I thought that it was interesting to point out that Alienware appears to be the notebook of choice for the bad guys on the show, 24. Is there some bad boy marketing message taking place here?

Eagle-eyed, and slightly geeky viewers real-time drama show ‘24’of would have noticed the evil terrorists led by ‘Marwan’ all used Alienware branded notebooks to hatch their evil plans. The goodies used Dell. Hmmm. Also, in the current popular game F.E.A.R, the notebooks lying round the offices of the company whose troops are shooting at you are also Alienware branded kit. So it’s official - Alienware – the choice of baddies everywhere.

Clearly Alienware’s marketing people have been doing their homework, but what of Alienware’s notebook designers? The Area-51 m5500 is one of its new line-up of mobile products. Whereas its previous laptops were known for being seriously over specced, its current range is broader and has a more affordable look it. The m5500 in particular offers a sensible balance between size, power and cost. Highlights include its widescreen 15.4in display and echoing a trick we first saw in the Rock Pegasus 650, the m5500 has two graphics chips, which you can choose between with a flick of switch and a reboot. There’s Intel graphics for extended battery life and an nVidia GPU for gaming. Indeed, the m5500 features the same chassis so it’s size (326 x 278 x 31 (WxDxH), and weight, 3Kg, are the same. [Read the rest]