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Pros

  • Lights/colors are fun
  • Superb gaming performance, excellent battery life

Cons

  • hard drive is a little small (500GB)
  • Heavy

Bottom Line

A huge, powerful desktop replacement at a surprisingly affordable price.

Manufacturer’s Description

Alienware™ M17x delivers excellent system performance and gaming graphics, plus laptop mobility for when you want to pack up and get moving.

The Specs

Display
Display type Glossy LCD with LED Backlight
Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
Display size 17.3 inches
Processor
Cache size 8.0 KB
Processor count 4
Processor speed 2600.0 MHz
Processor type Intel Core i7
Memory
Memory speed 1600.0 MHz
Memory type DDR3
Memory size 8000.0 MB
Memory max 32.0 GB
Storage
Hard Drive Speed 7200 RPM
Drives included 1.0
Other storage
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
  • xD-Picture Card
Drive size 500.0 GB
Storage Media
Memory stick 1
XD picture card 1
Ports and Connections
SD/MMC Card 1
Audio Interfaces RCA Digital Coax (S/PDIF)
Video Interfaces
  • DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • VGA
MultiMedia Card (MMC) or MultiMediaCard (MMC) 1
Wireless connection 802.11 n
Available Interfaces
  • Bluetooth
  • eSATA
Slots
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
  • xD-Picture Card
SDHC Card or Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) 1
Other Features
Devices
  • Built-In Microphone
  • Built-In Webcam
Input devices Keyboard (backlit)
Sound
Speakers Stereo
Dimensions
Weight with Accessories 11.7 pounds
Height 1.7 inches
Weight 9.6 pounds
Depth 12.0 inches
Width 16.1 inches
Included Software
Included Software CyberLink PowerDVD 9.6;
Operating system Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Performance

Overall Performance
Worldbench Score 146
Worldbench Version 7
Battery
Battery Life 5:21  (hh:mm)
Start Up
Start Up 24.7  seconds (lower is better)
Office Productivity
PCMark 7 Productivity Suite 4549  score (higher is better)
Web Browsing
Web Performance 16.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Storage Performance
File Compression 390  seconds (lower is better)
Hard Drive File Operations 370.3  seconds (lower is better)
Power Usage
Working power usage 5.9  Watt hours
WorldBench Green Score 67
Idle power usage 20.6  Watts
Content Creation
Image Editing 167.5  seconds (lower is better)
Audio Encoding 113.8  seconds (lower is better)
Video Encoding 138.3  seconds (lower is better)
Gaming
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 800x600 95.7  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 1366x768 96.1  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 800x600 164  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 1920x1080 88.5  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 1366x768 158.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 1920x1080 129.9  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 42.8  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 65.6  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, High Quality, 1920x1080 61.9  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 800x600 199.6  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 1366x768 191.8  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 1920x1080 177.4  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, High Quality, 800x600 90.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, High Quality, 1366x768 86  Frames per second (higher is better)
Gaming Score 96