Like a Michael Bay movie, it's getting harder and harder for Alienware to top itself. But somehow, it keeps doing it. Case in point: the M18x. Featuring an 18-inch full HD screen, an overclocked Core i7 processor running at 4 GHz, two of Nvidia's most powerful GPUs, and WirelessHD streaming, this gaming rig is hyperbole personified. As you might expect, this gaming monster doesn't come cheap. Our configuration costs a whopping $5,552. So do the special effects justify the cost of admission?
Design
Everything about the M18x is huge. The notebook has a similar design to the M17x; it's just bigger. The aluminum lid (ours came in Nebula Red; black is also available) is adorned with a chrome Alienware logo in the center and a rubber panel at the bottom. A black soft-touch finish on the deck resists fingerprints. The front retains the distinctive backlit grilles on either end, which are all the more intimidating on this system. The red extends around the sides of the notebook, and massive vents run along the entire back of the machine, not unlike those on the ASUS G74SX-A2.
Where the M17x was a relatively trim 16 x 11.9 x 1.8 inches and 9.6 pounds, the M18x weighs a whopping 13 pounds and measures 17.2 x 12.7 x 2.1 inches. Other 18-inch notebooks don't even come close: The Acer Aspire 8951G weighs 8.8 pounds. The G74SX, a 17-inch system, checks in at 10.6 pounds. Heck, the M18x's power brick alone weighs 4 pounds.
As with all Alienware notebooks of the past two years, one of the coolest things on this laptop is the backlighting. You can change the keyboard, the logos, the front grille--even the ring around the touchpad--to a number of different colors, depending on your mood or what you're doing. It's just awesome. The AlienFX utility to change the controls is fun to use; you can easily spend a lot of time tinkering with the color schemes.
Heat
Overclocking a CPU will definitely cause things to heat up, which is the case with the M18x. After we streamed a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad was a cool 78 degrees and the space between the G and H keys was 86, but the underside near the rear was a hot 99 degrees Fahrenheit. Expect the chassis to heat up more after an hour or two of gaming.
Keyboard and Touch-pad
The keyboard on the M18x not only has a full number pad on the right, but also a set of five macro keys running down the left. A button at the top of the column lets you switch between three modes, so you can have up to 15 macros per game.
While the keys are quite large, we think they could be beveled less to give more space on top to rest your fingers. Also, we noticed a bit of flex to the layout, especially on the left side near the ASDW keys. While you're not likely to notice it while typing, there shouldn't be any flex at all on a notebook that costs this much.
At 3.9 x 2.2 inches, the M18x's touchpad is the same size as that on the M17x; something slightly larger would be appreciated, even if gamers are more likely to use an external mouse. Powered by Synaptics, the touchpad is also capable of multitouch gestures, though Alienware turns them off by default. This may be for the best, as gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and rotate didn't always work.
Display and Audio
The massive 18.4-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel WLED display on the M18x is a sight to behold. The glossy panel has edge-to-edge glass. Movies and games simply popped off the display, and it was so large that it enveloped us in the action. When we watched a Blu-ray of Iron Man, the red and gold of Tony Stark's suit sparkled, and explosions were wonderfully fiery. The same goes for games; every little detail--from a disintegrating hay stack to blowing snowflakes--was rendered well.
