Alienware M11X: A netbook built for games

Gaming notebooks are generally bulky and weigh a ton but not so with the Alienware M11X.

ANNOUNCED earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Dell's Alienware M11X netbook is certainly an impressive piece of hardware packed in a small form factor.

Indeed the M11X is a small gaming netbook that packs a powerful punch when it comes down to performance, capable of running modern games while keeping things nice and light for easy transport.

On the outside, the M11X is a stylish netbook that feels very well built. Its compact form factor allows the netbook to easily slip into your travel bag when you need to hit the road.

Though it weighs more than your average netbook, it still feels light enough to be carried around.

It's hard not to notice the M11X's trademark Alienware design - it comes complete with glowing LED lights for the keyboard, alien head logo on the outside and external "vents" on the sides that you can customise to any colour of your choosing.

I have to say the backlit keyboard is a nice touch that comes in useful when typing in the dark; the lights weren't too bright that it draws your attention away from the screen either.

The honeycomb pattern trackpad feels nice to use and provides sufficient coverage to scroll from one screen to another. Disappointingly, the trackpad doesn't feature multi-touch capabilities, which is a severe handicap that makes the netbook less enjoyable to use without a mouse.

COOL: The M11X's keyboard is comfortable to type on and even features backlit keys for easy typing in the dark.

Take a closer look at the M11X and you'll see that it's quite well decked out with three USB ports, multi-card reader and an Ethernet port thrown in for good measure.

If the M11X's 11in screen isn't big enough, you can consider blowing your up your images using the VGA or HDMI-out on to a larger screen or projector.

We hooked the M11X up to a 1080p monitor and the netbook generally proved it could handle the higher resolution both in games and movies.

Considering this is a gaming-centric netbook, the lack of an optical drive serves as a hindrance if you want to install games or software from physical discs. Gamers however can still puchase and download games from online game distribution services like Steam, which comes pre-installed on the M11X.