- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga
- SAMSUNG Series 7 Chronos
- ASUS G75VW-AS71
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- ASUS ZENBOOK UX32VD
Rated 78% by by The Verge (Nov, 2012)Think about it this way: where the Retina "best" setting fits each pixel of a 1280 x 800 image perfectly onto four pixels of a 2560 x 1600 screen, each pixel of a 1440 x 900 image fits imperfectly onto 3.6 pixels of the display, so it’s a little bit blurrier.
by LaptopMag (Aug, 2012)Starting at $1,999, this notebook is jam-packed to the gills with awesomeness, including a beautiful 1080p display, dual Nvidia GTX 680M cards, and dual Samsung SSDs.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display compared to the Alienware M Series M18x
GHz2.7
Rated 84% by by c|net (Jun, 2012)Its resolution is 2,880x1,800 pixels, providing a level of detail never seen on a laptop before.
2.4 GHz
Intel Core i7 2760QM
by LaptopMag (Aug, 2011)As if that wasn't enough, the M18x also has HDMI 1.3 input, so you could use the notebook as a TV or monitor, too.
screen size
15.4"
18.4"
MacBook Pro with Retina Display by Frank-Hanna (Jan, 2013)The Video card is also a Major bonus, the degree of technology they have invested in this area if commendable, you can run the most demanding games in relative ease, all in such a small package with such a beautiful display, its like peanut better meets jam all over again.
M Series M18x by LaptopMag (Aug, 2011)Movies and games simply popped off the display, and it was so large that it enveloped us in the action.
screen resolution
MacBook Pro with Retina Display by The Verge (Jun, 2012)Its 5.18 million pixels is quadruple the resolution of last-generation’s baseline 1440 x 900 MacBook Pro, and even a huge leap over the previous "high-res" option at 1680 x 1050.
M Series M18x by LaptopMag (Aug, 2011)The massive 18.4-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel WLED display on the M18x is a sight to behold.
cpu speed
| 0 GHz | 2.7 GHz | 3 GHz |
MacBook Pro with Retina Display by RossRichard (Jul, 2012)I gave my boyfriend my 2011 MacBook pro with a OCZ 256g SSD Octane 4 with the intel i5 2.4 GHz I think my other computer worked better however I loved my other computer so... I still give it 4.5 the screen's amazing.
M Series M18x by LaptopMag (Aug, 2012)Click to EnlargeOur $4.454 review unit has a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-3820QM CPU with 16GB of RAM, dual 256GB SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration and dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M GPUs with 2GB of VRAM.
processor
MacBook Pro with Retina Display by c|net (Jun, 2012)At a starting price of $2,199, the Retina MacBook Pro is in a different tier of product than other recently spec-bumped Airs and Pros, but it also offers a mix of design and features that can't be duplicated in other Mac laptops: a quad-core processor in a body that's svelte (but not quite ultrabook-thin), discrete graphics, a super high-res display, and - new to any MacBook - HDMI.
M Series M18x by Thomas (Dec, 2011)The only thing wrong with this computer is the processor, it says its the Intel Core i7-2670QM Processor (Quad-Core, 2.2GHz, 6MB Cache), but its actually the one right below it the Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor (Quad-Core, 2.0GHz, 6MB Cache).
memory
| 0 GB | 16 GB | 20 GB |
MacBook Pro with Retina Display by John-S.-Dean--JohnAt least the basest model has 8GB of RAM to start...So from a pure laptop perspective, this one was a hit they shot right out of the park.
M Series M18x by LaptopMag (Nov, 2011)Equipped with a 2.5-GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM CPU that overclocks to 4 GHz, 16GB of RAM, two 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drives in a RAID 0 array, and dual AMD Radeon 6900M GPUs with 2GB of VRAM, the Alienware M18x has seriously epic performance.
Performance Real world tests of Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display vs Alienware M Series M18x
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Alienware M Series M18x
| Much faster internal storage | 0.1 ms (SSD) | vs | 10 ms (HDD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100x faster random access time; faster boot times and shorter application load times | |||
| Much sharper screen | 220 ppi | vs | 119 ppi |
| More than 80% sharper PPI; enjoy photo-realistic, crisp images | |||
| Much higher resolution screen | 2880 x 1800 | vs | 1920 x 1080 |
| 2.5x higher resolution screen | |||
| Marginally newer | Jun, 2012 | vs | Oct, 2011 |
| Release date 8 months later | |||
| Faster processor | 2.7 GHz | vs | 2.4 GHz |
| More than 10% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
Advantages compared to the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display
| Much bigger screen | 18.4" | vs | 15.4" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around 20% bigger screen | |||
| Much more RAM | 16 GB | vs | 8 GB |
| Twice as much RAM; run more applications and have more browser tabs open without slowing down the system | |||
| Much more storage capacity | 1,024 GB | vs | 512 GB |
| 2x more storage capacity | |||
| Much more HDMI bandwidth | 1,020 MB/s (HDMI 1.4) | vs | 495 MB/s (HDMI 1.0) |
| More than 2x more HDMI bandwidth | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display | Alienware M Series M18x | ||
 |   Rated by 69 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by SG (Jun, 2012) Rated 100% by by J.-Bronson (Jul, 2012) | Rated by 13 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by Thomas (Dec, 2011) Rated 100% by by J.-Manke--E.Eng.---Gamer (Jan, 2013) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Competition What else you should consider
 | 6 | ASUS G55VW-ES71 3-way tie: Has a CD reader |
 | 7 | Dell XPS 13 xps13-l321x 5-way tie: Really fast internal storage |
