The Ultimate Portable Gaming Machine?

If the current generation of handheld consoles is feeling a little underpowered, then maybe you should read on. Alienware, retailer/manufacturer of high-end PC systems, has recently unveiled its latest gaming laptop: the Area-51 m17x.

Aimed at the serious PC gamer with an appreciation for portable, high quality gamin experiences (and presumably very deep pockets), the basic m17x boasts impressive specs: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz processor, dual 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8600M GT video card, 17″ WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD display, 1GB RAM and 120GB hard drive. This machine will cost you $2,199 (about £1100).

However, the excellent Alienware website allows you to customise the machine to your requirements. You can change the specs of almost every component in the system, changing it from a formidable beast to an unstoppable behemoth. If you upgrade every component to the best available, the cost of the laptop jumps to $6,949 (or about £3,500), but look at what you get:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
Video Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8800M GTX – SLI Enabled
Display: 17″ WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology
Keyboard: AlienFX Illuminated Keyboard
Software: Windows Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1 & Alienware Command Centre
Storage: 128GB (64GB x 2) Solid State Drive & 500GB 5,400RPM (8MB Cache) Smart Bay
Optical Drive: 2x Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Burner (BD-R, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Audio: External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card

If this isn’t enough then an extra $250 (£125) you can add Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements 4.

2 things worry me about this spec. Firstly, how heavy will a system this souped up be, and secondly, how long will the battery last? Surely these two factors are what make a system portable - taken them away and you just have a desktop machine in a different case.

Visit www.alienware.com for more information.

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