Think about it this way, the portability issue isn't a big issue for me as all I'll do is shift overseas to study, and leave the laptop in the dorm. But I'll still be travelling around so a lappie is more viable. And then we have those LAN party nights... So you can imagine why I need a gaming lappie rather than a gaming deskie...

Ever seen Dell's 20" monster? THAT is huge... It's discontinued by the way...

Alienware Area-51 m15x reporting in!

Specifications

Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Graphics Processor : 512MB NVidia® GeForce® Go 8800M GTX
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 2048MB
Driver: Forceware 179.13

Games


Fallout 3 at 1920x1200, Ultra High, 4xAA 15xAF V-sync, HDR ON, framerates hovering around 58-65fps


Far Cry 2 on 1920x1200, Ultra High, HDR/Bloom ON DX9, No AA, V-Sync, framerates hovering around 25-29fps


Far Cry 2 on 1920x1200, Ultra High, Bloom ON DX10, No AA, V-Sync, framerates hovering around 22-28fps *for some weird reason I cant turn on HDR on DX10, and had to force it to run 1920x1200 full screen, otherwise it would run windowed.


Crysis on 1920x1200, Very High, framerates hovering around 8-10fps


Crysis on 1920x1200, High, framerates hovering around 9-12fps


Crysis on 1920x1200, Medium, framerates hovering around 29-33fps


Crysis on 1280x720, Very High, framerates hovering around 17-20fps


Crysis on 1280x720, High, framerates hovering around 20-24fps


Crysis on 1280x720, Medium, framerates hovering around 34-37fps

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Nov 13 2008, 12:24 AM

And just for kicks....


Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 on 1920x1200, Ultra High 2xAA, steady 29-30fps

In conclusion, this beast chews every game easily for its breakfast, EXCEPT Crysis. I had to run it on 1280x720 on High to get an acceptable framerate,with all the gunfights and intense action around. Running it 1920x1200 is fine, as long as you don't move.

Hey, how much and where'd you buy your M15x for???

www.alienware.co.uk . Shipped to Malaysia, after a week ++ from order date. Word of advise, don't get the Alienware unless you plan to max it out. Getting anything but a maxxed out Alienware and having to cater for shipping, and cost prices overseas means you are wasting your money, when you can custom-build those specs into a locally available Dell XPS. You go all out when you go Alienware.

That's what I'm thinking... I find it pointless to order an AlienWare unless I max out the specs...

Gonna be looking at either the XPS or G series... Hey, why didn't you max out buying SLis on your Alienware???

SLI or Crossfire only available on the 17 inch model iirc, string's alienware is 15 inch.

Oh... I forgot about that dual card issue... No wonder he didn't go for it, and he said "max out" on AlienWares... The 8800M GTX isn't exactly "max" right? There's the 9800M GTX...

wait wait wait 9800m whahaat? not again?! that's why I retired from forums haha you're kidding me right?

Unless you want your 15 inch laptop to be twice the thickness of what it currently is (twice the thickness of a regular 15 inch laptop, not the thin kind), then adding in 9800M GTX is not possible. The card will burn through the chassis like butter, plus the power demands and the thermal envelope will run it hot as hell. You'd need better thermal airflow around the card, hence a bigger chassis, therefore only on the 17 incher. Engineering has its limits, and with the current chassis, the 8800M GTX fits the bit, and sometimes stresses the chassis too in terms of heat dissipation. Warm does not begin to describe it.

I've explained before, and I'll explain here again, I want my laptop to remain as a laptop, and therefore function as a laptop, meaning it is portable. A 17 inch laptop, is not, in the truest sense, a laptop. It is a desktop replacement , in laptop form factor. Dell 1730, Alienware M17, these two fit into this category, and although they do exhibit some form of portability, you are not meant to carry them rigorously around the campus or around town. Your back will curse you if you do that. Scratch 17 inch form factor, therefore 15 inch is the only "portable" laptop form in my books. Next ask yourself, who makes the most powerful 15 inch laptop in the world? A few candidates like Sager/Clevo, Alienware, Rock comes to mind. Now for me, looks is equally important, which then seals the deal: Alienware it is. For a more affordable alternative, at a more subdued look, Sager is the next choice. That choice is subjective, either you like it or loathe it. I'm in the latter camp.

How's the alienware battery life on normal usage? (other then gaming lol)

Turn on BinaryGFX, and activate Stealth Mode, downclocks the processor to 1.6GHz, and it uses the onboard IGP, brightness at 50%, Wifi ON, I get 3hrs 15 minutes. Very very usable in Stealth Mode.

Now that is quite impressive i have to say consider the spec of that lappy. Suddenly my macbook battery life doesnt look all that impressive anymore

i was just off for one afternoon, what happened here....even the machine that i once dreamed off reported in...anyway, that is why i don like ultra high res laptops, they make ur graphic card suffer...i still think 1280x800 is best res for 14.1'', and the next higher res is for 15.4''..anything higher then that for me it's waste of GPU power

Which of these choices would you rather be in:-

A - Having a powerful graphic card, but stuck with paltry inferior resolution
B - Having a powerful graphic card, but have room to grow with resolutions that go beyond the native resolution of the size of that said LCD

I'd rather be in situation B, where I know I have the power to run the games at higher resolutions than the native resolution usually associated with 15 inch screens, since hey, I have the power, why not?

A waste of GPU power is when you stick an 8800M GTX into an eeePC-like casing with 8.9inch screen capable of 1024x768, when you know the 8800M GTX can do better. It is like having a Ferrari engine but you stick it in a Proton, and the Ferrari engine is restricted by the inferiority of the rest of the Proton parts.

If you would have cared to look at the benchmarks, it is evident that all EXCEPT Crysis, runs perfectly fine at 1920x1200 at the highest detail, at playable framerates. Crysis is the exception, running at 1280x720.

If you would rather stick with 1280x720 and stops there, then your whole perception defies the whole reason why people benchmark: We benchmark to see how far we can push the available specs. If you're satisfied at that midlevel resolution, then might as well don't bother with benchmarking or monitoring laptop gaming performance at all, which is, last I check, the very title of this thread.

I could have stuck with the standard config 1440x900 for the 15inch LCD, which is its native resolution and be done with it. But this Alienware serves other purpose as well, it is also a Blu-ray player, and for it to perform like a Blu-ray player, it would need to be capable of playing back Blu-ray media at its highest possible resolution, 1920x1080, else it would be a waste to stick a Blu-ray Writer drive in there. Which is the reason why the resolution needs to be that "ultra high res" as you so eloquently put.

Lastly, why so easy to be satisfied with what mediocre results, when the spirit of benchmarking demands pushing a gaming machine to its limits? I'm starting to understand why Derred is getting turned off by the forum, it's been stymied by folks who are easily satisfied and not willing to go further and push ahead. What a shame.....

15k laptop can only do +-35fps on Crysis?

Do you judge something on technical merits or how much money I throw at the laptop? I suggest reading Tom's Hardware or Anandtech on why a "15k laptop can only do +-35fps on Crysis".

Or maybe refer to this link or this benchmarking link for further clarification. Crysis is not like other games out there.

Or do you want me to carry a desktop that can play Crysis adequately on my back?

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Nov 13 2008, 01:12 AM

Crysis maybe the future game. Conclusion is that desktop is still the best for gaming. Anyway i was wondering how fast is the respond time on your LCD. ?

stringfellow, you have CoD4 screens of m15x?

u kidding me???

many cards even struggle to have 20fps at low resolution...

dun forget, 8800M GTX has the same hardware spec as 8800GS, not 8800GTX...

This post has been edited by astria: Nov 13 2008, 02:08 AM