Purchasing an Alienware soon! BUT, what's better? mALX or m9700

Sorry I don't have any thing to say about the laptops, except that IMO 4,200RPM drives will be way to slow, I would suggest getting the dual 100GB 7200RPM Drives then getting a nice and big external. Also I checked out your website and it is good, especially for someone your age.

Well...

The m9700 and mALX are very different, though they show similar hardware.

The m9700 is a fairly portable 17" laptop that has decent battery life and outrageous video performance. It games very well, but it has a single core processor so it won't necessarily be the best for multi-tasking and video editing. My m9700 outperforms my p4 3.2/6800 ultra OC desktop by a factor of two, so it's a beast, but it's aimed mostly at gaming performance rather than applications and multi-tasking. It's very reliable, and I've seen almost no complaints from owners.

The mALX has similar hardware to the m9700, but it features full blown 7900gtx video cards in SLI. It's huge though at 19", and with the expensive custom airbrushed paint job, I'd be worried about using it as a laptop and moving it around. It also only gets about 45 minutes on battery, and the performance drops significantly on battery also. The mALX also should be quite a bit more expensive than the m9700... I'd be scared to take something like this to school due to the size and paint.

While you're still thinking, you should look at the 5750. It doesn't have the graphics punch of the m9700, but it does have a core 2 duo processor. It's dual core, so it will handle multi-tasking better, and the 5750 is a bit lighter than the m9700. It gets slightly lower performance in games than the m9700 with a single vid card.

Also, if you're into video editing and multi tasking bigtime, you should also check out the m7700's. They have desktop processors in them, so they're bad on battery, and are heavier and bulkier than the m9700, but they're powerhouses and can be configured with a single 7900gtx.

I needed a portable machine with lots of gaming power, and not so much anything else, so I bought an m9700, and it's an awesome system. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it does multi-tasking and handles my daily surfing, forum and web needs. It's small enough to take with me, but has outstanding game performance and a big screen. It also will run over two hours on battery depending on what you're doing, and with the free upgrades AW offers on occasion, it's a great price...

For your needs, I'd choose the m9700 over the mALX, but only after checking out the other models to be sure the m9700 is what you need.

EDIT: Oh yeah... the 4200 rpm hd's are slow... I'd get a 7200 rpm drive for my main system drive, then maybe one 200G as storage. If you run windows and games on the 4200 rpm drive you'll be waiting a lot for things to load. I ordered my m9700 with a single 100G 7200 rpm drive, and I'm going to add a second. I also have a 250G external drive for storage, it's the Western Digital model that AW sells. Works great.

No problem, depends on your needs. The mALX sure is sexy...

Love the mALX, but I'd think twice about how easy it is going to be to carry around...and using it on an airplane is going to be rough.

I'd also think you'd want to look at the core 2 duo notebooks if multitasking and video encoding are big issues...not really sure what you intend to do with the notebook.

Saw you configured your m9700 with the 1440x900 display. That's what I have, and I'm quite happy with it...but I'd think about the 1920x1200 version for design/programming apps...

I'm another mALX user and yeah I agree with both HH and shazza, you dont want to be carrying this thing around too much. Its freaking heavy with just the backpac and the machine in it, adding other things like the HUGE power supply, mouse ect really adds on the weight.

As for airplanes, I have a17" M-5700 too and using even that on plane is insanity. There is no way in hell you'll be able to use an mALX on a plane.....unless of course there's an office in said plane

All in all though the huge 19"display on the mALX more than compensates for the lower screen res in my oppinion, it looks great and works great too. (oblivion with all the settings on high and all the new textures packs applied- looks sweet and works a treat)

As a frequent flier, you are nuts if you are considering trying to set up a 19" laptop in the plane. Ain't gonna happen. I don't even try to set up my 17" anymore. Honestly, I'd recommend the 17" over the 19" any day. When you enter 19" realm, things become paradoxical in my opinion. The point of laptops is their portability and form factor, but exactly how portable is a heavy, 19" laptop? Certainly portable enough for LAN parties and such, but not much else in my opinion. Then you incur the astronomical costs of 19" laptops. If you don't necessarily need the portability, why not pay less for an equally powerful or more powerful desktop? Why not spend less on a better LCD display with the ability for higher resolutions? $4+K can net you an unbelievable desktop with a killer 21" widescreen high res monitor. I'd seriously weigh out just how portable you need this computer to be. If you still need portability, go with the 17" m9700. If you don't need 64 bit, then find a core duo processor because you sound like you would benefit from multithreading.

Also, if you are concerned about money, it would be foolish to buy all your RAM and even the HD's from Alienware. Save a few hundred by purchasing them online from another vendor.

Just to clarify...neither the mALX nor the m9700 are much use on airplanes...for one thing, the power supplies don't work in airline seats - and, even in first class, there just isn't room. But, I think we got off track with the airline talk.

Not sure what professional opinions you are looking for? The only opinions you'll find here are from owners/users. Hammerhead is as close a professional as we have...he knows more about the m9700 than anyone.

Yeah I can vouch for the sound on the mALX myself, the onboard sound is by far the best I've heard from a notebook.
This might be because its size allows the speakers to be placed further apart and therefore giveing you slightly better surround sound. The thing I like most about it is the shear volume you can crank out of the speakers, its pretty awesome.

Gamewise, the mALX will be able to play anything you thow at it with ease at full settings. I've yet to find anything it struggles with.

If you are big into custom airbrushed notebooks, don't forget to check out Voodoo. I'd say they win hands down in the slickness department when it comes to custom design. Very pricey though.

I am an Alienware fan (own three), but you should also check out the Hypersonics...you can get Core2Duo and a 7950GTX...and paint...

Just a thought. The ideal configuration (imo) is something like the m9700 and a smaller Core2Duo (like one of the Asus models). I often game on my m9700, and do downloads/websurfing with the MacBook at the same time...also gives me the option to carry the MacBook when I travel. Guess my point is, I haven't found the absolutely perfect notebook yet (say, a 14" ultralight widescreen notebook with SLI / 6 hour battery life/ no heat issues / internal power adapter / and a magically upsizing display when I want it )