Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk
Enthusiast laptop winner
Alienware M15x
Verdict
Fusing extrovert styling with serious gaming power, the Alienware M15x is sure to impress
Review Date: 17 Nov 2009
Price when reviewed: £1237
Overall Rating
Alternative products
Dell Precision M6400 Covet
Beautifully built, incredibly fast and stuffed with features; a real thoroughbred among workstation laptops
advertisement
Comparison
| Product |
Alienware M15x
|
Dell Precision M6400 Covet
|
| Details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Part Code | M15x | Precision M6400 Covet |
| Review Date | 17 Nov 2009 | 3 Aug 2009 |
| Price ex VAT | £1,237 | £4,100 |
| Price inc VAT | £1,423 | £4,715 |
| Overall rating |
|
|
| Features & Design |
|
|
| Value for Money |
|
|
| Performance |
|
|
| Warranty | ||
| Warranty final | 1yr collect and return | 3yr on-site |
| Physical specifications | ||
| Dimensions | 378 x 306 x 63mm (WDH) | 393 x 287 x 42mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 4.250kg | 4.340kg |
| Travelling weight | 5.0kg | 5.4kg |
| Processor and memory | ||
| Processor | Intel Core i7-720QM | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel PM55 | |
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB | 16.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 | 2 |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 | 4 |
| Screen and video | ||
| Screen size | 15.6in | 17.0in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,600 | 1,920 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 900 | 1,200 |
| Resolution | 1600 x 900 | 1920 x 1200 |
| Graphics chipset | Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M | Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M |
| Graphics card RAM | 1.00GB | 1.00GB |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 1 | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 0 | 0 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 1 | 1 |
| Drives | ||
| Capacity | 250GB | 320GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 233GB | 296GB |
| Spindle speed | 7,200RPM | 7,200RPM |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | SATA/300 |
| Hard disk | Seagate ST9250410AS | Western Digital Scorpio Black |
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer | DVD writer |
| Optical drive | HL-DT-ST GA11N | HT-DT-ST GS20N |
| Battery capacity | 7,600mAh | 7,260mAh |
| Replacement battery price ex VAT | £154 | |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 | £177 |
| Networking | ||
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
|
|
| 802.11b support |
|
|
| 802.11g support |
|
|
| 802.11 draft-n support |
|
|
| Integrated 3G adapter |
|
|
| Bluetooth support |
|
|
| Other Features | ||
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
|
|
| Wireless key-combination switch |
|
|
| Modem |
|
|
| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 1 | 1 |
| PC Card slots | 0 | 1 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 3 | 4 |
| FireWire ports | 1 | 1 |
| eSATA ports | 1 | 1 |
| PS/2 mouse port |
|
|
| 9-pin serial ports | 0 | 0 |
| Parallel ports | 0 | 0 |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 1 | 0 |
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | 0 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 3 | 2 |
| SD card reader |
|
|
| Memory Stick reader |
|
|
| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
|
|
| Smart Media reader |
|
|
| Compact Flash reader |
|
|
| xD-card reader |
|
|
| Pointing device type | Touchpad | Touchpad, trackpoint |
| Audio chipset | IDT HD Audio | IDT HD Audio |
| Speaker location | Front | Above keyboard, base |
| Hardware volume control? |
|
|
| Integrated microphone? |
|
|
| Integrated webcam? |
|
|
| Camera megapixel rating | 2.0mp | 2.0mp |
| TPM |
|
|
| Fingerprint reader |
|
|
| Smartcard reader |
|
|
| Carry case |
|
|
| Operating system and software | ||
| OS family | Windows 7 | Windows Vista |
| Recovery method | Recovery disc | |
| Software supplied | none | |
| Battery and performance tests | ||
| Battery life, light use | 2hr 48min | 3hr 15min |
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.51 | 1.64 |
| Office application benchmark score | 1.32 | 1.45 |
| 2D graphics application benchmark score | 1.72 | 1.91 |
| Encoding application benchmark score | 1.38 | 1.33 |
| Multitasking application benchmark score | 1.64 | 1.85 |
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 27fps | N/A |
| 3D performance setting | High | N/A |
