Alienware M17

The Alienware M17 may have a demure, matte-black exterior, but it houses the only Core 2 Extreme mobile processor on test this month: the 45nm, 3.06GHz QX9100. This extraordinary chip didn't disappoint in terms of performance, with a 2D benchmark score of 1.59 - the best we've ever seen from a laptop.

It's also no gaming slouch. Boasting a pair of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs in CrossFireX, the M17 ran at a playable 34fps in our medium-quality Crysis benchmark, while a result of 20fps in the high-quality benchmark suggests that modern games won't prove a problem. If gaming is your priority, though, take a look at the Asus before you buy.

Four gigabytes of DDR3 RAM, a pair of 250GB hard disks, draft-n wireless and a TV tuner mean that the rest of the laptop is well-kitted out to say the least. And while the chassis may lack the style of others, quality is top-notch. Both the wristrest and screen feel durable, and the backlit keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and responsive, even if we'd still prefer to use a USB mouse for intense gaming sessions.

The 17in panel has an HD-capable native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 and offers good colour accuracy and sharp, precise detail. However, it looked a little dull next to the RGB LED panels used in the Dell Studio XPS 16 and Sony VAIO VGN-AW21XY/Q laptops.

Unfortunately, the single speaker on the Alienware's underside proved the worst in the Labs by quite a distance. It's easy enough to output to external speakers or headphones, but we were surprised by the lack of quality.

Battery life is another area where, perhaps understandably, the 4.4kg Alienware suffers. The 6,450mAh power pack lasted for just over two hours in our light-use test and around an hour in heavy use - proof that the M17 is best when bound to a desk.

There's a certain appeal to the all-out power of this Alienware machine - after all, it's the fastest laptop ever to run our application-based benchmarks. But its lack of style and the Asus' superiority in games mean it misses out.

Author: Mike Jennings