Intro
People were stunned when the Alienware m15x was first announced at Digital Life back in November of 2007. Since then, Alienware has been swarmed with orders when notebook enthusiasts heard this machine would boast a powerful NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX graphics card in a 15 inch chassis, making it the most powerful 15 inch notebook on the planet. This notebook is targeted towards gamers who do not mind sacrificing 2 inches of screen, but still get all the power and more of the 17 inch Alienware m9750.
Full Specs:
MSRP: $4,798.00
Starting at: $1,799.00
What’s in the Box:
Like all of their machines, the m15x comes easily and safely packaged in two boxes. Alienware has also started shipping their notebooks in black boxes again. The large box contains the notebook and the accessories box, which contains the Alienware ball cap, power block, and notebook with Alienware driver discs. The second, smaller box contains the Smart Bay accessories.
Design and Build
What can you say about Alienware’s design after the Alienware Area-51 m9750? If the aesthetics of the m9750 scores a 10 out of 10, then what grade is the m15x? A 12? 15? Do we need to recalibrate our scale to accommodate the new eye candy features of this machine? If we did, every other notebook reviewed would be rated an order of magnitude less.
In all seriousness, this is the coolest looking notebook I have ever seen, period. Every surface, corner, edge, LED, texture and color of this notebook will make you smile. Slipping the m15x out of the black protective covering and onto the desk will surely widen your eyes. The glossy silver chassis has a smooth, almost buttery texture that will make you take notice. Users must truly be weary of surrounding rough objects and never put this notebook in a backpack or carrying case without the protective covering it is packaged with. Alienware has broken new ground with this industrial design; the m15x is a complete departure from past models. The m15x truly feels otherworldly.
Every unique aesthetic feature on the m15x has been improved. The power button in the middle of the notebook is a glowing alien head that pulsates while on. The entire notebook is color customizable with the Alienware Command Center and AlienFX. AlienFX allows users to change the LED colors on the notebook. All of these illumination elements; the backlit keyboard, to the LED rim around the edges, to the Alienware head on the lid, can have their color changed. Ordered m15xs are no longer just carbon copied units of different colors. Every machine is unique and unique is beautiful!
AlienFX & AlienFusion
The AlienFX can be found by clicking the icon on the desktop called, Alienware Command Center. Inside you can choose between the AlienFX and AlienFusion. AlienFusion is power-monitoring software where you can create profiles to manage your notebook’s power options. AlienFX can be used to change the color of different zones on the notebook without having to physically replace LEDs. The following areas can be changed.
To address the “stress cracks” that have been reported across the Internet, this model does not have any. However, by reading the reports and reviewing this design, I am convinced the “stress cracks” are due to customers not treating the notebook with care. The rim around the keyboard and touch pad is particularly tight, except on the left side where the power connection is located. There is a small gap between the top and bottom chassis connections that with enough force would cause this section to crack. Pounding on the keyboard (maybe out of frustration for getting fragged) will surely cause this to crack. BEWARE!
The elegance and unique chassis design comes at a cost, as the m15x does not have a solid feel to it. It seems that one needs to handle it delicately for fear of damaging it. Carrying it around the house, I went out of my way to hold to the chassis tightly, while being aware of sharp corners and objects. The m9750 left me with the exact opposite feeling as it has a much studier feel to it. The fragility of the m15x is merely a perception; this machine may be tough as nails, and only time and use will tell.
Screen:
One question many people have asked me about this model is the 1920 x 1200 resolution option. Is it worth the extra money? Is the font too small to read on a 15-inch display?
This is a good question, and depending on your use of the m15x, the extra cost may not be worth it. If you are planning to use only an external monitor, one that supports the higher resolution then the answer is “no”. If you are planning to use an external monitor and the m15x LCD, the answer would be “maybe”, and if you are only planning on using the m15x LCD, the answer is also “maybe”.
Using an external monitor is a no-brainer. You want the highest resolution possible to support your high-res monitor and luckily the HDMI port of the m15x will support any resolution the monitor supports. However, you cannot clone your output. But if you are planning to go back and forth between monitors and the m15x, this is where experience will come into play. If you are considering this machine for gaming, and you always want the highest resolution possible for the game to look the best. If you are a gaming fanatic like me, I recommend the highest resolution screen. Playing games and even browsing the Web on 1920 x 1200 is perfectly fine for my young eyes and, you can always revert back to 1440 x 900 if you desire. If you are planning to only use the m15x’s LCD, then I would consider it only if: you are an expert gamer, have strong eye sight, and are willing to spend an additional $300 on the upgrade. If the answer to all three is “no” then I would pass on this upgrade.
There are two other features to consider if you are still on the edge of which screen to get. The standard WXGA+ (1440 x 900 pixels) display is a glossy display, while the upgrade WUXGA (1920x1200 pixels) has a matte finish. Notebook users with glossy displays know that using this it in the daylight can be hard to read the screen because of the glare where as a matte may be a bit easier. In addition, the standard display you are getting has 720p high-definition where the upgrade gives you full 1080p high-definition or 1200p as Alienware calls it. Scroll down to the Blu-Ray Drive section to get a better idea of the differences.
The viewing angle of the m15x is as impressive as the m9750. LCD technology pricing drops almost daily, providing bright clear displays. What customers should worry about most is whether or not the LCD screen will come with any dead pixels. In the seven Alienware notebooks I have used in five years, none of them had a single dead pixel.
Like most Alienware notebooks, there are 8 levels of brightness that can be controlled by holding the FN key and hitting the F4 and F5 keys.
Hibernation Issue:
There have been some reports about (notebooks in general not just Alienware notebooks) notebooks that experience issues when coming out of hibernation in Windows Vista. The m15x does not like to come out of hibernation. Twice I put the m15x into hibernation and left in that state overnight, only to come back the next morning and the notebook would not wake up. It does however, come out of hibernation if you leave it in that state for short periods of time.
Bios Upgrade:
Upgrading the bios is a breeze and the new public bios, which can be found here with instructions, takes seconds to install and fixes the overheating issues that were previously being reported. However, all new m15x notebooks will have the current bios already installed. The upgrade is only intended for people who had their notebooks shipped before March 26, 2008.
Keyboard
“Oh Alienware! How I love thee!” The m15x is the first notebook I have reviewed that has done away with those stupid function icons that are barely intelligible, and replaced them with actual words! For example, you no longer need to know what this icon is when accessing your function keys. Alienware has made is simple by printing the command on the keys. For example, "suspend" is printed on the F1 key so it is obvious that pressing Fn+F1 will Suspend your notebook. In addition, there is also a convenient function key F2, which brings up your battery level in the middle of the screen, F3, which mutes the sound, F4 and F5 which raise and lower the brightness on the LCD respectively, F6 toggles the output on the LCD screen or via the HDMI port, F7 which toggles between the 8800M GTX and Graphics Media Accelerator cards (restart required), F8 which ejects the DVD tray, F9 which loads the Cyberlink YouCam software, F10 brings up Windows Mobility Center (where you can manage your battery life, wifi and other windows components, F11 loads the AlienFX software.
Of course the most impressive feature of the keyboard is the backlit functionality. Using the software AlienFX (discussed above) you can change the color of your keyboard to match anything your little heart desires. As for comfort, on a 15 inch notebook the keyboard feels great and there is no cramped feeling at all.
Touchpad
I normally prefer different texture on the scroll pad with, or at least a raised line or boundary so your finger knows when it is in the touch pad area and when it is in the scroll pad area. The m15x has neither of these. The touch pad is the same texture as the rest of the chassis around the keyboard and there are no markings or raised bar letting the user know there is even a scroll pad available on the m15x. The last thing we want on a great performing notebook is a crappy method of maneuvering your mouse (like the Alienware Sentia had). However, this new touch pad design works and it has the best scroll pad I’ve ever used. You will not find the touch pad difficult to use for it is outlined with a colored box and the acceleration is fairly low, but it can be adjusted depending on a user’s preference.
Features:
Multimedia Keys – The new features when looking at the keyboard are the touch sensitive buttons right above the keyboard. There are four buttons and a touch sensitive volume control, which is a bit difficult to use. Sometimes touching the volume control does not always work and you need to press it a few times for the notebook to respond.
LEDS - Part of the Alienware redesign and exclusiveness comes with some fancy LED icons that indicate what state the notebook is in.
Alien Eye – Like All Alienware notebooks, the picture describes itself.
Wifi – When you combine a great wifi card like the Intel Wireless 4965 and Windows Vista, it takes seconds to connect to your wireless network.
Speakers – The built in speakers are great. There was no crackling or low fidelity when watching "I am Legend" on Blu-ray, or watching Youtube.com or gametrailers.com videos.
Blu-Ray Drive–
Do not think it will be easy to take screenshots of your favorite Blu-Ray movies with the stock PowerDVD Software and Windows Vista. You cannot even disable hardware acceleration to use the Print Screen option. But that does not take away from the clarity and high definition picture of Blu-Ray. In addition to the player, the m15x also has 2x Blu-ray writer. As expected, it writes about half the speed of the x4 Blu-ray Writer that is an option in the Alienware ALX Crossfire.
22.3 GB – 96 minutes @ 2x write speed
21.6 GB – 179 minutes @ 1x write speed
Input and Output Ports
Front: Infrared Sensor
Webcam Pictures
The pictures from the webcam are just as good as the pictures you can take on your cell phone, however the Cyberlink YouCam Software makes taking video a lot more interesting where you can click the YouTube button which will load your videos directly to Youtube.com.
Right Side: (from left to right) 7-in-1 Media card reader (SD/MS/MSPRO/MMC), HDMI, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394B Firewire port, secuity lock
Left Side: (from left to right) Power jack, Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, headphone, microphone, Smart Bay ( Blu-ray/DVD/CD/tray or Smart Bay Hard Drive)
Rear: GPU & CPU exhaust vents
Bottom: Normally there is not anything very interesting on the bottom of notebooks, but the m15x comes with a custom, engraved nameplate making the m15x even more personalized.
(pic coming soon)
Size and Weight
The m15x does an amazing job brining power and high graphic gaming in a relatively small size and weight. Clocking in 6.8 pounds the m15x can be easily transported in bags, backpacks and briefcases without the strain of a 10-13 pound 17 inch notebook.
Rated: 15" WUXGA 14.55" (w) x 10.73" (d) x 1.3" (h) and 7.0 lbs
Actual: Weight: 6.8 lbs
Heat and Noise
Upon first getting the system, I do what I always do when I first get a notebook to test. I logon to Steam, and start downloading the games I am going to test on them. The m15x has a terrific cooling system. Although it does warm, after all it has the most powerful mobile graphics card on the market in it, but all the heat is diverted directly out the back. It gets a bit warm by the Multimedia keys but there is barely any heat coming up from the keyboard where it would be most annoying to users. The fan noise is low compared to other gaming notebooks.
Battery Life
One may expect a short battery life in a machine that sports a power-hungry CPU and Video card. However, the m15x comes with two features that help extend battery life. The m15x comes with two graphic cards. The first is the obvious 8800M GTX and the second is a lower powered Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100. Pressing the Function key and F7 will switch between the two cards.
In addition to the two graphic cards, Alienware also has a feature called “Stealth Mode” Alienware’s exclusive “Stealth Mode” button, which will lower the clock speed of your GPU and CPU to conserve power. There is also a noticeable difference in noise when “Stealth Mode” is activated. You can see below the difference between using the different power saving modes.
Each rating is measured when the 10% battery warning pops up in Windows, on High Performance, with the exception of the Blu-Ray movie where the movie took up the whole screen and the m15x shut down completely.
8/8 – 57 minutes – Watching a Blu-ray movie (GPU/No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 55 minutes – Surfing the internet (GPU / No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 85 minutes – Surfing the internet (Integrated / No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 90 minutes – Surfing the internet (GPU / Stealth Mode)
1/8 – 136 minutes – Surfing the internet (Integrated / Stealth Mode)
Synthetic/Gaming Benchmarks
Here is a list of tested synthetic and gaming benchmarks. All results are with stock hardware settings.
3DMark:
The 3Dmark Benchmarks are the most common benchmarks used to determine if the notebook is configured to play the latest games. More specifically, it is used to determine the direct X performance of the graphics cards. The higher the score, the more suited your notebook is to playing games. The number behind the 3dMark Benchmark (3dmark2001, 3dmark03 etc) is related to the year the test relates to technology, which is why the 2001 scores are always significantly higher than the 06 scores. You can compare the scores of this notebook to other notebooks by going here.
3DMark2001se:
3DMark03:
3DMark05:
3DMark06:
AquaMark3:
Aquamark is an older graphics benchmark that was designed to see how well a graphics card is performing in DirectX 9 environments.
Cinabench:
Cinabench runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances.
wPrime:
wPrime is an "application designed to use a highly multithreaded approach to calculating the square-roots of large amounts of numbers (up to 32 billion at this stage!)".
Windows Experience Index
Super Pi
Super Pi, is a synthetic benchmark that calculates Pi to a certain amount of digits you prescribe, and the faster it does it, the better your notebook performs. All of the benchmarks submitted in the NBF database are set to calculating Pi to the 2 million digits of accuracy.
HD Tune:
This next benchmark I ran is called HD Tune which measures raw performance of transfer rates, access times, CPU usage, burst rate and the overall health of your hard drive setup. A couple of obvious notes; the burst rate should always be higher than the maximum transfer rate of your score. In this case it is. The second number to look at is the Access Time. The bigger the number, the better the performance.
The m15x hard drive, which is a 200 GB 7200rpm SATA, did not boast the best read score, but it does perform fairly well versus the competition. The 200 GB drive was able to pull off an average of 48.9 MB a second. Compared to the Sager NP6790 (100 GB) that reads an average of 53.9 MB a second and the Sager NP9260 (240GB) 60.9 MB a second. However, the NP6790 test was done on a considerably smaller hard drive and the NP9260 was in Raid 0 so these scores should not be directly compared, but it is really good to know the difference in read/write times when comparing different configurable options for notebooks. Alienware has greatly improved their performance of hard drive options which date back to the Area-51 m5750 which a 60GB hard drive got an average read time of 26.5 MB a second. Below are the screenshots.
Alienware m15x ------ Sager NP6790 ------ Sager NP9260 ------ Alienware m5750
Every benchmark/screenshot in this section is run on the highest settings available, with AA off, unless otherwise noted. Every resolution is run at 1920x1200p (unless noted) on Vista with stock Alienware NVIDIA Graphics Driver 71.51.16755.
A lot of these benchmarks may not seem very impressive, but you must take into consideration that these settings are the highest possible, with AA on the highest setting (when tested), unless noted. All of these games play beautifully on the most recent graphically intensive games.
Unreal Tournament III:
Unreal Tournament plays beautifully on the m15x. No stuttering or choppiness at the settings in the bottom screenshots.
Settings
Screenshots
Call of Duty 4:
Call of Duty 4 puts up no challenge with the m15x. Again, no choppiness, just flawless gaming fun.
Screenshots
World in Conflict:
World in Conflict is actually a bit more graphically challenging to the m15x, but the stress test shows that even during the most active battles, the game still manages great frames on the highest settings.
Settings
With Anti-Aliasing Off
Company of Heroes (steam):
Company of Heroes plays well and performs well during the stress test. The game actually gets higher frames per second during the DirectX10 test than the DirectX9 test. More confidence that using Vista is the correct decision on the m15x.
With Anti-Aliasing Off High Settings in DirectX10
With Anti-Aliasing Off High Settings in DirectX9
Screenshots
Half-Life 2/Counterstrike:Source(steam):
The regular Counterstrike/Half-Life 2 source engine runs very well on the m15x. Anything over 100 frames per second is considered a good score for the stress test and the m15x almost triples it.
With Anti-Aliasing Off Highest Settings
Half-Life 2: Lost Cost (steam):
Between this test and the Counterstrike test, it is very obvious that even with HDR enabled, this system will have no problem supporting it. So if you are a big Counterstrike player, and enjoy using the HDR setting on maps such as de_nuke or de_militia, the Alienware m15x cuts through each map very nicely.
I found it particularly funny how Steam has yet to recognize the latest processors and still thinks a system is not capable of running a game based on clock speed a lone. This is hardly the case.
With Anti-Aliasing Off Highest Settings
Doom 3 (steam):
As you can imagine, the m15x cuts through Doom 3 like butter. No stuttering or any problems whatsoever.
With Anti-Aliasing OFF Ultra Settings at resolution 1024x768
Settings
Software
The m9750 ships with Nero 7 and Power DVD preloaded; both are top-notch programs for burning DVDs/Cds and playing movies respectively. It is very disappointing to know that Vista does not allow the capture of Blu-ray movie screenshots. The m15x also comes preloaded with Cuberlink YouCam, which is a fancy but simple webcame software that allows you to upload video directly to youtube.
Accessories
The m15x ships with a normal sized power block that generates a typical amount of heat. It also ships with a free mouse pad, free hat, Alienware notebook with drivers, and manuals.
Pros:
Aesthetics – Alienware’s coolest looking notebook yet
Screen – Beautiful, 0 dead pixels, reliable
Performance – Out of the box power, the fastest benchmarks without OCing.
Touchpad/Scrollpad – Unusually appealing and unique
Keyboard - Beautiful backlit with multiple color options with AlienFX
Wireless – Easy to use, easy to connect
Battery Life – Having an Intel GMA & the Stealth mode option makes this the longest lasting gaming notebook with over 2.5 hours of battery life.
Free Stuff – Ships with free hat and mousepad
Cons:
Stability – Possibility of chassis cracking if not taken proper precautions
Touch Sensitive Volume Control – Hard to manage and control
Hibernation Issue – Sometimes does not come out of Hibernation properly. (A Vista problem?)
Pre-Conclusion:
I have read a few reviews on this model that complain about the price of the m15x, which is complete hogwash. How can a notebook’s price be of concern when you are buying technology that is only offered by one vendor? It is not just about the looks or name here. You are paying for the technology that simply does not exist in any other 15 inch notebook on this planet, and reviewers want to complain about price? Complaining about the price of the m15x is like complaining about Lebron James’s salary; sometimes the price of performance is well justified.
Conclusion:
I had a blast using the m15x. This notebook is absolutely the best looking and performing notebook ever conceived by man. I had so much fun that I have never tested a notebook as thoroughly as I have the m15x. I kept trying to think of tests to run as an excuse to keep it longer. It makes me giddy thinking about the new features Alienware has in store for the m17x due out (hopefully) soon. If you're looking for a 15 inch notebook, that can handle any game that is thrown at it, the m15x is the correct choice.
If you have any questions about anything written here you can e-mail me: Dukefrukem[at]notebookforums.com
People were stunned when the Alienware m15x was first announced at Digital Life back in November of 2007. Since then, Alienware has been swarmed with orders when notebook enthusiasts heard this machine would boast a powerful NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX graphics card in a 15 inch chassis, making it the most powerful 15 inch notebook on the planet. This notebook is targeted towards gamers who do not mind sacrificing 2 inches of screen, but still get all the power and more of the 17 inch Alienware m9750.
Full Specs:
- Display: 15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Blue
- Video/Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX
- Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
- Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
- Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
- Turbo Cache Memory: Intel® Turbo Memory (1GB) – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed Available on Windows Vista Only!
- System Drive: 200GB 7200RPM (16MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
- Smart Bay: 320GB 5400RPM (8MB Cache)
- Smart Bay Optical Drives : 2x Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Burner (BD-R, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
- Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
- Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound Keyboard Options:
- AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design
- Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
- AlienRespawn: AlienRespawn v2.0 Recovery DVD – Windows Vista® Edition
- Power: Additional Battery – 6-cell Smart Bay Battery
- Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
- Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
- Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
- Alienware Extras: Alienware® Personalized Nameplate
- Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
- Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Protective Cloth Sleeve
- Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Keyboard Diagram Overlay
- Alienware Extras: Area-51® m15x Smooth Mylar Touchpad
- Avatar: Alienhead 3D
- Window Style: Default Window Style
- Mouse Pointers: Standard Mouse Pointers
- Power Plan: Standard Power
- Plan Automatic Updates: Automatic Updates On
- Time Zones: (GMT - 5.00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
MSRP: $4,798.00
Starting at: $1,799.00
What’s in the Box:
Like all of their machines, the m15x comes easily and safely packaged in two boxes. Alienware has also started shipping their notebooks in black boxes again. The large box contains the notebook and the accessories box, which contains the Alienware ball cap, power block, and notebook with Alienware driver discs. The second, smaller box contains the Smart Bay accessories.
Design and Build
What can you say about Alienware’s design after the Alienware Area-51 m9750? If the aesthetics of the m9750 scores a 10 out of 10, then what grade is the m15x? A 12? 15? Do we need to recalibrate our scale to accommodate the new eye candy features of this machine? If we did, every other notebook reviewed would be rated an order of magnitude less.
In all seriousness, this is the coolest looking notebook I have ever seen, period. Every surface, corner, edge, LED, texture and color of this notebook will make you smile. Slipping the m15x out of the black protective covering and onto the desk will surely widen your eyes. The glossy silver chassis has a smooth, almost buttery texture that will make you take notice. Users must truly be weary of surrounding rough objects and never put this notebook in a backpack or carrying case without the protective covering it is packaged with. Alienware has broken new ground with this industrial design; the m15x is a complete departure from past models. The m15x truly feels otherworldly.
Every unique aesthetic feature on the m15x has been improved. The power button in the middle of the notebook is a glowing alien head that pulsates while on. The entire notebook is color customizable with the Alienware Command Center and AlienFX. AlienFX allows users to change the LED colors on the notebook. All of these illumination elements; the backlit keyboard, to the LED rim around the edges, to the Alienware head on the lid, can have their color changed. Ordered m15xs are no longer just carbon copied units of different colors. Every machine is unique and unique is beautiful!
AlienFX & AlienFusion
The AlienFX can be found by clicking the icon on the desktop called, Alienware Command Center. Inside you can choose between the AlienFX and AlienFusion. AlienFusion is power-monitoring software where you can create profiles to manage your notebook’s power options. AlienFX can be used to change the color of different zones on the notebook without having to physically replace LEDs. The following areas can be changed.
- Alien Head (on the back of the display)
- Power Button
- Light Pipe (around the edge of the display)
- Alienware Name (below the display)
- Quick Touch Controls
- Touchpad Outline
- Backlit Keyboard
To address the “stress cracks” that have been reported across the Internet, this model does not have any. However, by reading the reports and reviewing this design, I am convinced the “stress cracks” are due to customers not treating the notebook with care. The rim around the keyboard and touch pad is particularly tight, except on the left side where the power connection is located. There is a small gap between the top and bottom chassis connections that with enough force would cause this section to crack. Pounding on the keyboard (maybe out of frustration for getting fragged) will surely cause this to crack. BEWARE!
The elegance and unique chassis design comes at a cost, as the m15x does not have a solid feel to it. It seems that one needs to handle it delicately for fear of damaging it. Carrying it around the house, I went out of my way to hold to the chassis tightly, while being aware of sharp corners and objects. The m9750 left me with the exact opposite feeling as it has a much studier feel to it. The fragility of the m15x is merely a perception; this machine may be tough as nails, and only time and use will tell.
Screen:
One question many people have asked me about this model is the 1920 x 1200 resolution option. Is it worth the extra money? Is the font too small to read on a 15-inch display?
This is a good question, and depending on your use of the m15x, the extra cost may not be worth it. If you are planning to use only an external monitor, one that supports the higher resolution then the answer is “no”. If you are planning to use an external monitor and the m15x LCD, the answer would be “maybe”, and if you are only planning on using the m15x LCD, the answer is also “maybe”.
Using an external monitor is a no-brainer. You want the highest resolution possible to support your high-res monitor and luckily the HDMI port of the m15x will support any resolution the monitor supports. However, you cannot clone your output. But if you are planning to go back and forth between monitors and the m15x, this is where experience will come into play. If you are considering this machine for gaming, and you always want the highest resolution possible for the game to look the best. If you are a gaming fanatic like me, I recommend the highest resolution screen. Playing games and even browsing the Web on 1920 x 1200 is perfectly fine for my young eyes and, you can always revert back to 1440 x 900 if you desire. If you are planning to only use the m15x’s LCD, then I would consider it only if: you are an expert gamer, have strong eye sight, and are willing to spend an additional $300 on the upgrade. If the answer to all three is “no” then I would pass on this upgrade.
There are two other features to consider if you are still on the edge of which screen to get. The standard WXGA+ (1440 x 900 pixels) display is a glossy display, while the upgrade WUXGA (1920x1200 pixels) has a matte finish. Notebook users with glossy displays know that using this it in the daylight can be hard to read the screen because of the glare where as a matte may be a bit easier. In addition, the standard display you are getting has 720p high-definition where the upgrade gives you full 1080p high-definition or 1200p as Alienware calls it. Scroll down to the Blu-Ray Drive section to get a better idea of the differences.
The viewing angle of the m15x is as impressive as the m9750. LCD technology pricing drops almost daily, providing bright clear displays. What customers should worry about most is whether or not the LCD screen will come with any dead pixels. In the seven Alienware notebooks I have used in five years, none of them had a single dead pixel.
Like most Alienware notebooks, there are 8 levels of brightness that can be controlled by holding the FN key and hitting the F4 and F5 keys.
Hibernation Issue:
There have been some reports about (notebooks in general not just Alienware notebooks) notebooks that experience issues when coming out of hibernation in Windows Vista. The m15x does not like to come out of hibernation. Twice I put the m15x into hibernation and left in that state overnight, only to come back the next morning and the notebook would not wake up. It does however, come out of hibernation if you leave it in that state for short periods of time.
Bios Upgrade:
Upgrading the bios is a breeze and the new public bios, which can be found here with instructions, takes seconds to install and fixes the overheating issues that were previously being reported. However, all new m15x notebooks will have the current bios already installed. The upgrade is only intended for people who had their notebooks shipped before March 26, 2008.
Keyboard
“Oh Alienware! How I love thee!” The m15x is the first notebook I have reviewed that has done away with those stupid function icons that are barely intelligible, and replaced them with actual words! For example, you no longer need to know what this icon is when accessing your function keys. Alienware has made is simple by printing the command on the keys. For example, "suspend" is printed on the F1 key so it is obvious that pressing Fn+F1 will Suspend your notebook. In addition, there is also a convenient function key F2, which brings up your battery level in the middle of the screen, F3, which mutes the sound, F4 and F5 which raise and lower the brightness on the LCD respectively, F6 toggles the output on the LCD screen or via the HDMI port, F7 which toggles between the 8800M GTX and Graphics Media Accelerator cards (restart required), F8 which ejects the DVD tray, F9 which loads the Cyberlink YouCam software, F10 brings up Windows Mobility Center (where you can manage your battery life, wifi and other windows components, F11 loads the AlienFX software.
Of course the most impressive feature of the keyboard is the backlit functionality. Using the software AlienFX (discussed above) you can change the color of your keyboard to match anything your little heart desires. As for comfort, on a 15 inch notebook the keyboard feels great and there is no cramped feeling at all.
Touchpad
I normally prefer different texture on the scroll pad with, or at least a raised line or boundary so your finger knows when it is in the touch pad area and when it is in the scroll pad area. The m15x has neither of these. The touch pad is the same texture as the rest of the chassis around the keyboard and there are no markings or raised bar letting the user know there is even a scroll pad available on the m15x. The last thing we want on a great performing notebook is a crappy method of maneuvering your mouse (like the Alienware Sentia had). However, this new touch pad design works and it has the best scroll pad I’ve ever used. You will not find the touch pad difficult to use for it is outlined with a colored box and the acceleration is fairly low, but it can be adjusted depending on a user’s preference.
Features:
Multimedia Keys – The new features when looking at the keyboard are the touch sensitive buttons right above the keyboard. There are four buttons and a touch sensitive volume control, which is a bit difficult to use. Sometimes touching the volume control does not always work and you need to press it a few times for the notebook to respond.
LEDS - Part of the Alienware redesign and exclusiveness comes with some fancy LED icons that indicate what state the notebook is in.
Alien Eye – Like All Alienware notebooks, the picture describes itself.
Wifi – When you combine a great wifi card like the Intel Wireless 4965 and Windows Vista, it takes seconds to connect to your wireless network.
Speakers – The built in speakers are great. There was no crackling or low fidelity when watching "I am Legend" on Blu-ray, or watching Youtube.com or gametrailers.com videos.
Blu-Ray Drive–
Do not think it will be easy to take screenshots of your favorite Blu-Ray movies with the stock PowerDVD Software and Windows Vista. You cannot even disable hardware acceleration to use the Print Screen option. But that does not take away from the clarity and high definition picture of Blu-Ray. In addition to the player, the m15x also has 2x Blu-ray writer. As expected, it writes about half the speed of the x4 Blu-ray Writer that is an option in the Alienware ALX Crossfire.
22.3 GB – 96 minutes @ 2x write speed
21.6 GB – 179 minutes @ 1x write speed
Input and Output Ports
Front: Infrared Sensor
Webcam Pictures
The pictures from the webcam are just as good as the pictures you can take on your cell phone, however the Cyberlink YouCam Software makes taking video a lot more interesting where you can click the YouTube button which will load your videos directly to Youtube.com.
Right Side: (from left to right) 7-in-1 Media card reader (SD/MS/MSPRO/MMC), HDMI, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394B Firewire port, secuity lock
Left Side: (from left to right) Power jack, Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, headphone, microphone, Smart Bay ( Blu-ray/DVD/CD/tray or Smart Bay Hard Drive)
Rear: GPU & CPU exhaust vents
Bottom: Normally there is not anything very interesting on the bottom of notebooks, but the m15x comes with a custom, engraved nameplate making the m15x even more personalized.
(pic coming soon)
Size and Weight
The m15x does an amazing job brining power and high graphic gaming in a relatively small size and weight. Clocking in 6.8 pounds the m15x can be easily transported in bags, backpacks and briefcases without the strain of a 10-13 pound 17 inch notebook.
Rated: 15" WUXGA 14.55" (w) x 10.73" (d) x 1.3" (h) and 7.0 lbs
Actual: Weight: 6.8 lbs
Heat and Noise
Upon first getting the system, I do what I always do when I first get a notebook to test. I logon to Steam, and start downloading the games I am going to test on them. The m15x has a terrific cooling system. Although it does warm, after all it has the most powerful mobile graphics card on the market in it, but all the heat is diverted directly out the back. It gets a bit warm by the Multimedia keys but there is barely any heat coming up from the keyboard where it would be most annoying to users. The fan noise is low compared to other gaming notebooks.
Battery Life
One may expect a short battery life in a machine that sports a power-hungry CPU and Video card. However, the m15x comes with two features that help extend battery life. The m15x comes with two graphic cards. The first is the obvious 8800M GTX and the second is a lower powered Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100. Pressing the Function key and F7 will switch between the two cards.
In addition to the two graphic cards, Alienware also has a feature called “Stealth Mode” Alienware’s exclusive “Stealth Mode” button, which will lower the clock speed of your GPU and CPU to conserve power. There is also a noticeable difference in noise when “Stealth Mode” is activated. You can see below the difference between using the different power saving modes.
Each rating is measured when the 10% battery warning pops up in Windows, on High Performance, with the exception of the Blu-Ray movie where the movie took up the whole screen and the m15x shut down completely.
8/8 – 57 minutes – Watching a Blu-ray movie (GPU/No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 55 minutes – Surfing the internet (GPU / No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 85 minutes – Surfing the internet (Integrated / No Stealth Mode)
8/8 – 90 minutes – Surfing the internet (GPU / Stealth Mode)
1/8 – 136 minutes – Surfing the internet (Integrated / Stealth Mode)
Synthetic/Gaming Benchmarks
Here is a list of tested synthetic and gaming benchmarks. All results are with stock hardware settings.
Synthetic
Benchmarks
Benchmarks
3DMark:
The 3Dmark Benchmarks are the most common benchmarks used to determine if the notebook is configured to play the latest games. More specifically, it is used to determine the direct X performance of the graphics cards. The higher the score, the more suited your notebook is to playing games. The number behind the 3dMark Benchmark (3dmark2001, 3dmark03 etc) is related to the year the test relates to technology, which is why the 2001 scores are always significantly higher than the 06 scores. You can compare the scores of this notebook to other notebooks by going here.
3DMark2001se:
3DMark03:
3DMark05:
3DMark06:
AquaMark3:
Aquamark is an older graphics benchmark that was designed to see how well a graphics card is performing in DirectX 9 environments.
Cinabench:
Cinabench runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances.
wPrime:
wPrime is an "application designed to use a highly multithreaded approach to calculating the square-roots of large amounts of numbers (up to 32 billion at this stage!)".
Windows Experience Index
Quote:
| The Windows Experience Index is a new feature built into Windows Vista that is designed to help you better understand how well Windows Vista and other software will perform on your PC. Your computer, running Windows Vista, is assigned a rating number called a "base score" that is achieved by measuring the capability of your computer's hardware configuration. This base score rating will help you to more confidently buy additional hardware, programs, and software that are matched to your computer's base score. The scale of the Windows Experience Index ranges from 1.0 to 5.9. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks. |
Super Pi
Super Pi, is a synthetic benchmark that calculates Pi to a certain amount of digits you prescribe, and the faster it does it, the better your notebook performs. All of the benchmarks submitted in the NBF database are set to calculating Pi to the 2 million digits of accuracy.
HD Tune:
This next benchmark I ran is called HD Tune which measures raw performance of transfer rates, access times, CPU usage, burst rate and the overall health of your hard drive setup. A couple of obvious notes; the burst rate should always be higher than the maximum transfer rate of your score. In this case it is. The second number to look at is the Access Time. The bigger the number, the better the performance.
The m15x hard drive, which is a 200 GB 7200rpm SATA, did not boast the best read score, but it does perform fairly well versus the competition. The 200 GB drive was able to pull off an average of 48.9 MB a second. Compared to the Sager NP6790 (100 GB) that reads an average of 53.9 MB a second and the Sager NP9260 (240GB) 60.9 MB a second. However, the NP6790 test was done on a considerably smaller hard drive and the NP9260 was in Raid 0 so these scores should not be directly compared, but it is really good to know the difference in read/write times when comparing different configurable options for notebooks. Alienware has greatly improved their performance of hard drive options which date back to the Area-51 m5750 which a 60GB hard drive got an average read time of 26.5 MB a second. Below are the screenshots.
Alienware m15x ------ Sager NP6790 ------ Sager NP9260 ------ Alienware m5750
Gaming Benchmarks
Every benchmark/screenshot in this section is run on the highest settings available, with AA off, unless otherwise noted. Every resolution is run at 1920x1200p (unless noted) on Vista with stock Alienware NVIDIA Graphics Driver 71.51.16755.
A lot of these benchmarks may not seem very impressive, but you must take into consideration that these settings are the highest possible, with AA on the highest setting (when tested), unless noted. All of these games play beautifully on the most recent graphically intensive games.
Unreal Tournament III:
Unreal Tournament plays beautifully on the m15x. No stuttering or choppiness at the settings in the bottom screenshots.
Settings
Screenshots
Call of Duty 4:
Call of Duty 4 puts up no challenge with the m15x. Again, no choppiness, just flawless gaming fun.
Screenshots
World in Conflict:
World in Conflict is actually a bit more graphically challenging to the m15x, but the stress test shows that even during the most active battles, the game still manages great frames on the highest settings.
Settings
With Anti-Aliasing Off
Company of Heroes (steam):
Company of Heroes plays well and performs well during the stress test. The game actually gets higher frames per second during the DirectX10 test than the DirectX9 test. More confidence that using Vista is the correct decision on the m15x.
With Anti-Aliasing Off High Settings in DirectX10
With Anti-Aliasing Off High Settings in DirectX9
Screenshots
Half-Life 2/Counterstrike:Source(steam):
The regular Counterstrike/Half-Life 2 source engine runs very well on the m15x. Anything over 100 frames per second is considered a good score for the stress test and the m15x almost triples it.
With Anti-Aliasing Off Highest Settings
Half-Life 2: Lost Cost (steam):
Between this test and the Counterstrike test, it is very obvious that even with HDR enabled, this system will have no problem supporting it. So if you are a big Counterstrike player, and enjoy using the HDR setting on maps such as de_nuke or de_militia, the Alienware m15x cuts through each map very nicely.
I found it particularly funny how Steam has yet to recognize the latest processors and still thinks a system is not capable of running a game based on clock speed a lone. This is hardly the case.
With Anti-Aliasing Off Highest Settings
Doom 3 (steam):
As you can imagine, the m15x cuts through Doom 3 like butter. No stuttering or any problems whatsoever.
With Anti-Aliasing OFF Ultra Settings at resolution 1024x768
Settings
Software
The m9750 ships with Nero 7 and Power DVD preloaded; both are top-notch programs for burning DVDs/Cds and playing movies respectively. It is very disappointing to know that Vista does not allow the capture of Blu-ray movie screenshots. The m15x also comes preloaded with Cuberlink YouCam, which is a fancy but simple webcame software that allows you to upload video directly to youtube.
Accessories
The m15x ships with a normal sized power block that generates a typical amount of heat. It also ships with a free mouse pad, free hat, Alienware notebook with drivers, and manuals.
Pros:
Aesthetics – Alienware’s coolest looking notebook yet
Screen – Beautiful, 0 dead pixels, reliable
Performance – Out of the box power, the fastest benchmarks without OCing.
Touchpad/Scrollpad – Unusually appealing and unique
Keyboard - Beautiful backlit with multiple color options with AlienFX
Wireless – Easy to use, easy to connect
Battery Life – Having an Intel GMA & the Stealth mode option makes this the longest lasting gaming notebook with over 2.5 hours of battery life.
Free Stuff – Ships with free hat and mousepad
Cons:
Stability – Possibility of chassis cracking if not taken proper precautions
Touch Sensitive Volume Control – Hard to manage and control
Hibernation Issue – Sometimes does not come out of Hibernation properly. (A Vista problem?)
Pre-Conclusion:
I have read a few reviews on this model that complain about the price of the m15x, which is complete hogwash. How can a notebook’s price be of concern when you are buying technology that is only offered by one vendor? It is not just about the looks or name here. You are paying for the technology that simply does not exist in any other 15 inch notebook on this planet, and reviewers want to complain about price? Complaining about the price of the m15x is like complaining about Lebron James’s salary; sometimes the price of performance is well justified.
Conclusion:
I had a blast using the m15x. This notebook is absolutely the best looking and performing notebook ever conceived by man. I had so much fun that I have never tested a notebook as thoroughly as I have the m15x. I kept trying to think of tests to run as an excuse to keep it longer. It makes me giddy thinking about the new features Alienware has in store for the m17x due out (hopefully) soon. If you're looking for a 15 inch notebook, that can handle any game that is thrown at it, the m15x is the correct choice.
If you have any questions about anything written here you can e-mail me: Dukefrukem[at]notebookforums.com
