Whenever we get a review sample from Alienware, it is undoubtedly the latest and greatest in terms of processing power and graphical prowess. So it was an interesting affair when we received an inquiry whether we wanted to look at one of the best price to performance products that Alienware was offering. Price to performance has been harked on by component makers such as Intel, AMD and Nvidia but not so much by the PC vendors themselves.

This notebook is capable of display resolutions up to 1920x1200, adeptly exceeding the HD resolutions being touted on the mainstream market today. Text is rendered crisply on the LCD screen with colours able to offer vibrancy and pop. Under direct sunlight, this display is glossy and exhibits the same reflection problems typical of LCD screens. We often saw more of our reflection than what was being displayed. With a 17” screen, 1920x1200 is definitely a usable resolution but those with less than perfect visual acuity will want to ratchet down to 1600x1200 or 1280x720 resolutions when in Windows Vista, with the last setting offering bigger type and the least amount stretching.

Next, we ran the M17 notebook through 3DMark05 and 3DMark Vantage to get a gauge between the newer DX10 benchmark utility and the older pre-DX10 benchmark . In 3DMark Vantage, the total score was P5742 with the CPU score at 4341 and the Graphics score at 6433. 3DMark05, on the other hand, reported a score of 10,873.

In terms of real gameplay, we used the recently released Godfather II on the M17 notebook and were able to play at the highest resolutions without any real issue. Empire: Total War, which is known to be more a resource hog, also worked with most of the details turned on. We anticipate the M17 notebook will be able to handle games released in the next 12 months if we keep the resolution capped at 1600x1200 and an average visual setting. Older titles, such as Call of Duty 4 or BioShock work almost flawless.

Being a performance notebook with a 17” screen, the M17 chassis is spacious and offers plenty of real estate for a full sized keyboard. We laud the fact that many manufacturers, including Alienware, now offer a full sized number pad too. Beforehand, much of the keyboard real estate was left empty but with the number pad, the M17 can effectively serve as a no compromise desktop replacement. We found key size and placement to measure up to this statement. The tactile feedback on the keys, though, is a little soft. It lets you type quietly and discreetly but those wanted more of a click or clack to their keystrokes may find the keyboard a little wanting.

Using Vista’s High Performance power setting, we ran a simple battery test by allowing the M17 notebook to show an HD copy of Body of Lies. We were only able to reach the 1 hour 8 minute mark before the operating system shut the movie down into hibernation. Considering the weight of the notebook is close in the 9lb range, this is a bit of a disappointment but not out of the ordinary for performance notebooks in this category.

Alienware continues to include its AlienRespawn DVD to rebuild machines. Using its built in 2.0MP webcam and software to do face recognition, goes one step further in biometric security than a simple fingerprint reader. In addition to this, the M17 notebook comes with a dizzying array of expansion options: eSATA, HDMI, Coaxial and Optical for audio, Firewire and a built in SD flash reader.

Alienware has come up trumps with this M17 notebook configuration. This model has enough horsepower in here that we did not feel we would have to resort to using a PC for any title coming up on the PC gaming horizon. Some interesting decisions include the use of the Radeon HD 3870 X2 – a dual GPU in one card. Other Alienware machines we’ve looked at come with full SLI or CrossFire implementations. The use of the Radeon X2 component reduces the power footprint and cost. Typically we’d also see a RAID configuration for the hard disk in Alienware notebooks. The M17 configuration we have opted to use for single a 7200RPM hard drive to make up for any performance slack. Most off the shelf notebooks use slower 5400RPM or 4200RPM hard disks. Finally, in the optical disc arena, this notebook came with a regular multi format DVD writer instead of a BD writer. To be honest, we didn’t find ourselves missing it and as NetFlix and Hulu are aptly showing, a lot of HD content is now moving completely digital and online. The extra cost for BD-RE, considering the small install base right now, simply doesn’t seem worth it. While it may not have the wow factor of having the latest bag of tech tricks, the M17 provides great bang for the buck. When you divide the $1,999 MSRP into two years of useful life, it’s really equivalent to running out and grabbing a computer for $1,000 every year. We find it difficult a consumer will be able to find or build comparable with that amount of money.

Rating •••••88%•••••