NowBytes

The new M11x Alienware is the latest handheld gaming equipment from Dell, Alienware and it could be the best thing to happen to PC games this year. This amazing little box is the first ultraportable gaming notebook with a 11-inch screen and weighing less than five pounds. If that is

not enough to interest you, you know it costs like $ 799 ... almost the same price as the less powerful 11-inch notebook with Intel's latest processors from low voltage.

The Alienware has landed
I am rarely surprised by the announcement of a new notebook, but the Alienware M11x left me surprised and almost speechless from the first day. Never before have the laptop manufacturer issued an ultraportable laptop that can play modern PC games. We're not talking here Minesweeper or Solitaire, we're talking about innovative games like Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The Alienware M11x lets you enjoy these latest 3D games perfectly playable frame rates ... with a laptop that is small enough to fit in a small airplane tray table and still leave enough room for a drink and a bag of peanuts.

The arrival of the M11x is somewhat similar to the accumulation of a "perfect storm" in the world of laptops. Alienware engineers admit they have secretly been working on developing an affordable ultraportable notebook gaming for over four years, but it takes all the time for technology to reach the imagination of the Alienware computers. Laptop Screens needed to be small enough, but offer high resolution at a low price. Multi-core processors needed to be cheaper, smaller, use less wattage, and be powerful enough to handle most of the games. Discrete graphics cards needed to become small enough to fit into an ultraportable laptop chassis and still provide the performance needed for the creation of modern 3D models playable frame rates while running the battery.

Although I personally Alienware in the past criticized the creation of more money, more than design, too heavy and generally over-the-top gaming notebook, the Alienware team deserves great credit for creating an attractive ultraportable notebook game that no other company was coming. When Dell announced the launch of the new Alienware M11x at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January there was not a competitor he was ready for that announcement.

A starting price of $ 799 may seem expensive compared to a 15-inch laptop that starts at $ 500 or a netbook that sells for under $ 300, but compared to the typical starting price for a gaming notebook ( $ 1,200 or more) the M11x is a negotiation. Add to that all the little personal touches that Alienware adds - like the custom laser engraved name plates here in the U.S. or AlienFX software that lets you change the color of the backlit keypad - and you have " custom luxury item "that costs about the same price as a regular 11-inch ultraportable.