It looks like the GT 335 M GPU was not bottle-necked by the CULV processor, as the differences between gaming on the old vs. the new version is almost negligible–just one or a few frames per second. Application performance is another matter entirely thanks to the new low-voltage Core i7, but battery life has taken a hit also. On the whole, there seems to be both pros and cons with moving to the new revision of the m11x.

As with all the other 3D laptops so far you need a special pair of polarized glasses to view in 3D, but they are included in the package. In terms of hardware IdeaPad Y560d comes with a range of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors (configurable) and gamers should be interested in the fact that it comes with a dedicated ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics card with 1GB of video memory – a capable upper mid-range GPU that is sufficient for all recent games. The hard drive and RAM options are up to 750GB 8GB, respectively. All in all, this might turn out to be a competitor to the Asus G51J 3D laptop.

Nvidia’s GT 330M is one of the latest 40nm DX10.1 cards with 48 unified shaders. I haven’t found any benchmarks for this one yet, but judging from the specifications it should be more than adequate for all of today’s games. It’s not one of the fastest mobile GPUs on the market but should make it to the upper end of the mainstream segment, which is not bad at all for a 13-inch laptop.

Then there’s the quad SSD, RAID0 solution. I don’t know how they managed this feat, but it will no doubt make it incredibly fast. Of course, with this more-of-everything philosophy there’s another side of the coin, being that the new VAIO Z is exorbitantly expensive. But if you want a massively high-performing laptop in a smallish 13-inch frame it will come with a matching price tag.

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Of course, the main attraction is the Quad-Core, Hyperthreaded Core i7 CPU that offers four physical and eight virtual cores, plus the so-called turbo mode that kicks in and overclocks the processor when you are not running multithreaded applications (including most games).

In conjunction with Windows 7, Lenovo also ships some sort of software solution called “Enhanced Experience” that supposedly boosts boot times with as much as 57%. Makes you wonder why Microsoft never thought of that – they might want to consider hiring some Lenovo programmers who knows how to incorporate magic into the code before the next service pack release…

Of course, the above example is a maxed out configuration that will drain your wallet for at least $5,000 – not a laptop for everyone’s budget. On the lower end of the pricing scale,  you can get an m17x for $1,799, but then you’ll have to settle for a mere GTX 260M GPU (single).

m17x Reviews

All of the reviews so far have more or less confirmed the obvious – that the Alienware m17x would make short work of most of its competition – at least in the dual GPU configuration. And it looks like Alienware has made a conscious choice to ship the most extreme varieties of the m17x to all the high-profile laptop/tech sites.

The coveted glowing alien head

Cnet as well as Notebookreview reviews a unit with the dual GTX 280M plus the Intel Extreme QX9300 (quad core) configuration. Undoubtedly the most interesting benchmark for an all-out gaming laptop is real-world gaming tests, but Cnet only chose to run Unreal Tournament 3, in which the unit pushed out 168 frames per second at 1920×1200 resolution.

As usual, NotebookReview opted for a more extensive range of tests. Running Crysis 1.21 at 1920×1200 and all settings at Very High, the m17x churned out just below 30FPS, Stalker: Clear Skies returned nearly 50FPS at the same high resolution. The less demanding Devil May Cry 4 produced well over 100FPS with all of the settings maxed out. In terms of synthetic gaming benchmarks, the m17x scored 5614 in a PCMark Vantage test. The reviewer also ran all of the tests with the CPU overclocked from 2.53GHz to 2.93GHz, but the improvements were very marginal.

In all its "Alien FX" glory...

In the synthetic PCMark test, the m17x was only beaten by one laptop – the Clevo D900F – but that’s not entirely fair, as the Clevo uses conventional desktop parts (including a desktop Core i7) to boost its scores. Once the m17x is refreshed to include the new mobile Core i7 CPUs, it will almost certainly see another speed bump as well as improved battery life.

It would have been interesting to see how the Alienware would perform in other, slightly less hideously expensive configurations, but it so far I haven’t managed to locate any alternative reviews. Crunchgear, Laptopmag, as well as HotHardware have all reviewed the same unit as the one above.

Bottom Line

On the other hand, if you’re actually considering the Alienware m17x, is doesn’t make a lot of sense to choose anything below than the SLI configuration. If you need less graphics juice, you will get a lot more value out of competing (if less powerful) laptops from Asus for example. However, if you want to outshine all of your geeky friends at your next LAN party, there is no substitute for a genuine, maxed out Alienware laptop with the now-classic alien head logo emblazoned on the lid.