Alienware M17x gaming laptop gets "special edition" Nebula Red color option

Not satisfied with a gaming laptop that can be maxed out with a top-end Core 2 Extreme Quad processor and dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M graphics? Then how about a red gaming laptop that can be maxed out with a top-end Core 2 Extreme Quad processor and dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M graphics? That, as you might have deduced, is the latest option available on the "all powerful" Alienware M17x laptop, which takes the red accents already found on the laptop and runs with 'em (check the gallery below for a closer look). Of course, "special editions" rarely come free, and this new Nebula Red color option is no exception, with it setting you back an extra $99 on top of the laptop's $1,799 base price.

Gallery: Alienware M17x gaming laptop gets "special edition" Nebula Red color option

• 
• 
• 

[windblownmonkey @ Jul 16th 2009 7:55PM]

Alienware lost all its cred when Dell bought them out.

These things look like a preteen designed them. What gives?

[windblownmonkey @ Jul 16th 2009 7:55PM]

Oh, and first I guess. And second maybe.

[austin @ Jul 16th 2009 7:57PM]

and what did they look like before...?

[Ayle @ Jul 16th 2009 8:04PM]

They looked like something out of a toddler nightmares... So if you consider their current iterations preteen design you could said that there was a least an evolution...

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jul 16th 2009 8:07PM]

Well, they were ugly before, too.. I mean, a desktop processor in a laptop is never gonna result in a particularly pretty enclosure.

They did have "street cred", for what that's worth. I had a buddy drop about $3k on an Alienware laptop in '04 but it never worked quite right. All kinds of hardware problems (particularly with the sound card). Not sure if this was a common occurrence or just a lemon.

[JohnTitor @ Jul 16th 2009 8:08PM]

before Dell bought them they did some paint jobs and stuck an alien head in the back of the Clevo laptop and charged twice the price, so I don't know what kind of cred that got them

while I agree this model was a stupid idea, if you look at their M15x for example, you can see that Dell has them working in house designs and making prices more reasonable

[Christian Martin @ Jul 16th 2009 8:21PM]

Somewhere, there's an amusing article comparing a front shot of this model to the front end of a Dodge Charger.

[Ypoknons @ Jul 16th 2009 8:28PM]

According to notebookcheck, build quality has actually gone up on the Alienwares and now match the Latitude/Precision series. Now Dell went through their own quality revival 2-3 years ago, with the old 600ms being very plasticy and nasty and the new Latitudes being metal / decent plastic.

[Wolfticket @ Jul 16th 2009 9:02PM]

windblownmonkey lost all his cred when he added "first" to his comment.

Now it just looks like a preteen wrote it.

(see what I did there)

[Surfaced @ Jul 16th 2009 9:10PM]

Maybe I'm just a preteen at heart but I honestly don't see what looks so bad about Alienware's new M17x. I've hated just about everything else they've done in the past, so I rolled with the crowd there, but it seems to me like they put some real effort in here. The case is anodized aluminum and the weird alien grooves on the back of the screen are gone. The design is nicely streamlined considering how it's not a minimalist MacBook. 17 inches is too much for me, but I'd gleefully take a 15-inch version of this notebook in matte black. At this point, aside from maybe the logo and perhaps the lights if you aren't into that sort of thing, I don't see how the M17x looks so bad.

[mojohat @ Jul 16th 2009 9:15PM]

Man your an idiot. You do realize that Alienware didn't change a damn thing when they were acquired by Dell. Dell is just reaping the sales and profits that Alienware makes. Smart move on Dell. Alienware is still its own entity but now under the umbrella of Dell and its amazing vendor supply chain (Dell does have the largest btw).

If you want to make that comment "Alienware lost all its cred when Dell bought them out". then you have to say the same towards HP when they acquired Voodoo.

[Yan @ Jul 16th 2009 8:01PM]

Ouch. $100 for a different color? That's quite the rip off. I've seen it before but I'm shocked that people will still pay for this sort of thing.

[nvidiagtx @ Jul 16th 2009 8:11PM]

99$ there's a difference..

[Yan @ Jul 16th 2009 8:15PM]

Ah. Forgive my ignorance. That price is certainly justified.

[thorn2200 @ Jul 16th 2009 11:50PM]

Hey, why not just buy a $7 can of spray paint?

[lawyer bird @ Jul 17th 2009 12:29AM]

or 7 bucks on a couple 40s and turn it yellow..or just temporarily forget how much you paid for it

[Ali Sayed-Ahmad @ Jul 16th 2009 8:09PM]

Alienware, before it was owned by dell, was a premier gaming computer manufacturer. These new "laptops" are extremely bulky and are an eyesore, they look like the walmart version of the old Alienware laptops.

[Christian Martin @ Jul 16th 2009 8:15PM]

Sigh. All anyone who knows nothing about Alienware does is scream about them being owned by Dell.

Alienware is a wholly owned subsidiary who operate just as they did before Dell bought them.

[Ypoknons @ Jul 16th 2009 8:34PM]

Yes, they are a subsidiary, but a horizontal acquisition like this should create synergies - the merged company should be better than two companies separate. As such, Alienware should be BETTER off than before the acquisition. It's happening rather slowly. The M17x seems to have the build quality of business Dells, which is better than before. However, I'm still disappointed the more compelling options on other Dells - RGB LED screens, cheap SSDs - are still not available on the Alienwares.

That said, the real action will come when they come out with a new M15X to compete with Asus (G51, G60) and all the Sager derivatives, while keeping it from cannibalizing Studio and XPS sales. One part of it will be limiting the Studio XPS 1640 to mid-range graphics (and the thermal design probably can't take anymore anyways), but it'll be interesting to see what else they do. And they need to hurry up.

[Massmass @ Jul 16th 2009 10:45PM]

Another idiot...

You try stuffing everything in this laptop into a smaller form factor. It isn't going to happen, tard.

It's still on the ugly side, but calling it TOO bullky is blatant stupidity. Choose a different line if you want more portability.

[thedankone @ Jul 16th 2009 11:37PM]

@Christian Martin not true...they are much more one dimensional. Build quality and price are still there, but less customization and design.

[DudeManDude @ Jul 16th 2009 8:30PM]

I have the Dell XPS m1730 and it's definitely not "sexy" as far as looks go, but this thing does not fail to produce. I have yet to play a game with any hiccups and haven't had any problems so far. I bought it in April, so it's still newish, but so far so good.

In my opinion this Alienware looks like they were going for a stealth fighter/bomber look. It's a toss up between which is uglier I spose. But if the Alienware performs as well as my Dell it's probably worth the money for the thing. $99 for the color is pretty cheesy but when you're spending over $3000 an extra $100 is probably not first and foremost on everyone's mind.

[pikamookie @ Jul 16th 2009 8:44PM]

I love red.

[mcatrage @ Jul 16th 2009 8:49PM]

Everyone knows the color red makes everything faster.

[EB @ Jul 16th 2009 9:02PM]

Just like those Type-R stickers on the USDM Honda Civics

[ishism @ Jul 16th 2009 8:58PM]

I'd take this over any Macbook.

[PuBeLeSs @ Jul 16th 2009 9:01PM]

sorry but thats a joke, if your looking at this then you wouldnt by looking at a macbook. who buys brand new vipers when they can afford a lambo?

[ishism @ Jul 16th 2009 9:35PM]

Power > looks, buddy. Hate to shatter your reality.

[PuBeLeSs @ Jul 16th 2009 10:15PM]

i can tell by your avatar

[I hate mingers @ Jul 16th 2009 9:15PM]

^ill tell you who, the person who buys a Bugatti Veyron

[henry @ Jul 16th 2009 9:23PM]

I have been looking at buying a gaming laptop recently and been trying to research these new cards and how well they work and the combinations I see you can build...like 27 the 512mb 280M or I have seen IGIG used with some other model...what are the benefits and how concrete are they to go with the 2 512mb setup versus the 1gig card..........

[Ypoknons @ Jul 16th 2009 11:54PM]

Memory size only matters to where it's a bottleneck (which is true for everything). If the game has very large textures, it might be an issue. I can't comment specifically, however. However, two cards with a 512MB would likely be faster than one card with 1GB since there are two cores doing work.

[Erik @ Jul 20th 2009 11:24AM]

I think 2x 512MB cards would be better in games but they would be limited to 512MB (if you run them in SLI) so you might have to choose lower settings on things like textures. The dual cards would probably do better in terms of overall performance though.

[BarryL @ Jul 16th 2009 10:17PM]

Let the haters begin. Just plain old wealth envy, if you can't afford it then just bash it. Much like iPhone haters. People that buy these want to stand out of the crowd. Given their overpriced but it's just like anything else. Get what you pay for...personally I would love to have one if these laptops but not this red one. I certainly would be the envy of everyone I know mostly because not everyone has 2 to 5 grand to lay on a top of the line lappy. Would if I could. Stay ahead of the jones' I say.

[JrA 2I9 pSu @ Jul 16th 2009 10:51PM]

and hey, its still a giant rip off. imagine that...

[Andrew @ Jul 17th 2009 12:20AM]

I was just looking at this about five minutes ago. I feel special now...

[Aftab Bana @ Jul 17th 2009 6:24PM]

went through 3 alienware laptops after purchasing 1, i.e. the other two were replacements for the first one...

never again.

[iknowaeiou @ Jul 17th 2009 3:49AM]

I am seriously beginning to suspect that Alienware took their cues from Total Recall.

[kissarmy @ Jul 17th 2009 5:04AM]

I bought the black version, the build quality is stunning, its let down by light bleed on the display and awful touchpad buttons. In the UK there is no difference between the black/silver price and the red price, but thats probably because they rip us off so much already. A spec that costs $3000 in US costs $5000 in the UK

[10minutehobo @ Jul 17th 2009 7:02AM]

$99 to make it uglier?

[Rob @ Jul 18th 2009 3:51AM]

Three times as fast for $99 more? Count me in.

[Stefos @ Jul 19th 2009 5:51PM]

Well, the only think what about Alienware SUCKZ is that the price in Germany starts at 1999€!!! It's about $2820 !!!! I've sent 3 weeks ago an email on Alienware ( [e-mail] ), why is the same product more than $1000 expencivier in Germany, and guess.. YES! I'm still waiting for an answer! Ok, this pice may be a little bulky, and design is always a point of view, but I think the point where to be concertrated is the immense price differnce!!!

Think about it! $1000 !!!

[strangletmuh @ Sep 24th 2009 6:59PM]

alienware is becoming like mac... all looks lol i'm really sorry for dell bought them :( they were just insane now they are starting to be just one mpre kid in the block.

anyway... i guess alienware end up with my mouse pad and my black mug :| sorry. i keep building my own system like all real enthusiast should do