Alienware m15x - Thoughts and Summary
While we did find plenty to like with the m15x, we did run into a few problems, and there are areas that are likely to cause concern. The good news is that we didn't experience any system locks or crashes. The bad news is that there are some design decisions that were made that we dislike, and we did have to reboot the system a few times in order to regain full functionality.
On the design decision side, when the m15x enters battery mode the processor clock speed is clocked at 1.6 GHz - and it appears the GPU speed is locked at some value as well, although we weren't able to determine what the clock speeds were. This combination resulted in an inability to play back Blu-ray discs while running off the battery, and PowerDVD would stutter and then crash within a minute or two of starting playback. Nothing we tried affected the performance or clock speeds when running on battery, for better or for worse. It's odd that when virtually every Core 2 Duo laptop we have ever used allows the CPU to run at 1.2 GHz as well as higher clock speeds as needed, Alienware felt the need to lock the CPU speed to 1.6 GHz.
Blu-ray playback was an area that gave us additional difficulties even when we weren't running on the battery. The laptop shipped with an OEM version of PowerDVD 7, but it wouldn't playback our test BRD properly (Jumper, encoded at 35 Mbps AVC). We were able to get the disc to play using PowerDVD Ultra 8, after installing the latest compatibility patches, so this appears to be a software issue. Alienware informed us that they would make sure that there were no problems with getting updated media support for customers, which is as it should be.
We also experienced problems when swapping devices in the Smart Bay. Removing or inserting a battery worked without any difficulty, and removing the optical drive also seemed to function properly. Where we encountered difficulties was when we tried to switch between the optical drive and a secondary hard drive. Sometimes everything would work as you would expect; other times Windows Vista wouldn't recognize the hard drive, or it wouldn't recognize that the hard drive was removed. This was even after using Windows' "safely remove hardware" feature to stop the device before removing it.
None of the problems we encountered qualifies as a real showstopper, although they were frustrating at times. The only other complaints we had with the laptop are much more likely to make users want to look elsewhere. First is the price. While it's possible to get the m15x for as little as $1500, that's an extremely stripped-down version of the notebook. You get the slowest processor (T8100), 1 GB (2x512MB) of memory, a 120 GB hard drive, a GeForce 8600M GT, 1440x900 LCD, and a DVDR. That's not a bad notebook, but it certainly wouldn't be adequate for playing most games. More importantly, you could get a similar notebook from some other vendor for around $1000, perhaps less. That means you're paying about $500 for the Alienware brand, the custom case, and the ability to shut off your discrete graphics card. Start upgrading components, however, and you quickly reach a price of over $4000. The laptop we were sent for testing is priced at around $4250. (Ouch!) And that doesn't even include a 3-year warranty. (Double ouch!)
You might still be tempted to get this notebook, if only for the ability to disable the discrete graphics card. We expect to begin seeing other competing notebooks that provide similar functionality without requiring a reboot, however, so really all you're left with is the Alienware brand and case. That brings us to the final problem: the case simply feels cheap. We actually don't have a problem with most of the case, but the top cover (i.e., the hinged cover with the LCD) just doesn't seem to be sturdy at all. Every time you open up the laptop, the top panel makes popping and creaking noises - and in fact, it makes a lot of noise if you even touch it. It also flexes and twists a lot more than we would like. For the price, we would like to see something a little more elegant, like perhaps some sort of brushed aluminum finish, or at the very least a case that doesn't make you feel like it might start to fall apart after a year or so of use.
One final item to mention is that Alienware currently does not support 64-bit operating systems on their notebooks. You could probably install one on yourself, but certain features would likely break (i.e., the AlienFX lighting). Before anyone gets out the tar and feathers, however, we have to say that Vista 64-bit doesn't strike us as being dramatically better than Vista 32-bit, particularly on notebooks. A 32-bit OS with 3 GB of available memory ends up being very similar to a 64-bit OS with 4 GB of memory, since the 64-bit OS requires a bit more memory. Add to that some applications and utilities that still don't work with 64-bit Windows and the lack of 64-bit applications and Alienware can probably get away with shipping 32-bit systems for a bit longer. They did indicate that they are well aware of this concern and that they will have 64-bit laptops available when they feel it makes sense.
We end up with a lot of very favorable impressions about the m15x, particularly in terms of features. If you disable the discrete graphics, plus add in the optional Smart Bay battery, you can reach an impressive 4.5 hours of battery life. Combined with the 8800M GTX you have a laptop that might finally allow you to have your cake and eat it too when it comes to gaming performance and battery life - provided you don't want to have both at the same time. We also really like the fact that you can get all of this in a 15.4" chassis; normally, gaming laptops are comfined almost exclusively to the 17" and larger realm of notebooks. However, despite the smaller size, this is definitely not a lightweight notebook. For the price, you can also pick up larger notebooks with dual graphics cards, so if you're interested in gaming performance first and foremost, it might be better to purchase an SLI notebook.
If you can stomach the price, and perhaps more importantly if you're okay with a somewhat flimsy case cover - not to mention the other minor quibbles we had - the Alienware m15x has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, that's a lot of "ifs" right now, so we're more inclined to recommend waiting for a revised m15x that addresses some of our concerns. It's also likely that we'll see more competition in this sector in the very near future, so as usual if you're not in a rush there are always new products on the horizon.
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Th3G4mbl3r - Saturday, August 30, 2008 - link
can you also laptop from killernotebook.com into the review as well? they are similar to the sager systems in the sense that they are also custom built based on ODM chassis by Mark from killernotebook. I am keen on looking at some head on comparisons for those with the rest of the field.JarredWalton - Sunday, August 31, 2008 - link
It's difficult to properly evaluate service and support, but since all three companies offer the same Clevo D901C notebook seen in this review, consider this configuration:1920x1200
Q9550
2x9800M GT
2x2GB RAM
3x320GB HDD in RAID 5
Blu-ray Recorder
3-year Warranty
Sager NP9262: $4538.00
AVADirect D901C: $4659
Killer Notebooks Odachi: $5174
There's no ability to select a warranty at KillerNotebooks.com (it's 1-year according to the "About Us" page), and the site layout does not instill confidence. The support section doesn't even list 8800M or 9800M drivers for the Odachi (apparently misspelled "Odach" in various locations). I'm definitely not going to recommend spending $500 or $600 more to get the same notebook with a lesser warranty.
SpacePope - Saturday, August 30, 2008 - link
Thanks for the review, this is a good start. I've been researching gaming laptops myself lately because I plan on buying one soon. From what I've seen so far, the Asus G50V-A2 seems to have the most bang for the buck. Can you add this laptop to the review?Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53Ghz
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050)
4GB DDR2
2 x 7200rpm 200GB HD in raid
Blu-ray drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT (512MB VRAM DDR3)
All for only $1899 on newegg (and I'm sure you can find it on sale somewhere).
Personally, I think alienware is VERY over priced and a horrible value. They even use slower 667Mhz ram and last generation video cards. I've never heard anything good about their customer service. You can easily spend $1000 more on the alienware and get a worse laptop than the Asus. The gateway's are a good deal (and tempting) but I want a 15.4" screen, not 17". Finally, I don't know or trust Sager yet.
JarredWalton - Saturday, August 30, 2008 - link
I've requested a couple ASUS laptops, so we'll see. Outside of the 15.4" part, I'd rate the Gateway higher in every area. However, form factor is a pretty major consideration. I expect the 9700M GT will be around 65-75% of the performance of the P-7811, so with a lower maximum resolution it should run pretty well.As for Sager, they have been selling laptops (with a moderate focus on enthusiast models) for over 20 years - since 1985. I would have no problem recommending them as a company. As such, the NP2096 is one option (15.4" 1680x1050, 9600M GT, P9500 CPU, 4GB RAM, and 320GB HDD for ~$1550). For more gaming performance, check out the NP8660. It's more expensive than the ASUS, the the 9800M GT is about twice as fast as the 9700M GT I'd guess. It actually looks quite similar to the m15x in terms of specs, for a lot less money. $2300 for a nearly top-end config. Too bad there's no Smart Bay battery, and I don't know if you can disable the discrete GPU.
Voldenuit - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
" this is the first laptop we've tested that includes the option to shut off the discrete graphics and use integrated graphics."Cough. A bit behind the times on laptops, are we? Several Asus and Sony models have featured this already, going back as far as 2 years ago.
The Montevina refresh to the thinkpad T series (T400, T500) allow you to switch between integrated and discrete (Radeon 36xx) graphics on-the-fly in Vista. Now we're talkin'!
JarredWalton - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
"first laptop we've tested" says it all. I know perfectly well that others have done it, and I mention (repeatedly) that the Centrino 2 offerings are supposed to improve that functionality. Now I just need to get the appropriate companies to send laptops for review, which is always the difficult part. Still, the feature is far more useful IMO when you're using it with high-end GPUs. Switching between 8400M and IGP isn't as critical as switching between 8800M/9800M and IGP.Jumpman23 - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
Another great "budget" gaming laptop would be the Asus G50V. The specs show the price to performance ratio is very good and comes equipped with 9700M GT. I would love to see a review on it.yyrkoon - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
I would like to mention that the Sager seems to use close to what A 'medium power' Desktop would use for power consumption(minus the monitor). That is *if* these figures you're showing are accurate compared to my readings (or vice versa).Let me define a 'medium power' desktop system:
ABIT IP35-E
Intel E6550 @ 2.8Ghz
2x2GB A-DATA 1.8v DDR2-800
eVGA 9600GT 512MB
1x DVD/CD burner(Liteon if applicable)
4x HDDs (all Seagate if applicable)
Antec Earthwatts 500
Again, to be fair, what I measured was just the hardware in the case, so there are no LCD/CRT monitor figures counted in. At idle the above system uses 124-125W. while web surfing and doing other non intensive tasks the system above uses 128W-135W. With a full load on the CPU using orthos for an hour with 2 threads running(100% CPU load), this system uses 171-174W. In World of conflict, using the in game benchmark with everything maxed(no AA or AF) this machine has peaked up to 215W. Running the same benchmark with the game output limited to 30FPS uses only 195W peak, but mostly between 185-190W.
World in conflict I have noticed so far can use by far the most power while gaming. Games such as Hellgate: London, and FEAR use around 180-195W(everything maxed).
As a kind of interesting side comparison I checked the older card I used before the 9600 GT (eVGA 7600 GT KO edition) peak idle was 106w, while peak gaming was 168W. Much lower than I had anticipated. Granted the 9600GT is also lower in power usage than I had originally thought based on reviews, and about twice as fast as the 7600 GT in most games.
Now I am very interested in how much power the new Intel mini ITX board, with x4500HD graphics and a reasonably powered desktop CPU would use. You hearing me Jarred? Derrick ? Anand ?! Would be nice if you guys could find out for all of us ; ) Something tells me that it'll only be marginally lower in power consumption though . . .
yyrkoon - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
Monitor I use is a 19" widescreen LCD. Native resolution of 1440x900, so that is the resolution I tend to play games in. All of my figures are based on a 1440x900 resolution(for what it is worth).JarredWalton - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link
I think Gary will have an X4500 article up next week. Don't quote me on that, as I know Gary and Anand have run into quite a few issues with the G45 testing, but it's not for lack of trying.As for power requirements, I figure the LCD is using between 10W and 20W of power, and while it might be using as much power as your midrange desktop, it also happens to be faster. You'd need 9600 GT SLI at the very least (~equal performance), or 8800 GT SLI (faster performance).
The other item that we don't know is power supply/power brick efficiency. If they're both 80% efficient, that's one thing, but if the laptop is 70% efficient and your desktop is 80% efficient, that could account for another 20W or so. Anyway, since this *is* a desktop replacement, it's not too surprising that the power requirements extend into desktop territory.