Here's my modest review:
Area-51® m5500
Processor: Intel® Pentium® M 740 1.73GHz 2MB L2 Cache 533MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 90-Day AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support
Display: Alienware® m5500 15.4" WideXGA 1280 x 800 LCD - Xeno Grey - Xeno Grey
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 915GM + ICH6 Chipset
Wireless Network Card: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 a/b/g Wireless Card
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
Hard Drive: 60GB 5400 RPM ATA100
Video/Graphics Card: 128MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go MXM 6600
Sound Card: Intel® High-Definition Audio
Optical Drive: 24x10x24 CD-RW / 8X DVD Combo w/Software MPEG2 Decoder
Ethernet NIC: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Modem: 56K Modem with V.90 Technology
Mobile Transport : Alienware® Premium Messenger Case
Mobile Power: Belkin® AC Anywhere 300W
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Alienware Exclusive Offers: Gamespot Complete - Free 90-day Trial (a $20.85 value)
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
[1] Special Financing Offer; 6 Months Same As Cash Financing with the Alienware Credit Card
[1] $100 Mail-in Rebate; On Select Notebooks
SubTotal: $1,431.00
Shipping: $111.12
Discount/rebate: $100.00
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $1,442.12
I ordered the above on Feb. 19 and it was delivered on Feb. 25
This is my first laptop, one that I'll use for work and home.
I shopped around at Dell HP etc. but noticed that AW had a rebate going and a free carry case. Needless to say the deal was better than Dell at the time.
The ordering experience was quick and painless via the telephone after playing around on-line a few days.
I was very impressed with Alienware's packaging. The first thing I noticed was the screen, it was beautiful. I've been a desktop CRT man for a very long time and to finally have a display like this was really exciting. Kind of in between glossy and matt finish.
I loaded it up with all my software, tweaked it out and ran it very hard for at least a month. I'm not a gamer or anything so I pushed it by running multiple apps/movies and for long periods of time with frequent re-boots etc.
The silver/grey color is neat and the lighted Alien head and Alienware logos make it unique.
I wish it had a separate number keypad although some letter keys can function as numbers. Most of the time I use a mini optical mouse instead of the pad.
Ports? Lots on this lappy, 3 USB, an S-video, an audio line-in jack, an Ethernet port, a headphones / SPDIF-out jack, a microphone jack, a firewire port, AC adapter port and a VGA port. It came with a 6 cell battery but I soon ordered the 9 cell one too.
Also, it is a very thin, very quiet machine that weighs about 6 lbs.
Don't know what else to say other than it works flawlessly.
I use it in the car sometimes with IGuidance and MS S&T mapping software and a mouse GPS which works real well.
I use it all over the house and outside the house as the wireless feature works quite well with my 5.0/640 DSL connection.
I have two passive »www.keysan.com/ksu1358.htm cooling stands, and an air desk »www.airdesks.com/laptop_desk_stand.html for this lappy. I made my own auto mount for the car.
I am very satisfied.
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by Hiker 2  edited by fire100
last modified: 2006-07-12 10:30:35 |
