The Alienware M17x R4 and M18x R2 gaming laptops with the 3rd Generation Intel Core “Ivy Bridge” processors are now listed on the official German Dell website.
The new Alienware notebooks have been already put on sale with the 2nd Gen “Sandy Bridge” options, but now we have a list of the “Ivy” parts which will be used in the 17.3″ M17x R4 and 18.4″ M18x R2. The smaller of the two will come with the Intel Core i7-3610QM, i7-3720QM, or i7-3820QM, while its larger sibling additionally provides the Core i7-3920XM option, which is the fastest 3rd Gen Intel Core mobile processor. Furthermore, the 3920XM will be offered in standard and factory overclocked variants. The overclocked CPU will have a clock speed of up to 4.1GHz in TurboBoost mode, up from 3.8GHz.
Other specs of the notebooks have been already published on Alienware.com. The standard GPU is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M. On the M17x R4, the GTX 675M and AMD Radeon HD 7970M are optional, while on the M18x R2 these are single or dual GTX 675M in SLI and dual Radeon HD 7970M in CrossFireX. However, the AMD GPU options are still missing from the notebooks’ configuration pages. All of the video cards have 2GB of GDDR5 video memory and both laptops sport 1080p display resolution. A 3D screen choice is available on the 17.3-incher. RAM is expandable up to 32GB and it runs at 1,600MHz. In the storage department, the 17x R2 ships with dual hard drives or solid state drives, while the 18x R2 comes with up to two HDDs and maximal three SSDs. Customers can choose RAID 0 configuration for select drive options, as well as DVD or Blu-ray optical drives.
Regarding sound, the Alienware M17x R4 has a 2.0 stereo speaker system, while the larger notebook has a 2.1 speaker setup with built-in subwoofer. Both systems are Klipsch-branded.
Among other features, it’s worth noting that the M18x R2 provides the optional Killer Wi-Fi connection for online gaming without lags. Both laptops have full HD webcams, dual HDMI outputs, USB 3.0, and multi-color keyboard backlight.
The notebooks come in black or red.
In Germany, the “Ivy Bridge”-based M18x starts at 1,680€ ($2,220), while pricing for the M17x with “Ivy” CPUs has not been revealed yet. We haven’t found any info on availability dates. The US customers can purchase the same laptops with “Sandy Bridge” processors for $1,499+ and $1,999+, respectively.
The 14″ M14x R2 will be also available with Intel’s latest CPUs.
Source: Dell Germany