CES 2011

Alienware M17x Hands-on: Stream Games to Your Big Screen in 1080p

January 6th, 2011 by Mark Spoonauer, LAPTOP Editor in Chief  

In a first for notebooks, the Alienware M17x from Dell will let users stream games, movies, and anything else on this gaming rig to a nearby HDTV. Yes, games. That’s because this notebook has a WirelessHD (WiHD) card that offers better performance than Intel’s WiDi 2.0 technology, enabling smooth 1080p streaming with little to no latency. During a quick demo, we saw a video running of a Final Fantasy on the M17x’s screen and a 56-inch Vizio TV (with a WHDI receiver inside) and it was perfectly in sync.

Get more details, video, and photos below.

Those who don’t own a WiHD-enabled TV (read: everyone) will be able to buy a companion set-top box from Dell. The notebook gives shoppers a choice of Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge CPUs, and you can opt for Nvidia’s GTX 460M graphics (ideal for 3D content) and ATI HD6870M graphics for the most performance hungry gamers.

The M17x, which starts at $1,499, comes in two color options: black and red. We say pick the latter, which has a great soft-touch finish. We can’t wait to test the M17x out, which should be happening in the next few weeks.

Correction: In the video we incorrectly described the enabling wireless technology as WHDI. It’s actually WirelessHD (WiHD).

Comments (5 Responses) 

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5 Responses to “Alienware M17x Hands-on: Stream Games to Your Big Screen in 1080p”

  1. Nargg Says:
    January 6th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    Sad to see Alienware to downgrade to 16×9 displays from the proper 16×10 displays. TV does NOT equal computers. When will they listen and learn?

  2. johnW Says:
    February 21st, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    I keep on hearing about the wirelessHD, but I can’t find that on my m17x r3. What component selections are required to have this functionality? I have the Nvidia 460M and the Intel Ultimate N 6300. Thhe processor is the I7 2820QM. Dell can’t seem to give me an answer.

  3. wirefreek Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    I got this laptop and works cool. WirelessHD is built into the laptop. To connect to TV wirelessly, you need an adpater on the TV side which is available in the Dell website.

  4. chuckt Says:
    March 26th, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    wirefreek, would you kindly show your configuration that included the wireless hd? I think there’s still an aweful lot of confusion out there as to which Alienware m17x R3 configurations come out with the card from sibeam and which do not.

  5. Aaron D Says:
    April 29th, 2011 at 7:16 am

    Most powerful laptop in the universe? How about a ThinkPad W520 with a i7-2920XM and 32 GB of Ram??

    Makes this look like a child’s toy… Oh wait, It already does! :)

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