News - Alienware's "all powerful" notebook revealed

[HEXUS]

M17x to feature an Intel Extreme processor, and a pair of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 280M GPUs. And yes, it's a notebook.

Read more.

[kalniel]

The red lighting you see isn't caused by LEDs, it's the heat given off by those components

[0iD]

What is the point? You can get a desktop for less with a similar spec, more storage, for less. I mean, this thing isn't exactly going to be that portable now is it? So why not just get a desktop for less money.

[MadduckUK]

What is the point? You can get a desktop for less with a similar spec, more storage, for less. I mean, this thing isn't exactly going to be that portable now is it? So why not just get a desktop for less money.

that has always, always, always been the way with laptops and desktops. that will slip onto a bag where a desktop, even a shuttle with a smallish monitor wont

[0iD]

You're going to need a chuffing big bag to cart thqat beast about. I'm all for portability, but that thing's stretching the envelope somewhat.

[MadduckUK]

its only 17", its practically minuscule in comparison to a 19 or a 20"

and its all in one, with transportation in mind rather than a sff pc with a monitor you have to take the stand off and protect the screen some how - and a either a boxy base unit like a shuttle or something flat relying on integrated graphics.

its the 10 second LAN setup comp

[mediaboy]

Are we supposd to have enuogh money to buy this or is Alienware aiming to sell these things to MPs on their expenses?

[kopite]

I was drooling over them on the Alienware page.

5.3 KG isnt bad for that spec

[aidanjt]

The other thing about grossly overpowered/rated laptops is, they generally sound like an industrial vacuum cleaner, from the 1980's. And when you're playing fps games, you don't really want your fingers to be melting to, or otherwise slipping around the keyboard from the palm sweat. So a separate keyboard, mouse, giant power brick which is something akin to a nuclear reactor, and a cooling pad so it doesn't explode, generally deducts from the 'portability' pov.

You already have so much junk lugged with you, that you'd be as well off strapping a monitor to the seatbelt of your car. And then pay off your years insurance, road tax, servicing and petrol costs from the money you've saved by not buying such an expensive, underwhelming machine.

[Funkstar]

You're going to need a chuffing big bag to cart thqat beast about. I'm all for portability, but that thing's stretching the envelope somewhat.

It's not a day to day laptop. But an occational portable PC, with a built in UPS (battery).

Uses:
Student living away from home most of the year, but comes home for holidays.
As Madduck said, 10 second LAN rig.
Ideal system for those with kids but limited space. So you can pack it away when not needed to prevent those ever sticky finger prints.

Desktop replacements have been around for ages now, and they obviously sell, otherwise they would have been a flash in the pan, this is just an extension to that.

[Ultramag]

A good mate of mine spent a fair bit of dough getting an M17 and constantly complained of heating problems, now he says his case has cracks in it.

[Meaker]

GTX 280M? Why not the HD 4870?

RV770 core with 800 shaders at 550/888 (256 bit GDDR 5)

vs

8800 at 585/1463/950 (256bit GDDR 3)

The first is going to perform like an HD 4850 with lots more bandwidth, the second like a mildly oced 8800GTX.

[TooNice]

Going by this review of another monstrous laptop http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3569&p=1 the 8800M SLI trade blows with the 4870 Mobility Crossfire (and tend to do better in gaming benchmark). Assuming the 280M is even faster, it might not be a bad choice.