For the longest time I was of the belief that gaming on a laptop would never come close to paralleling the experience had on a traditional desktop computer. Year after year, I was proven correct. Lacking the processing and graphical power of their stationary counterparts, laptops were useful for a great many things but playing games that featured cutting edge graphics or that relied upon a seamless frame rate was not one of them. Finally, it appears that I may be proven wrong.

The specifications for the upcoming Alienware M18X R2 series were announced this week, and man are they astounding. Granted at 18.4″  it’s not the kind of laptop you’d feel comfortable lugging around wherever you go, but for the gamer who feels like partaking in a game of Modern Warfare 3 at a friend’s house or at the local Internet Cafe, the M18X R2 should prove portable enough.  As with all Alienware notebooks, buyers will be able to customize their system to match their desired preferences.

Featuring the mobile versions of the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, the 3rd generation i7 chip should prove more than powerful enough to run any modern game without a hiccup. More impressive still are the GPU options. Deciding between 2x Radeon 7970M (CrossFire) and 2x GeForce GTX 675M (SLI)  is like choosing between a gold bar and a diamond – either way you can’t really lose.

Rounding out the system are two storage options (500 GB and 750 GB 7.2K 2.5″) and a multitude of RAM options, including a 2 GB 1866MHz package. Suffice to say, even the lowest end M18X R2 is going to cost a pretty penny, and considering that equivalent desktops are sold for significantly less, the R2s are really only going to appeal to a niche audience. Still, my argument that laptops are incapable of running modern games on the maximum settings without experiencing lag is now officially null and void.

Expect to see the M18X R2 on the market by June, 2012.

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