Smart bay? (and other things to know before I buy)

Okay, another feature of the M15X that I can find little information on.

I read that the M15X has a smart bay which you can install a secondary battery, HDD, or optical drive in. I also read that having the secondary battery in there will more or less double your battery life. However, again, I see nothing about a smart bay or secondary battery on AW's website. Is this an old feature that no longer exists on new models? Would appreciate any info; whether it still exists and how it works if it does.

And, while I'm at it, before I decide to buy an M15X, is there anything I should know about, say, any imminent changes to the model or general AW lineup that I will want to wait for? I also read speculation about the M14X and M18X. Definitely not interested in the 18, but maybe the 14 if it still offers 1080p res and a GTX 460m or 260m with internal optical drive. All those don't seem likely, though, so I am still leaning towards getting an M15X now. I would just appreciate any info you guys can share. Thanks for reading.

 

The smart bay was offered on the previous m15x model, the area-51, the new dell alienware m15x model doesn't have a smart bay. In order to extend the battery life you must buy a 9-cell battery or carry and extra one with you, not practical at all. If you want to add an extra HDD or SDD you can remove the optical drive and make a caddy installation.

I've been hearing the rumors about the new models but I'm not sure about them, of what I'm almost sure is that the m15x is likely going to get discontinued, so imo maybe waiting for some solid news would be better.

 

You can also buy one off Dell's outlet store. That's what I did, I picked up the cheapest one and upgraded it. I saved almost 1K in total and I couldn't be happier :-D