The keyboard is not backlit, and has smallish matte-black Chiclet-style keys. It offers no special buttons, but all of the Function keys have various secondary controls/toggles, such as brightness control and Wi-Fi on/off. Even though the keyboard isn't especially comfortable to use, as the keys are small and somewhat stiff, it isn't the worst keyboard I've ever used, either. It does have a ten-key number pad, which is expected on a laptop of this size.

The touchpad is a little small. Its brushed-aluminum finish is slightly rougher than the aluminum around it, though, and a thin line also helps to distinguish it from the deck. Two textured, discrete mouse buttons, as well as a fingerprint reader, sit below it. The touchpad offers smooth movement, and it supports multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. The roughness is a little weird, however, and it makes using the touchpad less comfortable.

Ports on the Digital Storm x17 are located all around the chassis, except for the front. On the sides are your typical connections: two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 connections, a FireWire port, microphone and headphone jacks, S/PDIF-out, and a line-in jack. A three-in-one card reader and a TV hookup are on the left side, and a DVD-RW/Blu-ray Disc player resides on the right. On the back of the machine are the HDMI-out and DVI-out display ports, along with an eSATA port and a Kensington Lock slot.

The x17's glossy, 17.3-inch screen has a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The display is disappointingly dim, even at its highest brightness setting. Color looks okay, but not awe-inducing. High-def video also looks good, though a few blocky artifacts marred my tests of streaming online video. Games look fine, but the brightness (or lack thereof) can really be an issue in darker scenes.

Sound on the x17 is what you'd expect: much louder than typical laptop speakers (since it is a desktop replacement and a gaming machine), but not great. The machine has a built-in subwoofer, but you can barely tell, as most audio on the x17 is fairly thin and bassless.