Though sleek, lithe and portable, Alienware's Area-51 m5550 notebook computer boasts more horsepower than your average desktop, thanks in large to its Intel Core2 Duo Processors (2MB Cache, 667MHz FSB), up to 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM (at 667MHz) and a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 or a 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 video card.

And though it lists wimp battery life and glaring screen glare as woeful flaws, it is regardless an ideal computer solution as it is both light enough to tote anywhere - home to office to college to cottage and all stops in-between - and robust enough to play high end games with respectable aptitude, which means it can also do conventional PC productivity without breaking a sweat, along with all those leisure time tasks like video/photo edit, play/rip/burn DVDs and CDs, web-connect via built in Wi-Fi, etc.

The "mini-me" to the Alienware's mALX model, which features more power, bigger battery, gargantuan 19" screen (to the m5550's 15.5"), larger form factor, a lot more weight and a much higher price because of it - an mALX costs about US$4500 -, the Area-51 m5500 balances performance with cost most judiciously. It starts at just US$1,049 (upgrade configurations can bring it up to $3,000 or more), sacrifices gameplay essentials only slightly but otherwise retains all the multitasking mojo that keeps it in the high-performance class.