Alienware M15x :The Best Gaming Laptop All Time

Grand Theft Auto 4 is coming to the PC, and not only does it kick the Xbox 360 version’s butt in terms of graphical power, it also comes with this really cool in-game video editor. You can switch camera angles, use slow motion, and even dub your voice over it. So not only do you have a replica of New York to use as a personal playground, you have helicopters and sports cars to put to use making your own personal action movies, the kind that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and probably put a few stuntmen in the hospital, if attempted in real life.

The problem is, the computer that this article is being written on sure as heck isn’t going to be able to run that game at anywhere near a suitable speed. Rather than just put that thought out of mind and go back to playing the N64, let’s Google “The Best Gaming Laptop Of All Time” and see what we turn up.

Okay, the first half a dozen results are all from Alienware. No surprise there. Alienware is the one company constantly raising the bar and making laptops specifically for gamers.

In fact, forget Google, let’s not pretend we’re going to get the best gaming laptop of all time from Dell or Apple, let’s just go to Alienware.com and see what’s new.

The Area 51 m15x 15.4. Alienware proudly proclaims right on the website that this is the most powerful notebook ever.

So what makes it so special?

Hm, an Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor. Wow. That means that not only can the m15x run games that haven’t even been announced for release yet, but this machine is as powerful as the super-computers used at a lot of video game design companies. You could edit incredibly hi-def video, and practically make a Pixar movie on this thing, all while running Call of Duty 4.

An NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT graphics card, with 512MB of dedicated graphics memory. That’s half a gig of space just for graphics alone! Or, you could even upgrade to an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M GPU for even more hardcore graphical processing power.

So after listing just two details, this unit already has the very best notebook processor available, and the very best notebooks graphic card in existence.

Okay, we’ve already answered the question in the header: Yes, it’s probably the best gaming laptop of all time. So let’s just list some of the coolest details beyond that…

Facial recognition security features, AlienTouch touchpad controls, Draft-N wireless, a high-def 15.4 inch LCD display, making super HD Blu -Ray possible, and it comes with a free backup battery…

Okay, here’s the kicker: It costs around $1,299, and AlienWare offers a $39 a month payment plan.

For a top class gaming laptop, that’s practically unheard of. So yes, yes, a thousand times yes, this is the laptop of any gamer’s dreams.

Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up. How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible? Here are 15 easy ways to do so.

1. Defrag regularly - The faster your hard drive does its work - less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

2. Dim your screen - Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen. Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.

3. Cut down on programs running in the background. Itunes, Desktop Search, etc. All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

4. Cut down external devices - USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.

5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse. Even having one in the drive can be power consuming. They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used. Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.

7. Keep the battery contacts clean: Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.

8. Take care of your battery - Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)

9. Hibernate not standby - Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does. Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler. Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com.

11. Set up and optimize your power options - Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).

12. Don’t multitask - Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3’s, set your mind to one thing only. If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!

13. Go easy on the PC demands - The more you demand from your PC. Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD. If you’ve got a single battery charge - pick your priorities wisely.

14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop - Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries. Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.

15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ - Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.

Bonus Tip #1: Turn off the autosave function. MS-Word’s and Excel’s autosave functions are great but because they keep saving regular intervals, they work your hard driver harder than it may have to. If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low. While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies.

Bonus Tip #2: Lower the graphics use. You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) use as much or more power today as hard disks - Thanks Andrew

Update 7/7/07: Bonus Tip #1 to give caution about turning off autosave, tip #8 to change information about discharging batteries - thanks to all who pointed it out. Added Bonus tip #2, Tip #1 to add in clause in regards to Mac OSX, Tip #1 about the spinning of hard drives - thanks to all who pointed it out

Five tips to buy a good laptop computer

Here are Five Tips for buying a New Laptop for you, Check this out before you buy a new Laptop Computer :

1. Be aware of the warranty

One of the most overlooked issues when buying a laptop is the warranty. In the excitement of the new toy you don't even care about this. However, when the laptop has a problem this can be a real headache.

Make sure that you get informed if the warranty for your equipment is good enough. Check with friends that had to use the customer services if the company is efficient. Finally, check if you need to buy an additional coverage package.

2. Choose a processor that is adequate but not too expensive

Processors are the engine of your laptop. If you get a fast one, you can run a lot of applications faster. That is why processor is such an important factor in choosing a laptop.

These days, however, speed is not the only indicator of capacity for a processor. Some processors are more efficient, even at lower speeds. Higher speeds also mean higher temperatures, which can be difficult to manage in a small laptop -- they can literally burn under the heat.

Many processor nowadays are dual, which means that they have a copy of itself available for similar work. This is great because different programs can use different processors, and therefore can run faster as a result. Dual cores are the ones with such capability, and quad-cores (with four processors) are coming to the market.

3. Find a laptop with enough room for growth

Laptops are different from desktop computers mainly in that it is difficult to expand its capacity. If your hard disk, for example, gets full after a few months, it is difficult to replace it with a bigger one. Especially if you find out that this is not allowed by the company.

You should always plan to buy a laptop that has features that allow it to grow without major headaches. For example, extra slots for memory extension, several ports for communication with external devices, replaceable drives, etc. This will certainly pay off when you need to improve your laptop in the future.

4. Do not be cheap with memory: you always need more

Memory is like money: you always need more. The general law of programming is that each program is made to use ALL memory available at any given time. And companies spend their time creating software that tries to eat even more memory, such as Windows Vista, Java programs, etc.

The good thing is that memory is cheap these days. So, make a good investment and buy enough memory to satisfy the hunger of your preferred applications.

5. Hark disk is essential

One feature that can make or kill your laptop is the hard disk. It is difficult to replace hard disks, and if your is too small it won't fit all the information you need.

Prefer hard disks with generous sizes, even if you have to pay a little more. It is good investment, because it will save you a lot of trouble when you try to install the new multi-Giga software or when you try to store the record you made of your children.