New Alienware M15x does not support "Optical Audio output (SPDIF)"?

It has neither optical nor coax spdif. The 3 audio jack directly support 5.1 audio. The digital conversion takes place in the computer so the jacks are analog.

The M15x manuals

No because that model does not have an optical spdif port. I don't know what features previous Alienware models had as they are new on the Dell forums.

None of the Dell laptops have ever had optical spdif to my knowledge. They had wired (coax) spdif.  It was part of the multifunction port labeled "s-video". One had to get an adapter cable to be able to access the spdif pin in the port. But it wasn't optical. Dell discontinued the "s-video" port when they started adding the HDMI port to their laptops so the new models no longer have spdif of any kind.

Many of the Soundblaster external sound cards have had optical spdif.  For example this usb card:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=17751&nav=0

It has neither optical nor coax spdif. The 3 audio jack directly support 5.1 audio. The digital conversion takes place in the computer so the jacks are analog. The M15x manuals

My last notebook can plug a Optical Cable and directly to my speaker system (Roland DM-2100).

Can new M15x do the samething?

I can confirm the M15x does not support optical out.  Incidentally, the old Alienware Area 51 M15x does support optical out via a headphone jack.  I spent hours on the phone w/ Dell tech support & they told me that optical out can be sent through the DisplayPort connection.  This is not true.

It's so sad that a bare bones $1500 laptop does not support optical out.  I can guarantee the next model will & am surprised Dell dropped such an important feature b/c I bet it wouldn't have cost them much $ at all to include that feature.

that sounds bad.....cuz the notebook is havey enough...and you still need to carry external sound card around........