Alienware M18x R2 AM18XR2-7778BK 18.4-Inch Laptop (Space Black Anodized Aluminum)

I've known about Alienware for years now, but had only ever known one person who owned one. I knew the reputation, I knew the look, I knew the reviews. So I replaced my 17" VAIO with this behemoth. Let's review.

FIRST: Sleek, black, huge, heavy for a laptop. But this is not the kind of laptop to tuck under your arm and lug around the office; you set it down and PLAY. Same goes for the power supply the thing is comically over-sized. I felt like a hobbit holding it! But with a need for 250W, it has to be that way.

SOUND: Without a doubt, the best and richest sound I've ever heard out of a laptop. Bass is strong, the treble powerful. No tinny, cruddy speakers, these.

HEAT: The advantage to all of that aluminum is excellent heat dissipation. Also, there are dual air intakes and dual exhausts in the back, directing the heat away from you. (Too many laptops vent to the side!) Playing Borderlands 2 at max settings, the laptop got slightly warm but nowhere near the point of discomfort. So it may weigh down your lap, but it won't singe your short-n-curlies.

THE ALIEN FACTOR: Sexy light schemes, MASSIVELY configurable touchpad, set of bonus keys for gaming on the left side of the keyboard, tons of peripheral slots. They know their audience.

PERFORMANCE: This is difficult to rate, because nothing I could do was the least bit challenging to the system. "Crysis 3, maximum settings? YAWN. Tell me when you have some DIFFICULT software to run." You are going to have 1-2 years after buying this system of total max-settings freedom. No lag, drag, or latency doing anything.

DOWNSIDE: Hardly any. The worst thing I could find in this laptop was Windows 8.

SUMMARY: Go big or go home. If you don't mind the heaviness of this game-eating monster, there are no downsides, there is no competition, you WILL be assimilated.

I bought a M18x-R2 in October of 2012. I was very impressed with the laptop, It is heavy, but I'm not carrying it on an airplane so I don't care. I use this computer to replace my HP 18in laptop (no longer made) that ran so hot that it would turn off from overheating and almost burn my hand near the exhaust. The Alienware lets out very little heat and makes very little noise. The screen color is brilliant. The one problem that I had, was that when I tapped on the keys, the cursor would jump all over the screen, very frustrating. After talking to support 3 times I finally found out that there was a tap to click option on the touch-pad, once that was turned off the problem disappeared, and the computer has run great ever since. Support did a good job of taking over my computer to fix the problem, all I had to do was watch them make all the changes necessary. The computer needless to say is very fast, and runs my programs well.

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