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It's looking like Dell's Alienware gaming PC unit is prepping for a major revamp of its gaming laptop line. An M14x laptop that is in the "just right" category of performance and weight was first revealed a few days ago. Now it looks like Alienware will release its biggest gaming PC laptop yet, the M18x.

According to our sister site Engadget, the laptop will have a huge 18.4 inch screen, an Intel i7 Extreme processor that can be overclocked to 4 Ghz, support for both Nvidia SLI or AMD Crossfire graphics set ups and up to 32 GB of RAM. There's no word on the weight or the price point for the M18x but we imagine both numbers will be on the high end.

At the moment if you want a gaming laptop from Dell's Alienware unit you had either a 4.5 pound M11x model or the desktop replacement M15x and M17x models that start at 9 pounds to choose from. Now our sister site Engadget has word that Alienware may be prepping for a launch of a "just right" gaming laptop.

The site got word of some online manuals for a previously unannounced M14x gaming laptop. According to the manuals, the 14 inch screen based laptop will be powered by Nvidia's new GT555M graphics chip and an 8-cell battery. More importantly the laptop's weight is 6.35 pounds, making this laptop much more portable than the M15x and M17x. There's no word on when this new model will go on sale nor any word on pricing.

A few weeks ago, Big Download was the first to report that two founding members of the PC Gaming Alliance, Microsoft and Nvidia, had departed the non-profit organization. Now it seems that another founding member is reducing its involvment in the PCGA and yet another member has left entirely.

According to the PCGA's members web page, founding member Dell is now listed as a "Contributing" member of the organization rather than its previous role in the higher tier "Promoters" member level. Furthermore another PCGA Promoter member, Sony DADC (who among other products handles the SecuROM DRM programs that are used in a number of PC games) has apparently left the organization entirely.

This leaves just founding members Epic Games and Intel as Promoter members of the PCGA along with Razer and Capcom who joined after the organization was founded in 2008.

Last year at CES, Dell's Alienware unit surprised the crowd with the launch of the M11x gaming PC laptop, a very small notebook that could still handle games. Today the Alienware announcements from Dell were not as exciting but still packed a punch, especially with the new version of the M17x laptop.

This 17-inch "desktop replacement" notebook is the first one in the Alienware lineup to support 3D graphics, along with new and more powerful options for both graphics and processors. Also the MircoATX form factor based Aurora desktop has gotten its own upgrades with support for Intel's new Core processors, new liquid cooling for the processors and more. The new versions of the M17x and the Aurora will be available for sale on January 10.

The founder of a well-know gaming PC maker has now got himself a new job. Rahul Sood, the founder of VoodooPC, announced this week on his official web site has now joined Microsoft as the general manager of "System Experience in the Interactive Entertainment Business." If you are wondering what that means, Sood doesn't give us much more saying, "I'll be working on some really....really...really cool stuff come January 2011."

Sood founded VoodooPC in 1991 and in the late 1990s and early 2000s began gaining a foothold in the gaming PC market thanks to its well designed systems. In 2006, VoodooPC was bought by HP. However the marriage between the two companies didn't seem to work with HP releasing only a few new VoodooPC products since the merger. HP no longer sells PCs with the VoodooPC label.

[Via Engadget]

Earlier this month we reported that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick would like to see more gaming PCs hooked up to televisions. There have been a number of attempts to bring PCs into the living room but with limited success so far.

But is Dell's Alienware unit planning to launch a gaming-themed TV-based PC? The Alienware Arena community site has a quote from Alienware project manager Bryan de Zayas on that matter. While he would not admit directly to such a product being in the works he did state, "I can assure you that Alienware is constantly looking into new concepts all the time and asking ourselves if this the right time to pursue specific form factors..." Considering that this quote is posted on an Alienware-run web site it's possible that Alienware is hinting strongly that such a project may be in the works.

Some of you are getting ready to take off for a three day weekend. Some of you might even be taking today off, making this Fourth of July a four-day weekend (lucky you if you have that set-up). So what do you do with all that free time. Steam's summer sale is still going strong and today through 1 pm Eastern time on Saturday you can get extra-big price cuts on the downloadable games listed below:

Day of Defeat : Source - $2.49
Beat Hazard - $2.49
Half-Life 2 - $3.39
Star Wars Empire at War Gold (original game + expansion) - $4.99
Max and the Magic Marker - $5
Saints Row 2 - $7.49
Borderlands - $10.19
Bionic Commando Pack (Bionic Commando + Bionic Commando Rearmed) - $11.14
Prototype - $14.99
Crysis Maximum Edition (Crysis and Crysis Warhead) - $14.99

Dell's Alienware unit has gotten lots of great reviews, including one here at Big Download, for their M11x laptop. Today Alienware has revealed two big upgrades to the M11x that are being included as options. First, the M11x now has options to put in an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor in addition to the previous Core 2 Duo processor. Putting in either the i5 or i7 processor will naturally raise the starting price of the notebook although we have been told that the i5 processor still keeps the m11x at below $1,000.

The other major update is Nvidia Optimus, the new technology that will allow people who use the M11x laptop to switch between the integrated graphics and the laptop's Nvidia GT 335M graphics chip automatically if they are playing, say, Left 4 Dead 2. Previously switching between the two was done manually by hitting the F6 button.

Dell's Alienware unit made an impressive gaming PC laptop with the Alienware M11x (you can check out our review right here). At the moment the laptop uses an Intel Core 2 Duo processor but it looks like the model may be getting a big processor upgrade very soon.

A recent YouTube video shows a Dell spokesperson showing off the Alienware M11x (You can check it out after the jump) and mentions fairly casually near the end that next month the product will get a Intel Core i3/5/7 processor upgrade. That will certainly boost the performance of the laptop although it might also impact battery life. Alienware is scheduled to appear at E3 in June and a hardware boost for the M11x would certainly be a good announcement to make at the show.

[Via Engadget]

What would be the perfect PC gaming laptop? For us it would have to be cheap, portable, able run all of our games at a solid frame rate on high graphical settings, all while keeping a solid battery life. Dell's Alienware division has come up with a gaming PC that, while not perfect, is certainly about as close as we have seen a gaming laptop get.

We are talking about the Alienware M11x which was first announced by Dell at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January and officially launched a few weeks later. Alienware let us take the M11x for a test drive and, in summary, we can say that we are seriously thinking of buying one of our own for our own gaming PC needs for travel, LAN parties or if you just want a way to play PC games on the couch.