When my editor asked me if I would be interested in testing and using a laptop from Alienware, I calmly replied, “Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem”. Meanwhile, my inner child started jumping up and down like it was Christmas morning and I just received my first BMX bike with a big red bow on it. You have to understand; I’ve been a gamer pretty much my whole life. It began with Monopoly and Stratego - I was even playing Risk during the first Gulf War when we were waiting for the ground attack, but my true love is video games. It all started back in 1979 at Detroit Metro Airport. There it was, off in the distance, a large beeping flashing standup with the words “Space Invaders” emblazed across the screen, calling my name... Let’s just say I haven’t been the same since.

Much has changed since then, including the ways we play games. Everything from your basic home computer system to dedicated boxes like the Xbox 360 vies for your game-playing dollar. So how does this box from Alienware stack up? Pretty good actually. In fact, I’m hooked. I give this two thumbs up, four stars, and a glowing recommendation for anyone. In fact, it’s versatile enough to be a main computer system. With Windows XP Media Center Edition, you can use this to organize all of your home media as well - music, pictures, even video. I have a friend that’s using a Media Center Edition system to control his whole home theater system. Pretty great.

Let me tell you about the specs on this first dual-graphics 17” laptop (I’ll warn you, this information may look like a foreign language to some, but the true gamers and techies out there will understand): The Aurora M9700 comes with the AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.0GHz 800MHz 1MB L2 Cache. It ships with Windows XP of course and it has a beautiful 17” WideUXGA 1920 * 1200 LCD screen with clear view technology. Inside is just as nice: the motherboard is Alienware NVIDIA Mobile Sli Chipset. The Hard Drive is Extreme performance (RAID 0) - 160GB (80GBx2) Serial ATA 1.5b/s 7200 RPM w/NCQ & 8MB cache. The Optical Drive is an 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software. The Video/Graphics Card is a Dual 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS-Sli Enabled. The Sound Card is High-Definition Audio with surround. It has a Wireless Network Card Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card w/ Airga MIMO tech and integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 modem. The Mouse is a Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse, which is the best out there. The Primary Battery is Alienware m9700 12-cell Lithium-ion Smart Battery Pack. It also ships with some Productivity Software - Microsoft Works 8 Suite (but I gotta tell you… I didn’t really use it for any business productivity while I had it). It also has an Integrated Bluetooth Device and a remote control. This machine comes with a 1 year AlienCare warranty with toll free 24/7 phone support with onsite service. And last but not least ... A free black AlienWare T-shirt.

Now of course, this is the best of the best and if you’re a regular Joe like me you might look for ways to get all the bells and whistles. Your wife, girlfriend, mom, etc. could have different ideas on how one should spend $3300 bucks, though. You COULD shave off some of that sweetness but please, you have to at least keep the graphics, processor, and memory pretty close to what shipped with this version. An if you’re not a regular Joe, and happen to have $3000 burning a hole in your pocket, trust me, it doesn‘t get any better than this.

So, let’s say you’re lucky enough to get your hands on one of these machines. What’s a guy to try for the first game? Half-Life 2 of course. This is a really good base of a game for a tryout, and oh boy does it look awesome on the Aurora. I maxed out all the graphic’s and extras starting at the max resolution 1600x1200 and got 94.49 fps (that’s 94 frames per second!). The game ran so smooth and looked absolutely amazing. Even my wife was impressed with the graphics.

In my mind, the new standard for PC games is called F.E.A.R. I didn’t expect to have the same results but wow, was I impressed. Starting at the max; (now understand the max with F.E.A.R. includes Maximum Effects, such as water resolution, light density and reflection, & Maximum Graphics, such as shadows, texture filtering, and shaders), at 1600x1200 I got avg. 43fps, at 1400x1050 I got avg. 48fps, and at 1250x768 I got avg. 55fps, which are all very playable stats. If you have experienced this blockbuster game, you know the kind of action it has and the Aurora handled the game like cake.

Next I hit the Internet and grabbed some of the latest and greatest demos online. What looked most intriguing was the new game called Crysis. I downloaded the trailer in a few seconds and I kid you not, I saw the most amazing game and graphics of my life. This is where I started to see the true power of this system. Since I was already on-line, I decided to check out one of my personal favorites, Counter Strike. When I viewed my stats, I was playing significantly better than usual. My shots were definitely more precise due to the graphics speed and higher resolution.

Next up, my first love… Lara Croft. I was particularly interested in the latest series of Tomb Raider because it has the newest graphics technology out there. I was not disappointed, Lara never looked better. I went on to check out the new Microsoft Flight Simulator, the new Star Wars Empire at War game, and a few others. There were absolutely no glitches or stalling - just pure, smooth, beautiful gaming.

If you need help convincing the women in your life that this is a worthwhile buy, don’t worry; it’s more than just a gaming machine. With the large hard drive inner mount web cam, blue tooth, and all the multi media you could dream of, you’re well on your way to relationship bliss. The 17” monitor allows you to watch your choice of DVDs so she can watch Dirty Dancing on the laptop while you and your buddies watch the Lions lose on your new High Definition TV. Multimedia jacks are available too. Or let’s say you want to go to grandma’s house and show off your digital pictures or video clips. Easy, just slip in your SD card or use the DVI out jack and let grandma ooh and ahh over the family in Disney World.

After several beautiful nights with the Alienware Aurora M9700, you can imagine my distress when I received the fateful call from the editor telling me he needed the laptop back. “What laptop…oh, THAT laptop“, I replied. Do you think he would notice if I stuck my old Dell in the box instead of the latest greatest, only duel SLI enabled graphics laptop on the market? Well, it’s worth a try. Wish me luck.