For years now, Apple has had an evangelical following among tech heads. You only have to begin talking about hardware or software and surely as night follows day, a head will pop up and say, “that’s so much better on a Mac.â€
It used to be hard to disagree with them, especially when confronted with the many blue screens of death during the horrific years of Windows Vista. But even running that Microsoft abortion, the PC could always do one thing that Mac owners could only dream of and that’s run videogames.
If you are into gaming, the bleeding edge has always been on a PC. Playstations and Xboxes come along every five years, after which they lose their shine all too quickly. The PC, on the other hand, just keeps evolving and if you can keep up with the evolution, it offers the greatest gaming experience money can buy.
And the best that money can buy will usually be a machine from Alienware. These guys (who are based in Athlone) have been creating rigs and laptops to die for since 1996 and their latest laptop is an absolute monster… introducing the M17x.
The first thing you’ll notice is its size. Yes it’s huge, not only because it has a 17†screen but because it’s also quite chunky, housing the kind of components that usually reside in desktops the size of a small fridge. The rest of the design reflects its purpose with exaggerated sci-fi angles, strip lights and an illuminated keyboard that, while not subtle, leave you in no doubt that this thing means business.
Eye-melting power
Right at the heart of it all is Intel’s new i7 core processor, which in tandem with dual 1GB ATI 4870 graphics chips manages to achieve over one teraflop per second – geek speak for faster than Usain Bolt powered by a crate of Red Bull.
This kind of power would be wasted on lesser machines but Alienware have seen fit to add a 1200P HD LED screen that puts virtually all full size HDTV’s to shame. And for those of you equipped with the right set of speakers, the 5.1 HD audio processor should make them roar.
All the usual extras are present but there are a couple of tasty additions that we would recommend such as a Bluray drive to really make the most of that screen and the 1TB hard drive for all those large game installs. These extras will all push the price north and are not exactly essential but if you are really considering one of these then the price probably won’t be high on your list of concerns.
Speaking of price, the above machine is the near basic model and without the mentioned extras will lighten your bank balance to the tune of €2,590. A fully tricked out build will set you back as much as €5,000.
There is no doubt about it, this beast will silence all but the most relentless Mac obsessive and when Crysis 2 comes out in September, you might just be able to run it. Just don’t look at your credit card bill.
Leo Stiles
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