the ability to individually configure keys by zone.

The Touch Pad, although it has not changed its location, which allows for the possibility of accidental pressing when placing your hand on the WASD game buttons, can now simply be disabled by pressing the F11 button (T-Pad Lock).

Equipment

In terms of connector placement, Alienware adheres to the old scheme and we get:

Left: Noble Lock Connector | Killer™ Networks E2600 Gigabit Ethernet | USB 3.1 Type-A Powershare | Headset jack

Right: 2 x USB 3.1 Type-A

Rear: HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2 output | Mini DisplayPort 1.4 | Thunderbolt 3 | Alienware Graphics Amplifier Module Port | Power connector

Service

If you are a fan of upgrades, then getting behind the back cover is not a problem. It is held on by 8 standard screws.

What was hidden from us behind the “black curtain”

Quick access is only available to two SSD slots and the power supply. RAM and Wi-Fi are soldered on the board, which is very sad for a laptop with such potential. Accordingly, we were cut off from the possibility of an upgrade. The maximum configuration has 16 GB of RAM, which today, in my opinion, is the minimum amount for gaming laptops (especially in this price segment).

Display

As befits a gaming laptop, the Alienware R2 M17 has a 144Hz display. It has a Chi Mei 173HCE panel with a CMN175F controller, which provides a 9ms response time, as well as good brightness and saturation.

The frames are quite small, and at an angle the image does not lose quality or blur, as on matte screens.

The monitor's color gamut is 99% sRGB and 66% AdobeRGB and has 300 nits of brightness, which is a good indicator. However, outdoors, when viewed from different angles, the image becomes noticeably worse. But gaming laptops are mainly designed for gaming at home. Plus, its autonomy is added to this, which we will talk about later.

Autonomy and cooling

Here you need to clearly understand that this laptop has one of the most energy-consuming video cards installed. Although Max-Q technology reduces power consumption, the maximum battery life in the “max. energy saving” mode when working in a browser is about 3 hours. You can forget about long gaming gatherings in a cafe. But, if you have an adapter with you, you become unlimited in your actions wherever you are. Of course, if there are sockets there...

Dell's big problem was the cooling system, but the new Alienware deserves special praise. The new cooling system with double air intake and double exhaust technology copes with peak loads with a bang. Two Kevlar-based LCD polymer fans with three-phase control take in air from below, after which it is exhausted through holes at the back and sides.

The role of cooling the video card and processor is performed by 4 copper heat sinks with a diameter of 6 mm and 8 mm. And the peak solution to the heating problem should be solved by the built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, which automatically determine in what position the laptop is - on the lap or on the table (to adjust the fan speed).

During normal use of the laptop, the temperature did not exceed 40 °C, and in games it increased to 48-50 °C. The temperature can be adjusted independently by increasing the fans through the Command Center.

The maximum temperature of the laptop during the stress test was 87 °C. Yes, it does get hot under heavy load, but Dell sacrifices noise and temperature to deliver strong performance. With an i9 processor, the laptop heats up to 99 °C.

Performance

Here we come to the most important thing in gaming laptops. Let me remind you of the filling in my configuration:

Intel® Core™ i7-9750H : A very powerful processor for massive gaming laptops. Six cores with a frequency of 2.6-4.5 GHz, 12 threads. Dell's favorite processor, which is also installed in the budget G-series. But if it is impossible to know the full potential of the processor in a budget laptop, then in combination with one of the newest cards we will get a balanced assembly.

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 Max-Q: A power-efficient desktop version of the RTX2080 card. It uses 2944 computing cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 video memory with a 256-bit bus and a frequency of 12 GHz. The main difference is lower frequencies and power consumption.

Tests

CPU

OpenCL
Processor

As I said earlier, i7-9750H both in budget versions of laptops and in the top Alienware line. This was done in order to achieve the same performance using cheaper components. Alienware offers a wide range of overclocking right out of the box using the Command Control Center, but without overclocking the performance is not surprising.

Overall Performance

Let's start with performing basic functions. The scores in PcMark 10 turned out to be quite expected.

The only rating that leaves much to be desired is the Rendering and Visualization section. This assessment can be attributed to the weak base frequencies of the processor. Perhaps with overclocking this figure will increase, but for now it is important to know what the laptop can do right out of the box.

Game part

The graphical part of the Time Spy test shows an average value of 50 FPS, which is a good indicator for the stripped-down version of the 2080, but the CPU test leaves much to be desired.

On the less difficult Fire Strike test, the scores increase. Such indicators indicate a good FPS number in most modern games at high FHD settings.

Since VR games are gaining popularity, I couldn’t ignore this aspect.

Most demanding test 56 FPS

As a result, we get very good frame counter indicators in VR games.

Game tests

Tests were performed at the highest graphics settings with ray tracing and vertical synchronization

It is important to understand that the number of frames may vary depending on how busy the scene is

PUBG Ultra | Vsync on | 80+ FPS GTA V Ultra | Vsync on | Ray Tracing on | Maximum traffic and population | average 80 FPS. In very busy scenes ~53 FPS

Metro: Exodus: Ultra ~85 FPS with drops up to 75 FPS in busy locations

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: Epic ~80 FPS with drops of up to 65 in busy locations and cutscenes

Call Of Duty MW 2020: Ultra 60FPS (FPS lock)

Data storage

Alienware offers a fairly wide range of memory configurations. Starting from one 256 GB M.2 PCIe SSD slot to two 2 TB M.2 PCIe SSDs in a RAID0 array. However, the SSDs themselves are not impressive with read/write speeds. I would definitely like to see something faster in a laptop in this price segment.

Verdict

The laptop is a new offshoot in design and concept. Designers have moved from rounded shapes to a more rigorous solution, but at the same time the most correct one to ensure productivity.

Among the global shortcomings, we can note the RAM soldered on the board. The ability to increase memory only by purchasing a more expensive version will most likely discourage those who want to buy this laptop. Also, the lack of a compartment for additional media is very limiting. I really don’t understand this policy in the realities of modern user requirements.

One of the advantages is the individual RGB backlighting of the keyboard. Eye tracking with Tobii Eye tracker, which opens up some interaction possibilities. I can also add a very comfortable keyboard and a nice touchpad as advantages.

The performance of this laptop is quite amazing. Although this is not the maximum configuration, the laptop can easily cope with all modern games and editing tasks. I would really like to see the difference in performance between the i9 and i7.

Can I recommend this laptop to you? If you value space, you might like it. The fresh design brings a new look to Alienware. However, the lack of ability to increase the memory capacity casts doubt on the choice of this laptop.

Battery

Honestly, this is one of those parts in this laptop that, in principle, is not necessary. Yes, the M17x computer is made in a laptop form factor. But, it weighs about 6 kg + a large charge, which means that it is unlikely that you will have to carry it with you in your bag every day. The maximum that is possible is to take him to work or to the country, nothing more. Therefore, the battery is not really needed here, but since they called it a laptop, they had to make one. Moreover, the battery lasts very little, which is not surprising given such power. As mentioned earlier, the battery has a button and indicators that can be used to determine whether the battery is charged.

Only 2 hours in mode with the screen on and inactivity, and if you start a game or play a video, it lasts for 50 minutes. This is very little, but this laptop is not designed to be autonomous, so there’s no point in complaining about it. Even with the built-in power management software, long operating times cannot be achieved.

Pros and cons of Alienware M17x, verdict

Pros * Superior Features * Fast SSD * Excellent Battery Life * Built-in WirelessHD * Innovative Lighting Effects * HDMI

Cons * Bottom gets very hot when gaming * Audio playback could be better

The result in a nutshell: Record-breaking performance, superior design, wireless HD streaming, and five hours of battery life. Undoubtedly, this laptop is an almost ideal device.

There are reasons why we give the Alienware M17x a very, very rare five out of five stars. Equipped with a second-generation quad-core Intel processor, an AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPU, and a Samsung SSD, this laptop is the most powerful we've tested. The M17x didn't just leave other laptops in the dust, it did it in style. What other device has multi-color lighting and the ability to wirelessly stream Blu-ray movies and games to your TV? Bottom heating is an issue, but it's the only thing we didn't like about the M17x. And while $3,300 is a lot of money, it does get you the most powerful machine we've tested. Nothing better than this has yet been created.

conclusions

Impressions from the Dell Alienware M17x were only positive. Minor flaws in the form of a glossy screen and lack of normal autonomy could not spoil the experience. This laptop is designed for the home to play games on, so requiring it to be portable, at a minimum, doesn't make sense. The laptop copes with its main task perfectly. You can play all the coolest games on it at the moment, which means that the Alienware M17x succeeds as a good gaming model. The big disappointment, however, for game lovers will be its price; it ranges from 80 thousand rubles to 100 thousand rubles, depending on the configuration. At the same time, you can assemble a desktop with similar characteristics for much less money. So, it’s up to buyers to decide whether to have a stylish, cool and expensive laptop or a large gaming desktop.

For the opportunity to play Skyrim and Crisis 2 on a laptop, I must say thanks to the Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GTX 580M video card. And considering that the laptop has a huge screen, you can imagine that the gaming experience is as pleasant as you can get on a laptop. I was also pleased with the presence of a huge number of ports, because this means that the laptop can be used not only for games, but also as a media center. The small hard drive was disappointing, but this can easily be fixed if you buy a different hard drive or just initially select different laptop specifications. Personally, I liked the laptop as a desktop laptop that doesn’t need to be rearranged, it’s good. I think it will appeal to gamers who like to play on fancy computers and don't skimp on design and performance.

Source hi-tech.mail.ru

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