Hasta La Gadget!

Here it is tinfoil hat gaming enthusiasts, the Alienware M18x laptop. Sure, you’ve been told it existed and even seen some photos of a purported prototype, but a savvy person such as yourself wants to see the proof with his or her own eyes. Now Dell is willing to deliver one of these 16-pound beasts to your doorstep for the starting price of $1,999. Let’s be serious though, you’re not interested in that pedestrian 2GHz Core i7 that ships with the base model. You want the intergalactic speed delivered by that Core i7 Extreme overclocked to 4GHz and dual 2GB Radeon 6970m graphics cards. Top it off with a pair of 256GB SSDs and 32GB of RAM and you’re looking at a $6,000 laptop. Nobody said this thing was gonna be cheap — besides, it’s gonna cost some serious dough to cover up the disappearance of the M15x.

[Thanks, Nicklas]

Update: It looks like you can purchase your Alienware M18x today, but it won’t actually ship until later this month. Put in an order with Dell and the company quotes a preliminary ship day of May 24th. On the plus side — your UPS man will have time to strengthen his core.

Alienware M18x shipping now, hernia threat level set to high for American delivery men originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The worst part about buying a fancy new gaming keyboard? It’s hard to show the thing off if it never leaves your basement apartment. MSI‘s newly announced GX780 notebook combines a colorful backlit 102-key SteelSeries-designed keyboard with the (relative) portability of an 8.6 pound gaming laptop. The keyboard features 1,000 different color combinations, five lighting modes, 10 key simultaneous input, and a layout the company calls “The Golden Triangle” — trademark pending, we’re sure. The 17.3 inch notebook has some solid non-keyboard specs as well, including GeForce GT555M graphics, a second gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an impressive maximum 16GB of DDR3. No word on pricing or availability, but hopefully the MSRP isn’t as colorful as that keyboard. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading MSI gets a SteelSeries keyboard, builds the GX780 gaming notebook around it

MSI gets a SteelSeries keyboard, builds the GX780 gaming notebook around it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that Alienware’s latest gaming notebooks have broken free from their classified captivity, perhaps you’d like to know how their form factors stack up? Well, we just so happen to have gotten our grubby paws on the extraterrestrials, and they’re looking mighty fine. We’ll warn you though, that the chart-topping M18x is a beast in more ways than one — it may not be a literal 600-pound gorilla, but after one heft of its 16-pound frame we started wondering if luggables were back in vogue.

While the M18x’s factory-overclocked 4GHz processor and HDMI-input sorely tempted us, we were rather more taken with the Alienware M14x’s svelte frame, which should prove quite tempting for those who dig its more petite profile. While it doesn’t have the anodized aluminum shell of its big brother the M18x, its red matte plastic exterior has a high-quality feel to it, though we spotted an unsightly seam along the right edge of the prototype unit. It’s also unfortunately got a super-glossy screen, but the Klipsch speakers impressed — much more than a simple gimmick, they’re plenty powerful for a 14-inch notebook and sounded fairly crisp. We briefly played Call of Duty: Black Ops on the M14x, and found the keys to have plenty of travel and provided a satisfying click with each press as we wandered Cuban streets, and the touchpad was quite responsive as well (though we didn’t have a chance to test its multitouch capabilities). It’s heavier than other laptops with similar screen real-estate, but it’s still an totally totable PC — and the heft is a welcome tradeoff in exchange for the added horsepower under the hood as compared to its Jenny Craig competition.

Sean Hollister contributed to this report.

Alienware M18x and M14x first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it looks like those eager to get their hands on Dell’s much-leaked Alienware M14x laptop now finally have at least one option, although it might not be the most convenient one. The gaming laptop has just turned up on Dell Malaysia’s website, where it’s now already available to order starting at RM 4,799, or roughly $1,600. Of course, this is an Alienware laptop, so there’s also quite a few higher-end options available for some extra cash, including up to a Core i7 2820QM processor, 8GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphics with 3GB of DDR3 memory (and Optimus technology), and your choice of either a 1,366 x 768 or 1,600 x 900 resolution on the 14-inch display. As for a broader release, Pocket-lint is reporting that both the M14x and M18x will be officially announced (if not released) on April 19th which, last we checked, is tomorrow.

[Thanks, koinmove]

Update: Looks like the US (or global, perhaps) release for the M14x is indeed on. Or, Alienware’s coincidentally teasing something else entirely at the exact same time. Thanks, Jason.

Update 2: Ah, and now we have the little M11x R3 showing up on Dell’s Australia and New Zealand sites. Thanks everyone.

Update 3: As expected, the UK’s also getting the M14x and the new M11x. Thanks, Thomas.

Alienware M14x laptop now available to order… in Malaysia (update: M11x too) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been hearing rumors of an 18-inch addition to the Alienware line for some time, and now its big-eyed visage is making an appearance — in Canada. The M18x configuration page has gone live on Dell‘s Canadian site, though curiously it’s displaying what looks to be a picture of the M17x. The system starts at just over $2,000 CAD with a 2.8GHz Core i7 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 320GB of storage, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics. But, our more well-heeled neighbors to the north can step up to a 3.4GHz processor, 8GB of memory, 750GB of storage, and dual AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics cards, pushing the price up nearly another $1,000. The 18.4-inch display manages a full 1080p resolution and you can have any operating system you like — so long as its Windows 7 Home Premium. The estimated ship date has this thing leaving the factory in early May, which means it should start hitting the domestic configurator soon enough.

Update: Daniel wrote in to let us know that the M14x is there as well — though it looks to be in the process of being taken down.

[Thanks, Nicklas]

Alienware M18x appears on Dell’s Canadian site, glares at you from afar originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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