Alienware Area-51 m15x

The Area-51® m15x is purported by its manufacturer to contain the most powerful mobile graphics card ever in a 15.4-inch laptop. The Alienware Area-51 m15x was first announced in November 2007 and released in early 2008. Setting the standard on graphics capabilities with its NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9800M GT with 512MB of dedicated graphics memory, Alienware aims to stand alone as the first manufacturer to bring this advanced GPU to market in a 15.4-inch form factor.

For creative professionals and industrial designers who relies heavily on heavy graphics application, the Area-51 m15x offers the NVIDIA Quadro® FX 3600M GPU, that provides image quality on CAD, DCC and other visualization applications. The notebook is powered by Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processors that provide users with the support needed for HD video and audio editing, 3D animation and high-end PC gaming. The notebook also features the Alienware Command Center that is a centralized, user friendly access port for applications such as AlienFX® lighting, AlienFusion power management, AlienTouch touchpad controls and AlienSense facial recognition security features. All updates and releases are downloaded and added to the Command Center, providing a centralized way for users to modify the Alienware computer. Another feature to the Area-51® m15x is its next generation wireless capabilities via the Draft-N wireless connectivity. The Area-51 m15x’s 15.4-inch LCD also provides users with High-Definition 1200p viewing capabilities for videos and Blu-ray Discs® at the highest possible resolutions. It measures 14.6in (W) x 10.7in (D) x 1.3in (H) and weighs 7.1lbs. This mid-size laptop is windows vista premium ready and has built-in devices such as stereo speakers, Bluetooth antenna and a wireless LAN antenna. A keyboard and a touchpad are featured to help working/moving around and setting up the laptop.

Specifications:

The Alienware Area-51 m15x is a notebook that allows users to run either Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Premium (either 32- and 64-bit) or Windows Vista® Ultimate (32- and 64-bit) operating system. It is a notebook that is powered by Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors with 6 MB cache capacity on 800MHz front serial buss frequency which makes it comparable to Intel® Core™2 Extreme processors. The notebook is also supported by an Intel® GM965 chipset and has up to 8 GB memory capacity with dual channel DDR2 at 667MHz via two dedicated SO-DIMM slots.

Graphics

The graphics on this notebook is supported by NVIDIA GeForce Series graphics card, swappable to an 512 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 (DirectX 10.1 enabled). Some of the NVIDIA graphics card supported are NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT, NVIDIA Quadro FX Series, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M. The BinaryGFX function on this notebook is the feature that allows users to switch between the high-performance graphics and integrated graphics.

Connectors

The notebook also features an HDMI connector and an optional HDMI to DVI-D adapter that allows users to view high definition content on an external display. The Area-51 m15x also features 1 x ExpressCard/54, 2 x Memory as expansion slots and as interfaces, there are 3 x Hi-Speed USB, 1 x IEEE 1394b, 1 x Network for Ethernet, 1 x Headphones (output) that can also be used for speakers and mini-phone stereo (3.5 mm), 1 x Microphone (input) and can also be used for a mini-phone (3.5 mm). It also has two fans on each side of the laptop.

Memory

It also comes with a choice of either a 500GB SATA (5400 rpm), 320GB SATA 7200 rpm or 128GB SATA solid state drive for storage capacity, as well as a removable second hard drive in its Smart Bay.

Optical Drives

The Area-51 m15x also provides users with several optical drives to choose from, such as an 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW, an 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW with LightScribe Technology, a 2x Blu-Ray Reader/DVD±R/W/CD-RW Burner or Dual Layer 2x Blu-Ray/DVD±R/W/CD-RW Burner. The Alienware Area-51 m15x also features wireless connectivity via Intel PRO Wireless 4965 b/g/n Mini-Card and integrated Bluetooth 2.0, as well as wired connectivity via an integrated Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45. Accessories included with the purchase of this laptop are a mouse pad and a carrying case. It also features a security lock slot with the cable lock being sold separately. There’s a one year warranty consisting of service and support that comes with the purchase of this laptop which also includes on-site service.

Reviews:

“Alienware’s amazingly powerful flagship Area-51 m15x has the insides down, but our finicky aesthetic sense isn’t sold on the look of this otherwise awesome 15-inch powerhouse of a gaming laptop.” – (CNET, 2008)

“The Area-51 m15x is the newest high-performance gaming notebook from Alienware. It packs components typically found only in the largest of desktop replacements into a slim 15.4-inch form factor and still manages to be a practical machine on the road.” – (NotebookReview, 2008)

“Alienware is a consistent little devil and for the longest time now has been seen by the mass market as the king of the hill when it comes to performance PCs and notebooks” – (bit-tech.net, 2008)