My Alienware Area-51 m15x review with pictures ;)

You maybe already watched my unboxing video here now this is the review .

Alienware calls it the most powerful 15.4” inch laptop and it is. It's the only 15.4” inch laptop that packs high performance components found only in 17” inch gaming desktop replacements in only a 1.3” inch thick package and that's the main reason why I bought it.

My m15x has the following specifications:

15.4” inch WUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1080p) Alienware calls it (1200p)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800m GTX
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
Intel Turbo Memory
200GB 7200RPM (16MB Cache)
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW
Internal Intel PRO Wireless 4965 b/g/n Mini-Card


Build & Design

There is no notebook out there that looks amazing as the m15x. It is hard to describe in words how cool it is; even pictures aren't good at all to show its beauty. The flashy lights, curved corners, sick lid, stunning paint, and every little texture make the m15x stand out. It's really out of this world. The entire unit shines and reflects because of it's glossy finish. The silver part resists fingerprints pretty well unlike the black part (the boarder of the screen).












The m15x is sturdy but not as expected. It feels solid when put on a desk but when you carry it; it feels heavier than it should. The screen is little wobbly but it's not something to worry about. My previous unit had a small gap above the Ethernet port but it's not there on my replacement unit. Also, opening and closing the lid produced a creaking noise in the beginning, but after usage the sound is gone now.


Screen

The m15x is offered with a glossy WXGA+ and a matte WUXGA. I personally had the chance to try both. The best option depends on what you will be using the notebook for; The glossy WXGA+ screen is little brighter and better when viewing from angles comparing to the WUXGA; However, the WUXGA does not disappoint when it comes to watching movies, photo editing or even gaming. I tried many games at full resolution, and never had to lower game settings nor screen resolution for better performance; text is small but readable; the matte screen is also easier to clean, and unlike the glossy screen has no reflections. I didn't notice any light leakage on both displays.

AlienFX

AlienFX is a different story. To me the lights are the coolest feature in this notebook; it grabs people attention everywhere I go. You can simply change the colors or create a theme by launching the Alienware Command Center software; pick between 12 colors - including black - to customize 6 light zones which are:

- Alien head & power button
- Light pipe
- Alienware name
- Touch controls
- Keyboard
- Touchpad



In advanced themes the Command Center allows you to set visual alerts when having a new e-mail or launching a certain application. It also adds some features like morphing (from a color to another) and pulsing (same color at a certain speed). According to Alienware AlienFX also reacts in certain games.











Speakers

The m15x has 2 speakers. The quality of those speakers is like cell phone quality; they also have no bass, and low volume. The right speaker would squeak at high pitches. It's better to hook up your own stereo system.



Keyboard & Touchpad

Simply the best keyboard I ever used; it feels like the Macbook Pro's keyboard and the best part of it is the lights! It has a rubber feel that makes it feel great and comfortable to type on. Besides, this is the only keyboard that makes use of the function keys, like FN + F3 to mute, FN + F4/F5 will increase/decrease the brightness of the screen, FN + F7 to switch between integrated and dedicated graphic card, FN + F8 to eject the optical drive, FN + F10 to launch Windows Mobility Center, FN + F11 to disable/enable AlienFX and finally FN + F12 to turn on/off touch-pad.



The touchpad is attractive but it's hard to use. It doesn't have its own surface and it has the same texture as the rest of the chassis which makes it slippery. The only thing that separates the touch-pad is the outlined light around it.



Note: holding the left mouse button on the touch-pad will result in launching Windows Media Center, if this bothers you (especially left handed people like me) Alienware will send you a patch to disable it; just let them know about it.

Touch Controls

The touch controls are part of AlienFX. They look really nice but unlike HP Pavilion's they are not very responsive especially the volume slider which gets really annoying.



Benchmarks

Alienware
Doom 3
Doom 3: 132.3 fps
3DMark 2006
Customer Information:
3DMark Score: 10,758.00 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score: 4,821.00
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 4,952.00
CPU Score: 2,566.00
Game Score: 0.00 Points
SM2.0 Graphics Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon: 39.65 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest: 40.70 FPS
CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley: 0.81 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley: 1.30 FPS
HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests
HDR1 - Canyon Flight: 44.53 FPS
HDR2 - Deep Freeze: 54.52 FPS

My Benchmarking

M15x 3DMark06 benchmarking scores and Windows Experience Index




Performance

When it comes to performance the m15x does not disappoint. All games I played were tested on 1920x1200 resolution, all settings set to high, 2x anti-aliasing; it scored 297 fps in Counter Strike Source stress test (fixed in console max_fps 300 to 1000); playing online in a full office server (50 players) got between 93 and 166 fps. In Team Fortress 2 it scored 74 to 137 fps in a 24 player online server. Call of Duty 4 also ran smoothly on native resolution scoring between 65 and 104fps. Overall the gaming performance was nothing short than amazing.


Battery

The m15x is not only loaded with the latest components for amazing performance but it's also able to get decent battery life.

The m15x has 2 graphic cards. First is the power-hungry 8800m GTX and the second is low powered Intel GMA X3100; to switch between the two cards you have to press FN + F7 and restart. The m15x also has a feature called Stealth Mode (can be activated by just holding its touch control button) which will under-clock the CPU and GPU to save more power. After switching to X3100, Stealth Mode on and screen brightness set to half; I got 2 hours and 50 minutes. You can also add a smartbay battery to get extra battery life.

Software

Unlike most computer manufactures that load their machines with tons of trial software; Alienware computers are clean. The m15x came only preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium (you can get it with Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit or Windows XP Professional) and Nero 7 (full version).

Heat & Noise

When you're surfing the web, typing a document or just running normal tasks the m15x is silent. The CPU fan will normally be running at 4100 RPM, while the GPU fan will be at 2500 RPM. The chassis gets little warm; the temperatures of the GPU stays between 60 and 75 degree Celsius depending on room temperature.

In Stealth Mode both CPU and GPU down-clock to save power. The chassis remains cool and the temperature GPU – which is causing most of the heat - decreases quickly. When activating stealth mode you will notice the GPU fan will run faster at around 3200 RPM while the CPU fan stays running at the same speed 4100 RPM; In this condition the notebook is still silent. After the CPU or GPU reaching a certain low temperature it's own fan will stop (0 RPM the notebook is completely silent more like it is not there.) and then run again when the temperature raises.

When gaming the CPU fan will remain running at same speed most of the time but the GPU fan will increase depending on the temperature of the GPU. When the GPU hits the top 80's the fan runs at 5200 RPM; it's audible but not annoying especially that you will be focusing on the game.

Ports



Left Side: (from left to right) Power jack, Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, headphone jack, microphone jack and Smart Bay ( Blu-ray/DVD/CD/tray or Smart Bay hard drive)



Inside Smartbay



Right Side: (from left to right) 7-in-1 Media card reader (SD/MS/MSPRO/MMC), HDMI port, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394B Firewire port, and secuity lock.



GPU & CPU exhaust vents

Summary

I have to say the Alienware Area-51 m15x is from another planet. The design and performance is like nothing else out there; its as powerful as 17-inch gaming notebooks but also able to get 3 hours of battery life like 15-inch notebooks. Simply a perfect package.

Pros
- AlienFX and backlit keyboard
- Attractive design
- Stunning Performance
- Flexibility to add more storage or battery with smartbay technology
- Binary GFX
- Beautiful Display

Cons
- Low speaker volume and quality
- Touch controls are not very responsive
- Slippery touch-pad is hard to use
- Need to be little more studier

AlienFX video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouTxuJMZl_E
Unboxing video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TeTbO1FbIo

Coming soon ----> m17x (when they start shipping )

 

Top notch review there buddy!

Thanks

 

Great review! Thanks alot!

 

Well done... The only thing I want now that I ordered my M15x, is good and positive reviews about it.

 

Very nice review and awesome pictures, I will give you rep+. I just had one question, when you ran the 3dmark06, where you using the free version of 3dmark06? And also what was the resolution that was set ON 3dmark06 when you ran the benchmark test? I know you had your computer at the 1900 resolution but was wondering what the resoltuion was IN 3dmark06. And your results:

3DMark 2006
Customer Information:
3DMark Score: 10,758.00 3DMarks

Is I think the highest benchmark score I have seen so far, the second highest was about 10,500ish.

 

Great detail and positive review!! Hope yours will last forever, and not have problem anymore!!

 

Man this makes me want to buy it more. I've got the get go to buy a new laptop for college but i've been waiting for the new Black Model to come out or for the 17inch to drop in price but man o man the wait is killer.

 

great review and the pictures are so much better than mine. i was wondering if you used the sticker for the touchpad. the sticker makes the touch pad feel so much better. i also think it makes the laptop look cooler since it says alienware in the alienware font on the sticker.

 

Alizeeeeeeee!!! (Hands down most beautiful woman on Earth..atleast she was a few years back)

Anyway, glad to hear you're enjoying your system

 

great review, thanks.
im also wondering about the 3Dmark06 score. would the final score be much difference depending if you used the free version or the full version.
my score on my first day was 9968 and now its a pitiful 3575

 

Great review! you get use to the touchpad. It is a little easier to use the stickers that go on the touchpad but I've already got use to it without it.

 

Great review

+rep

 

Thanks everyone for the great comments.

These scores were done by Alienware, I just copied and pasted the information (it's on the desktop). I am going to download the free version of 3Dmark06 today and I will post my results soon .

I never tried them yet. It is good to see that people are finding the touchpad easier to use. I am going to give it a shot.

 

If you break 9899-10k its a good score. The free trial uses 1280 resolution, I wanted to see what your system will score with your native resolution.

 

Nice review, great pictures!

 

Excellent review, I enjoyed reading it. I find myself in agreement with your consensus that the m15x is from another planet. :yes:

Thanks for taking the time to post as well.

 

nice one man.

 

Nice pictures and excellent write-up

I almost pulled the purchase trigger on the m15x... the only thing that stopped me was the lack of accidental damage extended warranties from AW. However, the m15x is still a great choice.

 

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

 

"
Simply the best keyboard I ever used; it feels like the Macbook Pro's keyboard and the best part of it is the lights! It has a rubber feel that makes it feel great and comfortable to type on. Besides, this is the only keyboard that makes use of the function keys, like FN + F3 to mute, FN + F4/F5 will increase/decrease the brightness of the screen, FN + F7 to switch between integrated and dedicated graphic card, FN + F8 to eject the optical drive, FN + F10 to launch Windows Mobility Center, FN + F11 to disable/enable AlienFX and finally FN + F12 to turn on/off touch-pad."

I wouldn't say that it is the only laptop to do this, as the M9750 and many other laptops do this as well. Also, post your own 3dmark06 score. Alienware actually alters the screen resolution when they test 3dmark06 to get a better score to "wow" you more. I'd suggest using the free version and seeing what you get as that is a better indicator of how your system stacks up with others.

 

Nice Review man! +rep

We need more reviews

 

Thanks for the reply Stone825

Well, what I meant by posting the actions of the function keys is show that you will be using them more often than other notebooks like the m1730 and dv9000t. For example, on the dv9000t the FN + F9, F10, F11 & F12 are already there on the touch controls which are play/pause, stop, back and forward so you can live without their functions; on the m1730 half of the function keys have no functions. On the m15x these keys have more functions that you need to use everyday. Other than adjusting the brightness you need to turn on/off touchpad, open optical drive, switch from dedicated to integrated graphics, or disable/enable AlienFX.

About the 3Dmark score as I said I will be posting my own result soon.

 

Was just wondering iElSayed if you got around in benchmarking your system with 3dmark06. If you haven't, you should too see how your system is performing.

 

they will just be the same as everyone elses.

 

Well for my M1530 with the higher native resolution scored a lot lower than the scores that people got with the 1440 resoution. Was concluded in the post that the the 300ish point different was because of the native resolution on my system, it slowed down the performance. Everyone used the same 3dmark06 free version and the same settings and ran with the same 3dmarl06 resolution which was the 1280 resolution. So yeah the scores wasn't the same. Also Chaz review scored lower than the 1440 resolution scores on the m15x. Just seeing if there is any correlations with the scores and native resolution.

 

not exactly.
my first test using 3Dmark06 was 9698 and now its 3563. my lowest score was 3559
thats one of the reasons its gone back.

 

Well that's more because it's broken MrDJ as opposed to your setup just being weak (which isn't the case)

 

Thank you for the review and your YouTube video of the FX lighting.

 

Are you sure that you were running in High perf mode, and not stealth mode or balanced mode? Those scores are from a GPU is running at half speed.

I've ran 3dmark 3 or 4 times since getting my m15x last week, and the scores stay consistent around the 9700-9730 area.

 

100% sure it was running the 8800 and not the intergrated. power settings were set on high performance and have not been changed at all.
i left the 4 jpg pictures on my desktop for the technician to see.
will just have to wait and see what the report is.

 

Update:

M15x 3DMark06 benchmarking scores and Windows Experience Index



I wounder how it previously got 10k score with Alienware but these are my results .

 

yet another dissapointment on alienwares quality.

 

iElsayed.

Make sure you are not in Stealth mode, and you have selected High Performance mode in your power management settings.
One thing I found was in my Advanced tab under Aliean FX, my GPU was set BALANCED. You can change it to High Performance and retest.

Hope that helps you some.

 

Yes, the default power management setting with Vista is balanced. You have to manually change it to high performance.

 

The integrated scores some 600 3Dmark06 Points, so it was for shure the 8800! (once tested j4f )

Btw 3DMark06 (no matter what version) standard resolution to run its tests is 1280x1024! As one can clearly see, this is not possible on a system with a 1440x900 (or smaller) screen, so 3DMark automaticly switches down to a lower resolution. That way, a m15x with a 1920x screen scores some 9300 points where a similar system with a 1440x will hit just about 10k!

 

yep

I don't see why they don't just run the tests in an 800x600 window or something, thereby including all screens

 

I really didn't understand that Crizzler, could you explain further? I'm new to this and want to make sure I purchase the best config for me. So with a lower native resolution the system will score higher benchmarks because it takes more resources for the system to downsize to a lower resolution? Is that correct?

And what about real time ingame performance? Will having a high 1920 x 1200 resolution affect performance if I'm playing a game, lets say crysis, compared to playing crysis with the lower 1440 x 900 resolution? (playng crysis on a low resolution lets say 1280 x 1024) Or is the difference ONLY affect the 3dmark06 scores?

 

3DMark06 rankings are based off a test resolution of 1280x1024. Since the 1440x900 screens can't accommodate that test resolution, the test ends up running at a lower resolution giving higher results (because that's easier obviously).

When playing general games, if you play at 1920x1200 you will have much lower performance than playing at 1440x900. Now, while you could play a game on a 1920x1200 screen at 1440x900, the quality will be severely reduced as opposed to the 1440x900 screen (so, what I mean is, 1440x900 looks better on the 1440x900 screen than on the 1920x1200 screen)

 

Yo hope GRB cleared it all up, the native resolution of your screen doesn't affect the performance at all, only how it is measured by 3Dmark!

 

crizz your confusing me again...

GRB jsut said it would affect performance because the higher resolution would work the computer harder ebcause it would have to downsize the resoution.

Now from what he said, it seems that the higher resolution will score lower scores and lowers the performance as well as it will look a bit different from a 1920 x 1200 that is downsized to a lower resolution when playing a game.

GRB can u confirm this once in for all, performance and look of the screen because when crizzler posted that reply I am more confused then ever.

Sorry crizz and GRB im a complete noob man sorry please dont flame my ass !

 

basically when you play on a lower resolution than your native resolution, the image will have to stretch to fit the screen. this will just cause a little blurriness with the picture. i think thats how it works.

 

thats not my whole question, how about performance, will having a higher native resolution and playing a game at a lower resolution affect performance? GRB where are you? Need a reply from you cause you answer all the question I write instead of selecting what to answer

 

i have a 1900 by 1200 res. on a dell 15.4 and its has a nvidia quadro go 1400. playing on a lower res other than the native will give you better performance you will just lose the quality of the pic for better performance

example i play battlefield 2 my video card is not good enough to run at native on any setting so i play all on high at 1024 by 768 to get good game play. sure it dosent look crisp like it would on 1900 by 1200 but it plays fine

 

Sorry bout that; the answer is no. Running 1440x900 on a 1440x900 screen will have equal performance to running 1440x900 on a 1920x1200 screen

 

ok GRB so the only difference is the visual quality? And btw if thats the case, can you tell me why benchmark results is very different when they test eprformance with 3dmark06 vs real ingame playing? My nuubnes can't seem to see the reasoning behind this and I know you tried to explain it on the other post you did but can you shine a little more light for me.. for a noob? If game play performance in playing a game is the same why wouldnt a benchmark test be the same?? tyty for your help

 

That's right, 1440x900 will look worse with the 1920 screen than the 1440 screen.

And what the whole 3DMark06 thing is about is that 3DMark06 runs its tests, it runs them at a resolution of 1280x1024. That's the *standardized* resolution as chosen by Futuremark (so all 3DMark results are comparable). However, the 1440x900 cannot accommodate that resolution (it cannot fit heightwise as 900 is less than 1024) so when you run the test on a 1440x900 screen it is forced to run it at a lower resolution. Since it is obviously easier on the graphics card when you run at lower resolutions, the 3DMark result will therefore be skewed (which means, if your m15x gets 10k because it has the 1440x900 screen, it isn't actually as powerful as a desktop's 10k result since the desktop ran the test at 1280x1024 while the m15x ran it at 1440x900 or less).

 

@GRB - What is the resolution that the M15x runs it at then? I know standard is 1280x1024 so I'm assuming the one below is still a 4:3 resolution.

 

Sorry for messing up again, should have chosen other words to make clear what I was trying to say!

I meant, the max resolution of your screen does not change the potential power of your system! But in fact, a lower resolution is easier for the system to calculate thus you will have more frames per second in a game when running it at a lower resolution (just some math to make the difference clear: 1440x900 = 1296000 pixels vs 1920x1200 = 2304000 pixels, as you can see the higher resolution has nearly double the number of pixels to display!)

But I think GRB already mentioned everything else I could say about performance and resolution!

There is no technical problem or performance loss when you have a 1920x screen and run your game @ 1440x comparing to a 1440x display doing the same! But the problem with the bigger screen is, the game "delivers" a frame with 1440x900 pixels but the display has 1920x1200, so it must stretch up the delivered image. And here you loose image quality (again some math: with 1440 pixels horiz. on a 1920, every pixel delivered would allocate 1,33333333 (1440/1920) pixels on the screen. As you can see, this is technically not possible and thus the imaged becomes jagged)



@Stone825
I guess 1024x768 it is?

 

nah crizzler dont need to apologize bro, I'm the noob that don't understand, so it takes a while untill I can comprehend some of the things being written. TY all, grb and criz for the help, after a few pages I now understand hehe

 

Well nuub welcome to the forums. And there is a great bunch of people here, so ask away and I am sure betweeen us all we can educate as best we can.

We all came here as noobs so don't feel embarrased. And just learn to use that handy search function.