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The Alienware division of Dell, Inc. has revealed some new processor options to go along with last weeks new GPU options. Unsurprisingly the newly added options all come from Intel who recently launched their new Ivy Bridge family of 22nm processors. The options for the Alienware laptops range from a simple 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core chip all the way up to a $1k+ Intel Core i7 quad-core Extreme Edition chip capable of up to 3.8 GHz processing speeds.

Currently the only Alienware gaming notebooks eligible for these new processors include the 14-inch Alienware M14x, the 17.3-inch Alienware M17x, and the 18.4-inch Alienware M18x. The recently discontinued 11.6-inch Alienware M11x, despite being listed on the Dell Alienware website, isn’t receiving Ivy Bridge processors or any new hardware at all.
Price wise the new processors haven’t done much for the price of Alienware gaming notebooks, they’re still expensive. The base price for the M14x is $1,099 and you get a 2.5GHz Core i5 dual-core processor, the M17x starts at $1,499 and you get a 2.3GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU, and the M18x starts at $1,999 with the same 2.3GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU that the base M17x has –the M18x also comes standard with a 1080p display while the M17x has a 900p display in the standard model.

Below you can see all the processors that Dell Alienware has made available at this time, all of them are quad-core Core i7 chips except for the one Core i5 dual-core chip:

M14x processors

Intel Core i5-2450M dual-core 2.5GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache) (Standard)
Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz (3.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel Core i7-3820QM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)

M17x processors

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache) (Standard)
Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz (3.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel Core i7-3820QM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)

M18x processors

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache) (Standard)
Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz (3.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel Core i7-3820QM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Intel Core i7-3920XM Extreme Edition 2.9GHz (3.8GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)

This one somehow slipped through our radar but it seems Intel will have a new high-performance socket LGA1155 processor out in a few weeks to try and spoil AMDs much anticipated FX Series launch. The upcoming chip was disclosed earlier this month in the latest material deceleration datasheet (MDS) document as BX80623I72700K, from which we can deduce the SKU as Core i7-2700K, and carrying the spec code SR0DG.
Theres not much information available in the way of specs, but given the i5-2000 and i7-2000 series are spaced in steps of 100MHz, we expect the 2700K to carry a clock speed of 3.50 GHz with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost. This would effectively make it the fastest non-extreme Sandy Bridge desktop processor Intel offers. Like other i7-2000 series processors, this one should also sport four cores, Hyper-Threading and 8MB L3 cache.
Anandtech speculates that the pricing for the i7-2700K will be roughly $317, displacing the Core i7-2600K from its current price point. The latter could then be priced down closer to the ~$265 launch price expected for the FX-8150, and we wouldnt be surprised to see it released just around the time AMD flips the switch for its FX range.
Last week, the first three AMD FX Series CPUs went up for pre-order at online retailer Shopblt.com. The lineup included the six-core FX-6100 and two eight-core models, the FX-8120 and FX-8150, priced at $189, $222, and $269 respectively.
By comparison, the Intel Core i7 products that theyre supposed to go against with, include the Core i7-2600 and low-power 2600S, both priced at $294, while the unlocked Core i7-2600K for currently goes for $317. Intel Core i5 2500 chips are priced between $205 and $216, with speeds up to 3.3/3.7GHz and no Hyper-Threading support.