Laptops Arena

The Alienware Company is recognized by its gaming laptops and desktops PCs. The Alienware M9700 is another serious gaming laptop with great performance and solid built in quality. This model is the first of its kind which uses the NVIDIA SLI technology. Using two GeForce 7900GS graphics cards and an AMD Turion64 2.40 GHz processor you can use this laptop to play any game you want without problems.

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The 1 GB of DDR400 RAM memory and the two hard drives with a total capacity of 200 GB allow you to run any application without any lag and store your files in a safe place. With such a performance you will be envied by the greatest gamers in the world.

The Alienware M9700 has a 17 inch Wide Screen WUXGA display with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 which offers clear and quality images. Even if the display is a quite glossy the ClearView technology helps you get the best quality for the on-screen images and movies even if you plan to use this laptop into a powerfully lit room. Like the other Alienware laptops, this hosts many connection possibilities.

It has an Integrated Gigabit Ethernet port, an integrated 56K modem port, 4 USB ports, a 4-in-1 Media Card Reader, a VGA port, an S-Video port, a WireFire, a Realtek 802.11 g/s Wireless adaptor, Bluetooth adaptor, an Express Card Slot, a S/PDIF output, 10/100/1000 LAN port, a DVI port, a PCMCIA slot and the indispensable headphone and microphone jacks.



The case is made of synthetic material with a pleasant combination of gray and glossy black. The lid is an artwork just like the other lids on other Alienware laptop models. The alien head which is a symbol for this company and the engraved lines are present on the lid. The Alienware M9700 keyboard is a full-size one and it is very easy to use when you play games. The keys are made of plastic material and offer a positive feedback when you press them.

The touchpad is quite small but this is not a problem because probably you will use a mouse with such a gaming laptop. Anyway, the touchpad is very responsive and it will react to every touch no matter how weak it is. But as I said, we recommend using a mouse for this laptop because you will be more satisfied and you will get better response (not to mention better shooting accuracy). If you want a good mouse, we recommend you to buy The Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse for only $66.

The Alienware M9700 comes with an optical DVD-RW drive and the LightScribe feature so you can make personalized labels for your CDs of DVDs. The internal speakers and subwoofer offer an amazing sound with enough bass so you don’t need to attach other external stereo speakers. The 5.1 audio support is a rare feature for a laptop as it offers the sound quality to make any laptop owner proud.



The 12-cell Lithium-Ion battery will keep this laptop up for 1hr - 1hr 30min under test conditions. That is pretty much for a gaming laptop with these performances. The total weight is 11 pounds so if you want to carry this laptop with you all the time you will get tired very quickly. But since we are talking about a gaming laptop and a desktop replacement at the same time, this aspect may not matter that much. This laptop which has this specific configuration costs $3,700 but if you don’t want to spend such a lot of money you can choose the standard configuration which costs $1,700 but the performance will not be the same.

The Alienware Area-51 m7700 laptop is one of the best gaming laptop on the market at this time. Company officials were able to gather a lot of functionality into a compact and efficient form. The Alienware Area-51 m7700 comes with a 3.6 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM and a pair of hard disks with the total capacity of 120 GB of free memory.

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With such power you will be able to play your favorite games and to do many other operations at the same time. When it comes to the video card we are proud to announce you that this Alienware model is equipped with the nVidia GeForce GO 6800 with 256MB memory, one of the most powerful graphics card. With this graphics card you will be able to play most demanding games without any problems at the decent resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels.

This model has a standard TFT 17 inch display with a native resolution of 1440 x 900, but if you want some extra desktop space you can pay $200 extra for a display with a resolution of 1680 x 1050.

The keyboard includes a numerical keypad and many multimedia buttons that allow you to have instant access to different applications like Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and it even allows you to check your mailbox. Typing on the keyboard is very pleasant because the keys are not piled and they offer a very good feedback, which is very important for a fast writer. Below the keyboard you will find the touchpad which is very responsive but which is a little large for a gaming laptop. We recommend you keep a mouse plugged in all the time.



The Alienware Area-51 m7700 is equipped with a DVD writer which allows you to burn your DVDs without problems, but if you want more than that, below this drive you can find another bay which allows you to install a second optical drive. On the front side, you will find a set of multimedia control buttons which allow you to listen to your favorite music. The LED display shows the elapsed time of the song. The integrated stereo speakers and the subwoofer produce a very good sound so you will don’t need an external set of speakers.

When it comes to connections the Alienware Area-51 m7700 is equipped with 4 USB ports, a S-Video port, an Ethernet port, a modem socket, a single Type II PC Card slot, a 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader, 2 x 4-pin FireWire ports, a PS/2 port, a DVI port, some parallel and serial ports plus the indispensable headphones, line-in, line-out and microphone jacks. And that not’s all. The Bluetooth and the 802.11b/g Wireless will keep you in touch wherever you are.



However, we are disappointed when it comes to weight and battery life. The total weight of this laptop is 14.8 pounds (12.4 pounds is the weight of the laptop and 2.4 pounds is the weight of the power adapter) which is too much for a portable laptop. The battery life is very short, just 1 hour and 10 minutes under stressful test conditions and in standby only 2 hours and 50 minutes. But if you want a very good gaming laptop you will not be disappointed. The only one thing which is a quite exaggerated is the price. If you want to buy an Alienware Area-51 m7700 you will need to pay $3214, but you have to remember, performance costs.



If you have some money to spend, but the market has so much to offer so it's rather difficult for you to decide what to buy, we are going to show you the top ten notebooks that money can buy (or, at least that is our opinion). Some of these models are cheap, other are expensive, but they each offer fair enough specs which are in good balance with their price. In short, the more you pay, the more you get.
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Our number one notebook is without a doubt, the 13 inch Apple MacBook Pro. Not is only is this laptop powerful, it is also very good looking in comparison with many other models on the market. Since it's made from aluminum, this silver beauty looks like it's a giant diamond. The glossy display does not seem to bother us like most glossy displays do because it's all part of a higher purpose: that of creating an elegant notebook. The processor is the powerful Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 which operates at a speed of 2.4 GHz and the graphics card is none other than the nVidia GeForce 9400M with 256M of dedicated video memory. This laptop is for the people that want to stand out and be the proud owner of an Apple laptop.

It may not have the best specs in the world, but it is certainly one of the best ultra portables in the world. The Acer Timeline 1410 has a 11 inch display which doesn't make text that difficult to read and it also offers good performance considering its small size. Instead of the Intel Atom processors which are regularly chosen for this kind of small and portable notebooks, Acer as decided that an Intel Celeron SU2300 is much better for the Timeline 1410. You also get 4 GB or RAM in comparison with the 1 or 2 GB you usually get from the similarly sized notebooks (or should we call them netbooks?). This means that the Timeline 1410 will easily support Windows 7 Home Premium and you can run multiple applications much faster that you could on a 1 GB of RAM notebook. And for $400 you also get over 6 hours of battery life. This is excellent information for those that are looking for a notebook to use when they are travelling. Students can also use it in class when they want to take notes.



The Acer Aspire 8930G is probably one of the best multimedia notebook which you can possibly find. It is huge (and by huge I mean it has a 18.4 inch display plus some 9.2 pounds in weight) so you will probably want to use it a desktop replacement. Just put it on the table or desk and make sure it stays there because it isn't something you want to carry around on your shoulders. The Intel Core i7-720QM processor is one of the most powerful CPU's you'll find in a laptop. You have 4 GB of DDR3 RAM and you can upgrade to a maximum of 8 GB. The graphics card in an nVidia GeForce GTS 250M and if 500 GB of free disk space are not enough to store you files, there is always the optical drive to help you make DVD copies so you can free up some space. You have 5.1 surround speakers which means the sound quality is something amazing. Is $1300 worth it? We think it is.



If you are looking for something more unique, extravagant and business like, then the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 may just the be the best tablet PC for you. What makes this notebook so fancy and distinguishes it from the rest of the tablet PCs is the multi touch screen which is optional so you have to specify that you want it. Your operating system will surely be Windows 7 to get the best out of the speed and performance possibilities. The price is a bit spicy however ($1800) but it's ok considering that the main target is the premium one.



If you are looking, however, for a business notebook which is small, we recommend the HP ProBook 5310m. It is a black notebook that suggests elegance from the moment you first lay eyes on it. The 13.3 notebook has an 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 processor, 2 GB of RAM which are upgradeable to a maximum 4, the graphics card is an Intel GMA 4500MHD with 64MB of dedicated video memory and you have 320 GB of available disk space. You have an integrated Bluetooth which should make file transfers easier from you notebook to your phone (or between two notebooks as long as they both have Bluetooth). You can get all that for a mere $900. Come to think of it, some folks may want to buy this business notebook for home use. Why shouldn't they? It offers good specs at a low price.

For people that don't have a lot of money, we recommend the Gateway NV which is a budget notebook priced at $600. We were surprised to find that you get good specs for this price; normally lower prices mean weaker laptops. The processor is a 2.1-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 which comes with 4 GB of RAM included, an Intel GMA X4500HD graphics card plus some 320 GB of free disk space. At the opposite pole, we have a laptop which has the best specs around and also the biggest price. The Alienware M17x is the $4600 gaming laptop that offers a 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 processor and a nVidia's GeForce GTX 280M graphics card.



Another wise choice for approximately $800 is the Asus UL30A-A1. You have a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor and 4 GB of RAM plus another 500 GB of free disk space and the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card. This means you have average power at an average price. Like I said, what you pay for is what you get. Of course, we couldn't have a Dell missing from this top ten notebook list so we present the Dell Studio 14z. This $750 laptop has a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500, 3 GB of RAM, 320 GB of disk space and the nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics card which is pretty powerful for such a cheap laptop. Last, but not least, we bring you the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s which we believe to be one of the best business notebooks ever and out statement may be confirmed by the $2300 price. This fancy notebook has a 2.53-GHz Core 2 Duo SP9600 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 128 GB of disk storage and the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card. And there are many more good notebooks out there. In fact there are so many that it's becoming more and more difficult to tell which would be the wisest choice.

I'm sure that if I say the words "gaming laptop", more than 70% of you will firstly think about Alienware. Being owned by Dell, this is the number one brand that comes to mind when we discuss about expensive and powerful laptops, made especially for gaming.
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We are going to show you an Alienware m7700 Aurora review just to make out a point when we say that Alienware is all about game and power. The starting price of this notebook is $2300 dollars but since you can customize it and add/take out the components you want, then you could end up paying about 5000 dollars for this machine.  We call it a notebook and not a laptop because this heavy thing is definitely not something you want to put on your lap. It's big and it's blue and you will want to put it on your desktop and make sure it stays there.

The unit we have reviewed here has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ dual core processor plus am nVidia GeForce Go 6800 but if you order you own unit directly from Alienware that you can choose a different processor and graphics card. Like we've said before, this 12 pound monster is not something you want to carry around. It is 2 and half pounds heavier than its rival, the Toshiba Qosmio. Other than the weight, this 17 inch notebook does not have any other severe minuses. Just by looking at the lid you will probably feel a space ship just landed on your desk. The glossy blue surface suggests a strong and very high-tech machine is hidden under all that neat design. Of course, the alien head logo is also present on this model as well and it really fits in into the whole design. Something we really liked and appreciated is the fact that if you don't want to grab the notebook by the glossy blue surface (and you don't because it will attract fingerprints) than you have those black "waves" on the left and right side of the lid to hang on to.



The hinges seem tight and reassuring and they will keep the display steady in place. We were surprised and happy to see that the bottom of the notebook has four fans which is a very smart move considering the amount of heat this computer produces during game play. You have your usual set of 4 USB ports, FireWire ports, card reader, VGA out, DVI video port, PS2 port, Ethernet port, modem port and for audio in and out ports. As you could imagine, this 17 inch display notebook also has a numerical pad which might come in handy for some games. The keys are very nice and they make typing really easy (not like you are going to type too much on this notebook, maybe only for chatting on Diablo Battlenet). Above the keyboard you have a set of 4 buttons (for launching your web browser, e-mail application, media player and the power button) which are made of solid aluminum.



There is another set of buttons located on the front side of the machine and they are used as multimedia controls. This notebook has no less than 5 (yes, FIVE) speakers, two of which are around the keyboard, another two in the front and a big subwoofer on the bottom which really spices up the whole sound thing and adds a bit of bass so you can really enjoy games now! Even if you turn up the volume at maximum level, you won't hear any distortions. Not only can you hear those monsters around the corner in Jericho, but you can also enjoy your favorite music by playing a tune or two while you are cleaning you room. Of course the battery life is disappointing but there is a good change you won't be keeping the m7700 away from your bedroom power outlet. If you do, then the 2 hours of battery life will surely not be of any good.



And now we shall continue with the most important part of our Alienware m7700 Aurora review: the performance and game testing. This unit has the nVidia's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra graphics card but if you are in need with even more power, you can choose the nVidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX graphics card which is better (and also more expensive). We have read a review written by a person that used this notebook for 40 hours of game play (F.E.A.R) and frame rates only dropped about 12 times which is a very good aspect for the m7700. Using the other graphics card, you could play Far Cry at highest setting and have no problem at all. All your gaming experience will be highly supported by the sharp and accurate display with 1440 x 900 pixel resolution.

Cooling is very important to a notebook that has such powerful components and the m7700 makes no exception. The four fans on this notebook do a pretty good job at keeping things cool. However, we heard that the video card fan makes a lot of noise and since it has a rough time at handling things, that particular section of the notebook gets hot and the really bad news is that it's under your left palm. Amazingly, you can't feel almost any heat on the bottom of the notebook as it usually stays at the same temperature as the room.



There are few gaming notebooks out there that could actually replace the Aurora m7700 from Alienware (and most of those who can are made by Alienware as well). We like the fact that you could choose between different processors, graphic cards and LCD but we think that this is still a very expensive machine. However, true gamers will see it not as an extra expense, but as a very good investment. Not only is this notebook good for gaming but you can do pretty much anything with it. It can handle any other tasks at a great speed and you can run multiple applications with no trouble at all. Even if some don't like the fact that it's heavy, we think weight should not be an issue for a desktop replacement and there is no better place you can enjoy a good game rather than the comfort of your own house. So much for the m7700 Aurora review but stay tuned. Alienware still has some other surprises in store for us and some other really cool and impressive gaming notebooks and computer desktops. If only we could afford them all...

As you probably know already, Alienware, a brand owned by Dell, is one of the top  producers when it comes to high-speed and high-performance desktops and laptops made especially for gamers. So far, Alienware only has 4 desktop models (Aurora, Aurora ALX, Area-51 and Area-51 XLS) and 2 laptop models (M15x and M17x) but they've sold a big number of machines taking into consideration there are not many models to choose from.
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Let us look into some information about Alienware computers and see what everyone is so excited about!  First of all, you should now that you can customize you Alienware computer. Unfortunately, you don't have many parts to choose from, as you can mostly change the unit's appearance since you have 7 different colors available for your case. As far as the graphic card goes, you only have 3 choices and another 3 for the RAM (2GB, 4GB or 8GB). Another downside is that you only have 1 choice for your mother and another one for the sound card (apart from the one which is onboard). And we should mention that apart from the regular fan, the only fan cooling option you have is going to cost you another 250 dollars for liquid cooling. Although it was one of the best desktop gaming manufacturers, Alienware today is not very different that other good desktop brands (like Dell or HP). But if there one thing that Alienware was always good at, is appearance. They design unique cases, which really look like "outer-space" material.

In 2005, Alienware came up with a solution to solve the problem of noise with the systems in the home and studio environment as users have complained about fan noise. The Acousting Dampening System is supposed to "absorb" noise and reduce system noise levels. This solution is actually soft cellular foam padding that is inserted into the system chassis to reduce the noise made by the CPU or graphics card and even hard drives.

To show you more specifically what Alienware gaming desktops are all about, you will show you a review of one of its most popular models, the Area-51 750i. This PC uses Intel Core 2 Duo, Quad and Extreme 45 processors which are ideal for running multiple tasks and high-performance. The graphics card is nVidia GeForce 9800 GT, a MUST for true gamers who play the latest game releases. The operating system is the 64 bit Windows Vista because it allows you to use more random access memory than other versions of Windows.  The Area-51 is believed to be too expensive for what it has to offer but we think it's just a matter of how much you are willing to pay to satisfy your deepest and darkest gaming needs

The difference between the Alienware Aurora 7500 and other desktop computers made by Alienware is that with this model you get twice as much. The processor is a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 4800+ guaranteed to satisfy you need for computer speed. You also get two graphic cards, how useful is that? There are 6 available colors for the unit's case but what's really important is the huge amount of space you have inside the tower (which is two feet high and two feet deep, by the way). Just imagine all the internal devices you can store in there! Come to think of it, you get a dual GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card and a piece of the Creative Sound Blaster. Do you still think there is that much upgrading to be done? Just like most Dell warranty options, with the Aurora 7500 you can benefit from the one-year warranty and non-stop phone support and you can also expand your warranty period for a couple hundred dollars. Except for its spicy price of over 3000 dollars, there is not much to complain about this computer. Well, maybe just the noise you would not expect to find on such a high performance PC. But if you want to play F.E.A.R. or Call of Duty 2, then the Aurora 7500 is the desktop for you.

The truth about these Aurora desktops is that Alienware has made a great deal of investment in the design of the unit. When you look the Alienware Aurora's new case, you might get the feeling an alien space ship has just landed in your living room. This is due to the fins that were designed on top of the tower and when temperature inside the case reaches a high level, these fins will open up to allow cooling of the components inside.

Surely you can imagine that not everything goes as smooth as you would expect. One very angry customer made a complaint once and he expected to be treated like a kind considering the huge amount of money he paid for his computer. He ordered it online and the company told him the product would be shipped to him in 30 days. They charged him with the full amount as soon as he placed the order.  On their website, you can keep track of your order, as a computer that is assembled has to pass though 14 different stages before it arrives to your home. The company also said that if the price of the machine drops, the customer would get a refund of the difference.  Even though the price dropped almost $200, this customer did not get his money because "the machine had already been shipped" when the price changed. He also has trouble with that online tracking order as it was never up-to-date (the online information said the computer was in phase 3 of assembly when in real life it was in phase 9).  When this unsatisfied customer though about returning the system and getting him money back, the company said he would have to pay a 15% restocking fee.

Be very careful who you trust (and how much you trust them) or you might end up paying useless fees before even receiving your computer at home. Of course, the case we presented above is unfortunate, but this does not mean that Alienware is a lousy computer company. Read some more reviews written by customers that interacted with the company and you can form your own opinion. Alienware claims to be a high end company delivering premium computers with equally top notch service. When I was looking for a performance beast as my next main desktop machine I decided that I was willing to pay the extra price for a blazing machine and the kind of service that they were promising.