We’ve been it s on the Alienware M11x ever since we first saw it at CES — it’s one of the most interesting riffs on the thin-and-light we’ve seen in a long time. Sure, it’s compact, but inside it’s got a ULV Core 2 Duo paired with a switchable NVIDIA GT335M GPU, making it one of the most powerful small laptops on the market. But power never comes cheap: the M11x starts at $799, and our tester model equipped with an upgraded 1.3GHz SU7300 Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM clocks in at $949. That’s pricey, but potentially worth it if you’re a serious gamer on the go. You know we had to test one and find out — let’s see if the M11x can back up those looks with performance.

Whoa, Nelly! We learned back at CES that Alienware‘s pretty-much-a-netbook would launch in the Spring for less than a grand, but now we know precisely what the base price will be: $799. The starting MSRP of the M11x was delivered courtesy of the company’s own website, but not in the most straightforward way. If you surf on over to the M11x microsite and view the source, you’ll notice the following blurb tucked within the code:

The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.

So, a polarizing (albeit vivacious) design, an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics and a 6.5 hour battery, all for $799. Shall we sign you up, or what?