Ask any self-respecting gamer what the Holy Grail of performance computing is, and watch their eyes glaze over as they mumble one word, albeit incoherently — Alienware. Synonymous with the-best-money-can-buy-high-end machines, Alienware laptops are clad in a distinctive bad-ass-cool look — from the finned frills to the lit alien decal, Alienware laptops scream style and power! And when Alienware bills their latest, the M17x, as the “the most powerful laptop in the universe”, there’s a lot to live up to, even for a brand as hallowed as this.

That is, of course, if you can call this a laptop. Measuring 16in x 12.6in x 2.1in and starting at over 5kg, you’d be advised to adopt your best lifting position to pick this one out of the box, or off your desk. It really is that monstrously large. Did I mention that the 240 watt power-brick by itself is heavier than some netbooks I’ve seen?

But if you’re a serious gamer who wants ultimate power but with an added option of being “portable”, you could overlook these flaws and begin to admire the raw beauty that is this laptop. Batmobile-esque fins, anodised aluminium casing, with a matte black finish, this monster looks like it can chew your pretty-boy notebooks for lunch, and scare the occasional pet when starting up.

No screws visible, except the customised nameplate which is bolted onto the underbelly of the beast. And in true Alienware-style, the machine announces its presence by the customisable lights, from the Alienware logo below the 17-in display, along the touchpad, under the keyboard, on the Alienware head-shaped power button, and even on the back of the lid.

Opening up the laptop, you boot the machine, with almost a bit of trepidation. This machine is imposing any which way you look at it, and the full size backlit keyboard certainly helps. On the M17x, there’s no stunted number pad — a full size number pad and a dedicated set of controls round out the ‘no compromises’ design of this machine. The wrist rest is wide and expansive, and the touchpad, although not multi-touch, is textured with a honeycomb design to allow for more precise finger control. Of course, gamers will prefer their dedicated gaming mouse, but for everyday use, this is just great.

And you may not be able to lift this up and around to see the ports — I certainly struggled — but connectivity options are complete, with a bevy of ports including an HDMI port to connect digitally to your LCD TV. Headphones and audio in/out are towards the back — a tad awkward, and only four USB ports — that’s scrimping on a chassis this big. A Blu-ray reader/DVD combo drive manages to redeem, though.

Now depending on what configuration you pick, you could get a reasonable 1440 x 900 pixel resolution display, which is just about passable on the glorious 17-in display, or you could go the whole hog and pick the glorious 1920 x 1200 pixels high-definition resolution for both a killer movie watching and gaming experience. The screen uses the IPS panel technology so the colour reproduction and viewing angles are simply amazing. Speakers are some of the best on a laptop I’ve heard, and just about distort at the highest volumes.

Now, I’m sure you’re not considering this for watching movies, so when there’re some serious alien hinds to be kicked, the specs leave nothing to the imagination — at the heart of this monster is a quad-core Mobile Core 2 Extreme QZ9300 CPU running at 2.53GHz with a 12MB L2 cache. Four GB of RAM is standard, and you can install up to 8GB.

Graphics are handled by dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 260Ms in SLI mode (parallel mode, double the power basically) with 1GB of RAM each, with the option to upgrade to higher end dual-GTX 280Ms. Power-wise, it’s pretty intelligent, shutting down the discrete graphics cards and reducing the CPU consumption when it’s not plugged into the mains. It better be, this machine sucks battery like a Hummer drinks fuel, and the battery dies in about 1.5 hours of usage. Keep this plugged in, and you’ll be safe.

For everyday performance, the M17x zips though the job. Throw a game that demands performance and the M17x cuts through current gen games like Call of Duty with frame rates to spare. No, it doesn’t even break into a sweat. This truly is a system where the design team went all out and threw together a near-feature-perfect machine. I wish they’d included some more accessories, like a carrying case or a mousepad — Alienware is a cult and such stuff would only feed the habit.

The Alienware M17x is the first time the brand has reached Indian shores, and it can pretty much defend its claims for a while to come, but along with being the most powerful, it’s also one of the most expensive laptops to buy. From a performance standpoint, though, you definitely get what you pay for with this machine.

• Rating: 8/10
• Price: Rs 1.39 lakh onwards
• URL: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-alienware-m17x?c=us&=en&s=dhs

What’s in store

Now, if you’re just looking for some amazing looking portable storage, check out the Western Digital My Book Elite and My Book Studio portable hard drives, which display the device’s label and free space up-front. Yes, the e-label — you can instruct the electronic ink display to mention what the drive contains, even when it is not connected to the PC. Ranges from $149.99 to $299.99 for the Mac version, and between $169.99 to $279.99 for the Windows compatible versions.

• URL: http://www.westerndigital.com
http://www.westerndigital.com

Pretty picture

If you’re feeling up to giving yourself a late Diwali gift, and aren’t feeling generous enough to afford the M17x, try the pricey D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 all-in-one router on for size. The device has a built-in draft-N Wi-Fi that allows it to communicate with network attached storage devices and a 3.2-in LCD screen that lets it play streaming video or do double duty as a digital photo frame. The screen can also display device status information via graphs and gauges, and the SharePort feature lets networked computers share printers and other USB devices. What’s more, the screen can also be programmed to display weather forecasts and other live streaming Internet content.

• URL: http://www.dlink.com
• Price: $300