With the revamped E3 Expo set to kick off next week, gaming and entertainment companies are looking to get a jump on the buzz with pre-announcements and “accidental” slips that reveal product plans on the cusp of the event. So it is with Alienware’s long-teased “All Powerful” M17x notebook: the details have finally spilled, and we’re suer some gamers are busily sopping up drool.
The M17x is set to be a monster, sporting a 17-inch display with a resolution up to 1,920 by 1,200 pixels driven by (get this) either one or two Nvidia GeForce GTX260M GPUs (for dual graphics fragging power) plus a separate Nvidia 9400M mobile GPU for battery-respecting graphics when surfing the Web, handling email, or otherwise not blowing the daylights out of your competitors. The GPUs will feature HybridPower technology, enabling the 9400M to operate on battery power, then let the bigger GPUs take over when running on AC power.
The rest of the M17x packs the features and options, offering an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU starting at 2.4 GHz and working all the way up to a Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core CPU, support for up to 8 GB of RAM, from 250 to 1 TB of hard drive storage with RAID 1 or 0 support (drives are swappable when users remove the M17x’s battery), or users can opt for SSD storage. Users will be abe to select from a variety of DVD and Blu-ray optical drive options, and, of course, the system will pack gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, an ExpressCard slot, audio output an 8-in-1 media card reader, plus video output: HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA.
And the M17x will be a monster, weighing in at some 11.6 pounds, and measuring almost 16 inches wide by 12.65 inches deep.
No word on when Dell and Alienware plan to offer the M17x for sale, but the base configurations will start at $1,799 and escalate quickly from there as players add options and upgrades.
