Alienware reveals M15x laptop with 2GHz Core i7; new desktop designs

Dell on Tuesday announced that its Alienware performance gaming division will offer their 15-inch M15x laptop with a 2GHz Core i7 processor and introduced new designs for its Aurora and Area-51 desktop computers.

First, the laptop: The Alienware M15x gets a 2GHz mobile Intel Core i7 920XM "Clarksfield" processor and a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M GPU. Otherwise, expect the usual from this potent machine: up to 8GB DDR3 1333MHz memory, 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD, slot-loading Blu-ray drive, FireWire, gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA and DisplayPort video output, ExpressCard slot and 8-in-1 card reader.

Prices start at $1,499 for this 1.92-inch thick, 9-lb. "portable" system.

On the desktop side of things, the Aurora, Aurora ALX, Area-51 and Area-51 ALX systems get new case designs. Otherwise, innards are the same.

The microSTX Auroras get Intel Core i7 processors up to an optional Extreme Edition overclocked to 3.6GHz, optional dual 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, up to 24GB DDR3 1333MHz memory (Aurora) or 12GB DDR3 1600MHz memory (Aurora ALX) and up to 2TB of hard drive storage.

Aurora prices start at $1,299.

The Area-51s feature Intel Core i7 processors factory overclocked to 3.86GHz, dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards, up to 12GB DDR3 memory clocked at 1333MHz (Area-51) or 1600MHz (Area-51 ALX) and six hard drive bays that support 7,200RPM and 10,000RPM drives, solid state drives and RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 configurations.

Area-51 prices begin at $1,999.