Seagate Technology today announced that its Momentus 7200.3 hard drive, the industry's first 2.5-inch 7200-rpm, 320GB HDD, now powers Dell XPS laptop PCs and will be available soon in select Alienware laptops - making the leading computer manufacturers first to market with systems featuring high-performance 320GB hard drives. Perfect for performance laptops, workstations and small form factor desktop PCs, the Momentus 7200.3 Serial ATA 3.0 HDD features doubled 16MB cache and a free-fall sensor technology, to help prevent drive damage and data loss upon impact if a laptop PC is dropped. The hard drive is also lean on power consumption, allowing notebook users to work longer between battery charges, and are virtually inaudible thanks to Seagate's innovative SoftSonic fluid-dynamic bearing motors and QuietStep ramp load technology. Both Dell and Alienware will update their websites soon to include the new storage option on selected XPS and Alienware notebooks.

After officially rejecting all reports calling for the end of Dell's XPS lineup, the company is now taking a step further to promote Alienware gaming machines on its site. Dell has added the Area-51 m9750 to its gaming laptop web site alongside with XPS M1730, it was reported by Direct2Dell.

Now, the Alien invasion has continued, with the addition of the Area-51 m9750 to the Dell gaming laptop web site lineup.

Looking at the Dell Gaming Laptop page, you can see both of these beautiful machines [Alienware Area-51 m15x and Area-51 m9750] ride alongside of the XPS m1730 highlighting the way two great brands can team up to deliver the best gaming experience in the business.

An Area-51 m9750 machine can be configured with a 17-inch widescreen, an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz processor, up to 4GB Dual Channel DDR2, dual NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT 512MB GDDR3 cards in SLI, and up to 1TB of HDD space. The basic configuration price for the Area-51 m9750 starts at $1399.

In a statement issued on late Tuesday, Dell denied yesterday's report from the Wall Street Journal, that claimed the company was dropping its XPS gaming systems in flavour of Alienware. "Dell XPS and Alienware are both great brands...and both will live on," Dell's spokeswoman Anne Camden said in a blog. "But we are going to expand our focus on Alienware. We are going to invest like crazy in product development, design, and engineering to propel Alienware as the premier gaming brand in the future."
"XPS gaming systems will remain an important part of our gaming product portfolio. We don't plan an early phase-out of these systems, as the WSJ incorrectly stated, and in fact will continue to refresh them to keep them on the front edge of gaming," Camden added.

Right after Dell's sudden decision to get rid of its XPS gaming systems, Alienware quickly announced that it will bring out a relatively low-cost game PC with dual ATI graphics chips within the next two weeks. The $1,699 system will come with an ASUS high-end motherboard based on the AMD 790FX chipset, 4GB of DDR2 800MHz memory, a quad-core 9550 (2.2GHz) Phenom X4 processor, and an ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card, said Marc Diana, Alienware product marketing manager for desktops. He also added,

It's not your granddaddy's AMD system. We're talking top-of-the-line quad core.

In a rather unexpected move, Dell said in front of the Wall Street Journal that as of next month it will be dropping four models of its XPS performance line-up and most likely start to push performance PCs from Alienware. Dell purchased Alienware back in 2006, and since then it hasn't been much around trying to help Alienware shine with its high-end gaming Aurora systems. This move is something new, and might try to fix this from now on. Alienware is also expected to bring out new redesigned systems based on new materials soon, according to the report. If you are subscribed to the WSJ, you can read the full story here.

Alienware started selling its fastest and meanest gaming notebook, the Area-51 m17x. It comes with some serious power and let's hope it won't overheat as the little brother m15x. The Area-51 m17x comes with a 17" display supporting 1080p (1920x1200 resolution), variety of NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX, 8700M GT or 8600M GT dedicated graphics cards operating in SLI mode, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, and up to 1000GB of hard drive capacity using two 500GB HDDs. The laptop comes with a 45nm Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme processor and can also be offered with a DVD burner or Blu-ray optical drive, a 64GB solid state drive and 1GB Intel Turbo Memory. In Area-51 m17x you'll also find two speakers with subwoofer and a built-in 2-megapixel webcam. The m17x runs Windows Vista OS and starts at $2,199. It is available now through the Alienware's online store.

All owners of the super expensive and very hot Alienware Area-51 m15x, may now download and try a new Release Candidate 1 version of the X32 BIOS that was supposed to fix problems with m15x's video card getting too hot and downclocking to reduce temperature, which also reduced gaming performance. According to a forum post at NotebookReview, this BIOS will fix the "remaining downclocking issues left open by the previous beta version" while Alienware continues to "vigorously" work for the final version. Customers can download the new RC1 X32 BIOS from here. For further questions or information, you can email Alienware at area51_m15x@alienware.com.

Quickly following on the heels of its GeForce 9800 GX2 update, Alienware on Monday afternoon refreshed the Area-51 gaming tower to add Intel's 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (12MB L2 Cache) as its best processor option. The new speed eclipses the 3GHz limit set by the older system and also brings with it a faster 1600MHz system bus. The option will launch as a higher-tier option alongside the earlier Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3GHz processor and will boost the price of the system by $1,650 to $3,749 while keeping the 2GB of RAM, GeForce 9600 GT video, and 250GB hard drive of the base system. Alienware estimates shipping systems configured with the new chip by mid-April.

If you were among the group of people experiencing overheating issues with your Alienware Area 51 m15x laptop, then there are some good news for you. A new BIOS update, version X29b P3A30 is now available. The update allegedly allows VGA fans to increase up to 5400 rpm and thus better cool the GPU. To obtain the new BIOS, you'll need to email the m15x support line (Area51_m15x@alienware.com). In reply you should receive a link to the BIOS .zip archive. Once you download the small file, Alienware recommends to follow the steps described in the Read full story marker.

Alienware this afternoon upgraded its Area-51 gaming tower to take advantage of NVIDIA's latest video offerings. The new system uses NVIDIA's just-introduced nForce 790i Ultra SLI mainboard and now has the option of adding a single GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. These two GPUs on a single card will boost the price by $600. The new system will be available on April 10th.

Members of the NotebookReview.com forums alarmed yesterday that some of Alienware's high-end Area 51 m15x laptops might be affected by overheating and cracking issues. While some reported strange overheating issues during operation, others can't seem to find the right words and describe why their new laptops are starting to crack? Alienware replied that it is aware of the problems and is trying to collaborate with owners. The manufacturer also reported that once the issues are isolated, their customer service technicians will immediately help owners of the damaged laptops. Until then, follow these two threads here and here.

Alienware has just launched what it is claiming to be "the world's fastest gaming desktop." The Area-51 ALX CFX comes equipped with a quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, overclocked from a stock speed of 3.0GHz to 4.0GHz with the aid of liquid cooling. It also features an Intel X38 Express chipset, up to 4GB DDR3 RAM at 1333MHz, the option of dual Radeon HD 3870 X2s running in CrossFireX and a range of hard drive capacities up to 2TB (including two 64GB solid-state drives), all powered by a 1000W PSU. To get maximum performance you'll need to spend a minimum of $7,488, but if you want a few extra bells and whistles such as acoustic dampening, system lighting and a better keyboard you could easily surpass the $10,000 mark.

As a result of the now officially driver lined CrossFireX support, Alienware has updated their elite ALX desktop computer to include pair of Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards, delivering 2GB of graphics memory to the already hi-end gaming station. Claimed to be "the first-ever quad GPU gaming solution supporting DirectX 10.1," the Area-51 ALX also utilizes the power of a 3GHz Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor overclocked to 4GHz, 2GB of low-latency RAM, two 10,000 rpm 150GB WD drives and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. Adding the dual Radeon HD 3870 X2 CrossFireX option bumps the price by $500 up to $5,649. The company expects to ship the Alienware ALX CrossFireX systems by early April. For more information, please visit Alienware.

Alienware, the leading manufacturer of high-performance desktop, notebook and entertainment systems, is now equipping the Area-51 m15x notebook computer with the new 45nm Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor working at 2.8GHz. This makes the Area-51 m15x, released earlier this year, the first and only 15.4-inch notebook to feature this unique and powerful processor. Intel's new Core 2 Extreme X9000 CPU features 6MB of shared L2 cache and an 800MHz front side bus. Couple all that rough power with NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB GPU, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and optional 64GB SSD drive and you'll get quite the idea of Area-51 m15x. "Now, with the addition of an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000, we've made the world's most powerful 15.4-inch notebook even more powerful." said Bryan de Zayas, Associate Director for Product Marketing at Alienware. For more information on the Area-51 m15x, please go here.

Alienware, known for selling very high-end pre-built computers and computer parts, recently put it out there that they've made a 4TB server for personal use. The server is targeted at users who actually have 4TB of high-definition content to share across a network. The device boasts remote access via internet, so that owners can enjoy their stuff from any PC with an internet connection. The device also has your standard array of wireless access options, and can connect to multimedia sources you already own.

Anyone hoping to own or sell one had better check out this site.

Looks like Alienware isn't the only company with a curved monitor in the works. NEC has now announced its own 42" curved display, which will feature a resolution of 2880x900 pixels and a response time of under 0.02ms - pretty much identical to the Alienware specs, although an NEC spokeswoman said the two "have nothing to do with each other." NEC's offering will have a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and uses LED-backlit DLP rear projection, just like the Alienware one. As you can see, there are clearly visible seams, although these should be gone when the display goes on sale.

Alienware blasted out an email informing all newsletter subscribers that the ordering of Alienware m15x has begun. For $2,099 you get the following configuration of the m15x: 15.4" WXGA+ display, Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.20GHz processor, NVIDIA Go 8700m 512MB graphics card, 2GB RAM 667MHz, 120GB 7200RPM drive, Ripley case design, 8x dual layer CD burner / DVD burner optical drive and Intel 4965 a/b/g wireless. Most of the parts are customizable and for an additional 600$ you can get the same configuration boasting NVIDIA's 8800M GTX graphics. No word is out on when the larger m17x 17" screen gaming laptop will be available. Visit the Alienware m15x home page for details.

GIZMODO has taken some interesting pictures and a video of Alienware's curved monitor, which the company plans to release later this year. The monitor has a resolution of 2880x900 pixels, and according to HEXUS.net it contains four DLP rear projection screens. The most impressive feature (other than the fact it's curved of course) is the 0.02ms response time Alienware is claiming. As you can see, seams between each of the four screens are visible, but Alienware is promising that these will be gone by the time it is released to the public.

At a special event in the NYC Alienware unveiled two extremely powerful gaming notebooks with dual NVIDIA 8800M graphics cards and Intel Core 2 Extreme processor. The 17-inch m17x and 15-inch m15x are typical Alienware machines with high-end specifications and "out of this world design." The big brother m17x is a powerful desktop replacement with extreme specs costing more than $5,628. For that kind of money you'll receive dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8800M GTX graphics in SLI, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology, 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo Processor X7900, 1GB Intel Turbo Memory, TV Tuner, Blu-ray, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, and Vista Ultimate. It's younger sibling m15x comes with 15.4" WidescreenUXGA (1080p) screen and a regular 8800 (no SLI). It also boasts a unique BinaryGFX feature which lets you switch between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics depending on your need. The only bad news is that the m17x and m15x won't be available until Q1 of 2008.

Official confirmation has been made of two upcoming Area-51 notebooks by Alienware, the 15-inch and 17-inch m15x and m17x systems. A formal announcement is expected to be made on Monday in New York City. The company has revealed that the notebooks will come in two case designs, called Skullcap and Ripley; no other details are being made official however, with the exception of some teaser photos, seen below. Leaked information suggests that the systems will have the option of a new GeForce 8800M GTX video card, with the m17x being capable of hosting two such GPUs in SLI mode. The 17 may also be able to scale to a 2.8GHz mobile Core 2 Extreme processor, and fit in Blu-Ray for the optical drive.

Just a few hours after Intel released the new 45nm Penryn processors, Alienware blasted out a press release announcing the Area-51 ALX CF, the first machine to use the new chips. The QX9650-equipped machines can be ordered overclocked up to 4.0GHz, and Alienware also bumped the graphics to dual CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 3870 cards. All that power won't come cheap, though - the CF line starts at $5499. The full tech specs of Area-51 ALX CF can be seen here.

Alienware, the leading manufacturer of high-performance desktop, notebook and professional systems, is now selling 64GB solid state drives in its AMD-based Aurora ALX and Intel-based Area-51 ALX desktops. Alienware is only offering the drives in dual RAID 0 configurations, giving you total space of 128GB and an extra. Unfortunately two of these drives will bump the price of the Alienware desktop with $1700.

More than just a noteworthy achievement, being first to market with the 64GB SSD means Alienware's desktop users can enjoy invaluable benefits not available anywhere else,

said Marc Diana, Product Marketing Manager for Alienware.

Alienware claims that it is the first notebook manufacturer to offer customers Samsung's 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM NCQ hard drives in single- and dual- device configurations for notebooks. Available as RAID 0 and RAID 1 systems in the 17" Area-51 m9750 and Aurora m9700 notebooks (dual-drive notebooks are priced from $2400), as well as a single 320GB configuration in the 15.4" Area-51 m5550 notebook, Alienware raises the bar to a higher level. The Area-51 m9750 model is also available with the combination of a 320GB hard drive and a 64GB solid state drive (the 320GB drive is offered as a $300 option, while the 64GB SSD lists for $1100).

Samsung has begun shipping 2.5" 64GB SSD SATA HDDs. The NAND flash-based hard drives are expected to become available as storage options for Dell and Alienware consumer notebooks. According to Samsung, Alienware will be offering 64GB and a 128GB configuration (dual 64GB RAID 0) as well as a single 64GB SSD combined with a 200GB 7200rpm hard drive for its Area-51 m9750 notebook. Dell will be selling the SSD as an option for the XPS M1330 notebook. Customers will have to reach deep into their pockets to be able to enjoy the 64 GB SSD, as it comes at an additional cost of $1100. Fully customized Alienware m9750 with 2x64 SSD RAID0 drives, Core 2 Duo T7600, 2xGeForce Go 7950 GTX - SLI, 4GB DDR2 memory, dual layer DVD burner and a genuine copy of Windows Vista will rise the price to around 6300$ without the optional Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio or any other accessories.

Alienware has decided to equip its desktops with fast Blu-Ray burners so that you can write a 50GB Blu-ray disc two times faster. Currently their desktop line up includes 2X BR writer. Now buyers of Area-51 7500, Aurora 7500, Area-51 ALX, and Aurora ALX will have option of choosing BR drive at an additional cost of $600.