The M501R gave us solid performance with a PCMark05 score of 5909. Its 1GB of dedicated graphics memory also pushed it up the 3D performance stakes with a respectable 3DMark06 score of 5438. That doesn't push it into the frame of the best dedicated gaming notebooks, but it's well ahead of much of the rest of the pack at this kind of price point. It's worth bearing in mind here that the currently selling unit should (in theory) be a little faster than the unit we were able to test.
Desktop replacement notebooks typically don't come with great batteries, but we were surprised at how poor the M501R fared in our battery tests(Dell battery replacement). They're designed to give a worst-case scenario picture, rather than the glowing "up to" figures that vendors typically tout. With all power-saving measures disabled, screen brightness cranked up to full and a looping XviD file playing, the M501R conked out after a frankly awful one hour and 25 minutes. Use this as your in-flight video player, and you'd be lucky to get through even the lightest of romantic comedies before it cut out. With careful battery management you'd get more, but probably not a lot more.