14 DAY TRIAL // Alienware is probably the most known laptop maker when it comes to high performance products. So it comes as no surprise the fact that every new product they launch turns into a highly appreciated mobile gaming machine.
This time it's about the m9700 line, the latest product coming from Alienware. Everything you could ever want in a laptop is present, from 2 GeForce Go 7900GS 512MB video cards running in SLI mode to a mobile Turion ML-44 CPU @ 2.4GHz. 2 100GB Seagate Momentus hard drives are presently connected through Raid 0 interface and also 2GBs of Ram come as standard. The m9700 offers a 17" WUXGA LCD with a resolution of 1900x1200 making it 1080i HD compatible. Be careful how you're going to transport it since it weighs about 9.4 lb and that translates into quite an effort when carrying it by hand over long distances.
On the performance side, things are as expected when you have such a product in your hand. Over 10,000 points in 3Dmark 2005 should give you an idea of its capabilities when running the latest games. Ok, maybe the LCD could have been better, but it's more than adequate for your needs.
All that power can only come at a high price, with the m9700 costing as much as $4,200. In case you decide to cut back on the optionals, you could get it significantly cheaper but you will also end up with a slower system. Note the fact that standby time is not among its strong points mainly because the SLI configuration empties the battery (14.8 V, 6450 mAh) pretty quickly.