The Unboxing

This is the unboxing pictures of the Alienware M18X. Reviews will be added on later when all systems are finalised.


The Review

Welcome to the review of the Alienware M18X. But before we begin let me share the specification and price of this beastly laptop.

These are the specs for the laptop:

Intel® Core™ i7 2920XM, Quad Core Extreme, 2.5GHz(3.5GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
4GB Kingston HyperX Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz  (Upgraded to 8GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz)
250GB Intel 510 Series SSD (Upgraded Later On)
500GB 7200RPM Solid State Hybrid
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M* - AMD CrossFireX™
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Intel® Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 a/b/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology and Bluetooth 3.0
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
2 Year Advanced Service Plan

Total: CAD$ 3996.96

The Laptop & Screen

Now, let me start off with the laptop it self. Below, the image we could see is the backgrip. The backgrip itself has been changed from a "nanosuit" type for texture to a rubbery squarish grip. this increased the grip for when taking out from the bag. As you can see is the anodized aluminium and the alienhead. The aluminium shell itself has changed since the M17X R1 & R2 series, the color of the shell is no longer dark black but there's an added touch of purple-ish or brown color in it, making it look more like a metal case. For the alienhead, it followed the footsteps of the M11X series, M17X-R3 by not having colors in for it. Instead, it is just a pure white LED color. The picture also shows the control buttons; it too followed the M17X-R3 style. The old touch sensitive controls no longer exist because sometimes it was not responsive and it gets very dirty when not cared. Next, the TactX profiler keys on the left side; This is the very first laptop keyboard to implement such keys with out the help of plug-in keyboards. Furthermore, picture shows a different touchpad than the M17X R1 & R2 series. They removed the "nanosuit" type of texture away from the touchpad, giving it more smoothness while scrolling. No more rough feeling for you fingers. This really reminded me of the old Area-51 M17X laptops.
One more thing to add about the palm rest. Sorry no pictures. The palm rest is no longer made from plastic; it is now the rubberised soft-touch feeling like the M17X-R3 and M11X series casing. It adds the smoothness and comfortability to your palm. Its a huge plus for the design right there.


The Bechmark

I've made some overclocking to the card before I did the benchmarks. The original clock speed was 680MHz/900MHz; I've overclocked it to 800MHz/1100MHz. I will try to increase the GPU clock slightly higher next time but for the time being, the clock speed will stay like that. Also, the processor has been overclocked to the "factory overclocked option" (the one that was available in the US), which is 4GHz.

These are the scores for 3DMark06, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark11. All of them are set to Performance.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Settings: Maxed Out | 4xAA | 16xAF | 1920x1080@60Hz | HBAO On | V-Sync Off | DX11 |

Comments: The game ran well with the two cards. I was surprised that it could hit the 90fps on normal view and around 50-60fps on high explosion. The reason for this is because the destruction engine is more CPU hungry than GPU.

Company of Heroes
Settings: Maxed Out | 8xAA | 1920x1080@60Hz | V-Sync Off | DX10|

Comments: I was unable to hit the 60fps mark because the details of the game requires PhysX. An Nvidia card might get higher fps.
Crysis
Settings: (First Picture) Very High | 4xAA | 64-bit | V-Sync Off | 1920x1080@60Hz | DX10 |

Comments: Finally, a laptop that could run Crysis above the playable fps at maxed out settings and full resolution. Very impressed.
Crysis 2
Settings: Extreme | 1920x1080@60Hz |

Comments: This Crysis is a little bit different than its predecessors. I was expecting to get more than 50fps but it turns out it could only get around 39fps average out in the very detailed world. Inside the submarine or rooms with little details, it could manage 50fps without the help of PhsyX. Two Nvidia cards could run this at around 60-70fps on Extreme settings.
Metro 2033
Settings: Very High | AAA | 4XAF | 1920x1080@60Hz | V-Sync Off | DOF On | Tessellation On | Advance PhysX On | DX11 |

Comments: This is the new Crysis. It could bring your system to its knees. Unlike Crysis, the game is well coded and optimized. As you can see, my GPUs are struggling when I had the Nvidia capable settings turned on but if I turned them off it runs at playable framerates. When Nvidia cards are out in the near future, like the GTX580Ms, I will sure try them out on this laptop.
Conclusion
The laptop has been a huge upgrade from the last M17X-R2. Although, some people might say the WLED was a step down but there was not much of an impact or difference in it. The soft-touch keyboard was a major step forward for people who will be typing for a long time. Also, the control buttons are well made too; no more finger prints and smudge all over the glossy panel and no more non-responsive controls too. For the battery life, the laptop is able to switch between Intel's HD3000 graphics or the poweful HD6970s; that really saved up alot of juice when there are no power plugs around. With the help of the Sandy Bridge processor, this laptop could last around 3 hours, compared to the NP7280, which only last 40mins. The bad part of it is the weight, but if you don't mind carrying a power laptop around than it should be no problem for you. For an 18-4 inch laptop, it is slight lighter than the NP7280 that I previously own. The PSU is also a hassle to the back; when wrapped up with the two cords, the PSU can be very big and it tends to pop out like something swollen but what can you expect when you are carrying a monster who needs a big gas tank. So, stay tuned next time for more futuremark results when I finish increasing and stabilising the overclocked cards. That concludes my review, thank you and enjoy!

Below are my ratings on the laptop.

WLED Display: 7.5/10
Built Quality: 9/10
Design: 10/10
Battery Saving: 9/10
Weight: 7/10
Raw Power: 10/10

Overall Quality: 8.5/10

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Added on June 7, 2011, 10:18 pmhello, may i know how did u bought this m18x and its process ...

Thank u...

^bought from Canada..

wot lee said

How did u make the payment,how did u bring ur laptop from there to here and did u pay any tax ?

bro.. what games u playing? post the results lah.. the thread goin to die soon!

@GreaseMonkey90: Hey, great review, thanks. I see you have the 2920xm in your system. This CPU has an adjustable TDP as well as adjustable turbo multis, I'd really like to know whether these features are locked by the system BIOS or not.
Can you manipulate the multis and the TDP with some tools or maybe directly in the BIOS?

the thread is dying. sobzzz

btw. gratz on ur purchase of alot of people's envy!!!

i will try to make it alive. have to wait for my new crossfire cable 1st.

This already not mobile computing , like carrying a desktop with you

This already not mobile computing , like carrying a desktop with you

sadly the TDP is locked in the bios  as well as throttlestop. dell wont let me OC it higher than 4.8ghz