Alienware M11x UltraPortable review - Introduction

Alienware M11x - The fastest and most versatile netbook of them all...

Over the past year or ten we've seen the tech industry change a lot. Especially when you look at graphics card performance, the innovations and performance increases have been nothing short from astonishing. Anno 2010 things started to really change. We've seen a lot of gamers move to the console, then a lot came back as consoles remain somewhat limited.

Another trend we've seen is that stuff literally got smaller, we get to do more with less these days, and as such, a couple of years ago laptops started to get more advanced graphics processors in order to support decent gaming on those laptops.

A few players in the market noticed that trend and as of recently you can purchase what we like to call 'desktop replacements'. If you open up a sack of money then you can play modern games at really lovely resolutions quite adequately. The trend to gaming on your laptop really started though once some ODMs out there started using more powerful GPUs harbored inside those laptops. One of the bigger names in the industry covering that segment is Alienware.

Recently, Alienware released the M11x UltraPortable laptop which you can configure with Core i3/i5/i7 and next to that it received the royal NVIDIA Optimus treatment. Basically you have two graphics processors inside the laptop. One embedded Intel IGP for the regular 2D stuff, and the minute you start up games, an NVIDIA chip will take over and manage your accelerated gaming experience.

Over at the Dell website you can configure these laptops yourself in several flavors, but the one thing you can't change is that lovely Alienware design. As once you open up that box and power on that laptop, you'll get a smile on your face. Lovely design, LED lit keyboard and you just know you have a special product in your hands.

Today as such we'll be reviewing the Alienware M11x UltraPortable, typically dog-slow laptops or better said, 'netbooks', on which typing the word 'GAME' even is considered to be a dirty word. We'll have a look at CPU and memory performance and obviously look at how powerful the graphics chip inside that lovely little unit is in terms of gaming. Have a peek at the coolness that is the Alienware M11x and then head on over to the next page please.