Dell this week has announced two new Alienware gaming laptops, the M14x and M18x. With looks straight out of a Geiger inspired movie and extreme hardware these are not corporate laptops for tinkering in spreadsheets. The M18x especially is an exercise in the Extreme. Like a geek game of one up man-ship Dell has taken a turn at seeing who can shoe-horn the most extreme parts into the smallest space. While the M14x is already available the M18x will be released within the next month.

Alienware is Dells top end gaming brand with the machines being the complete opposite of a netbook. They are marketed directly at gamers with the ability to run the latest games at extreme frame rates, they have the muscle to back up the marketing spiel. With that much power on tap and a high end LCD panel the Alienware laptops also appeals to the home profession / graphic artist, anyone that needs a lot of power to achieve their goals will love these laptops. Alienware excel at power applications such as video editing, programming, 3D modelling and rendering, video conversion, photo editing.

The specifications for the M14x are designed to be a balance between power and portability, having said that it is still a potent gaming machine. With your choice of Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GT555M graphics chip and a 14.1 inch (1600×900) display. At a tad under 3kg this is a solid laptop with balanced performance.

The M18x is designed from the ground up to be an Extreme performance laptop. The Intel CPU is of the Extreme variety and over-clockable to 4Ghz, up to 32GB of Ram can be loaded into the system. If having one top end AMD or Nvidia graphics chips isn’t extreme enough for you this bad boy comes with two graphics chips and 4GB of video memory. The 18.4 inch screen is full 1920 x 1080 Hi-Def, and while a HDMI port is fairly common now, HDMI in is Extreme. So plug any device with HDMI into this laptop to see it come to life on the hi-def screen, think PS3 or Xbox.

The Alienware AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard have always been a highlight of the series, this tradition is continued with the two new models. The M18x has a full size keyboard with full-sized keys that includes the excellent AlienFX back lighting making them useable in even the darkest room. The M14x is a standard mid-sized keyboard that’s been giving the Alienware lighting treatment.

With a starting price of $2,199 AUD and weighing just 2.9kg the M14x wont hurt your wallet or back too much. While no official numbers are available for the M18x expect $3,500 AUD and 4.5kg.

So as technology keeps rolling on, what is Extreme today is the average of tomorrow. The new Alienware laptops continue this tradition with the exception being the M18x. It is Extreme enough to hold the title for a while. Laptops like this are like Formula 1 cars, at no point do they ever look slow, even years later they are still fast, maybe not as competitive as they once were but always fast.

For more information Dell Alienware Gaming