Alienware Area-51 m5750

My first and most likely only review of anything so please be nice . Anyway..here it is...most of you are probably waiting for this. Couple pictures are kinda blurry but I was so excited and also in a rush to get this review posted. I'll post more pics and replace them over the course of the night. EDIT: And how about a sticky moderator?

Alienware Area-51m5750

Specs:
Area-51® m5750

Processor: Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 1.86GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Display: Alienware® m5750 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 512MB
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1800
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Works 8 Productivity Suite
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager

Order Total: $2,151.00

Ordering:
As everyone else says, the website has a VERY nice layout. Ordered on 7/24/2006 via internet, got confirmation email within 30 minutes of ordering and order was also processed on the same day. They have a nice order status page that seemed to be updated as progress moved along (Phase 1-Phase 10) but I was stuck in Phase 3 (Order Processed) for about a week until I saw movement into Phase 5 (Production). They also had some issues with inventory as their website didn’t say anything was out of stock yet I received emails saying parts were out of stock with an expected date of “To be announced”. I will warn people that in my particular case that the lead times given on their website were off by a week and a couple days so don’t be surprised if you have delays due to backordered parts. My order was eventually shipped out on 8/8/2006 and delivered on 8/10/2006 via FedEx Home who typically has a very good track record of delivering on time or sometimes even early depending on the situation.

Billing/Financing:
Alienware does offer an in-house credit card through AIG Finance and the process was very quick and easy for me. They were offering a 0% promotion for 12 months so it was a no-brainer. I applied on a Friday night, decision on Saturday morning, and called in Alienware’s Finance/Billing dept. on Monday for my account number. Although they had some issues with billing, they corrected it instantly. I got my $100 discount that wasn’t applied at checkout and the lady fixed the billing issue with their in-house credit card so it would proceed into the queue for production. They also offer split billing which is very convenient if you want to divide the payments on two credit/debit cards.

Packaging:

First Impressions/Quality:
After receiving the packages, I noticed not one, but two brown boxes. One was smaller and had Microsoft Works 8.5 in it and the other box is the laptop. Inside I found a black box that had the laptop inside. It was securely placed between two of the spacers along with the accessories box. The laptop itself was what made my jaw drop. It is a beautiful machine and everything from the exterior to the design of the LED lights and buttons in the interior is amazing. On top of that, the glowing alien head makes it look bad ass = D. I’m also happy to say I had NO dead pixels. I posted some pictures with a 30GB video iPod for some of you to get a feel for the thickness of the machine as well as other pictures from the back, top, front, etc. I will say though that the screen is very bright due to the ClearView and this machine looks MUCH bigger in person. It also comes with a full keyboard layout with a separate keypad to the side (in pictures…)
EDIT: Also, the amount of personal attention you get is unbelievable. Compared to the Dell 700m I owned before, this laptop came with MUCH more "personalized" info such as the benchmarks, ID card (i had a quick laugh over it hehe), and other small things that other big name companies don't care much about.


Performance:
System booted up pretty quickly but what can you expect with modern day systems. The file on the desktop says the machine scored around 5100 in 3DMark05 as well as running 110FPS in Doom 3 but doesn’t say the resolution. I will update this thread as I run some more benchmarks and play some more "modern" games on it (GRAW and Oblivion). EDIT: I've left machine running for about 30-45 minutes now and it seems as if the unit runs pretty hot. The area where you would rest your palms is pretty hot to the touch.
EDIT:
Just ran the Source engine on it (HL2, CS:S, etc.) and I got 41.97 FPS with details and resolution maxed out. Looked pretty smooth. Also got CoD2 on it and it seemed to run pretty smoothly at high settings. I didn't max anything out and I don't think you can unless you have SLI (I think textures lock at medium or something when your not running SLI). Also got GRAW on it on maxed out resolution and settings and framerates are smooth as butter. There is VERY VERY small slowdown when HUGE explosions happen in GRAW but it's nothing you'll notice if your in the "heat of battle" and busy telling your buddies what to do. I wonder what a T2700 and 2GB of RAM would let this machine do...it would cut through any games now and in the future. ATI Powerplay DOES work. I found out that only the "Balanced" setting has a bug on it which causes the laptop to crash. Hopefully future BIOS revisions and Cataylst drivers will fix it = )

Keyboard/Touchpad:
Nice "full" keyboard layout like a regular desktop keyboard but some of the keys are "smooshed/squished" together (haha I couldn't find a better word so excuse my 3rd grade vocabulary). They also made some of the keys smaller and more compact so they could fit all of it onto the laptop. The full numeric keypad is nice but if you play games and need to reach for the left CTRL key you'll notice that you hit the FUNCTION key more often than not. There are some "mysterious" function buttons as well but after reading the manual it'll make sense. The touchpad is nice and comes with a up/down scroll "pad". You can also go left/right but it isn't labeled on the touchpad. If your using a USB mouse, you can also disable the touchpad by a button the laptop which is conviently located right above it.


Screen:
Bright, beautiful, no dead pixels = ). What more can I say.

Noise:
Not very loud but I do have one gripe. The subwoofer makes a very odd noise that is very hard to describe. Sounds like a fan is on in the speaker but there isn't. Still VERY quiet laptop. I've only heard the REAL CPU/GPU fan when I'm playing GRAW or NFS:MW and even then the fan sound gets drowned out by the music/sound FX from the games.

Speakers:
MUCH better than the ones on the Inspiron700m. If you guys (and gals = D) have used that laptop before, the speakers just plain SUCKED. Sound on the Alienware is much clearer. I also like the subwoofer on the bottom of the unit. Doesn't give you the "thump" you expect out of a "real" sub but it's better than nothing.

Customer Service:
Haven’t had any problems yet so I can’t really judge their customer service. I will say though from my ordering experience that they are professional and courteous when asked about order status, billing issues, etc.

EDIT: I had to finally call them up about one of my Alien Respawn CDs being scratched up from shipping (the boot disc was all sorts of scratched up) and initially the tech support rep said I would have to send it in for them to re-image the system to create a new set of Respawn CDs because each system is unique. After telling him that the CD probably won't even boot and that I'll call back after trying to get the drive to read it, he said he would talk to his supervisor. After about 5 minutes on hold, he came back and said they would send a new boot CD free of charge. Can't say Alienware is the only company who would've done that for free but other companies such as Gateway, Toshiba, or even Fujitsu are more likely to charge the customer an extra 15-20 bucks for that CD in my opinion; even though it was a shipping/packing issue that wasn't my fault. BTW, I got another Respawn disc set for free via 2 day FedEx shipping = )

Overall:
The unit is huge but what can you expect from a laptop that comes with a 17 inch widescreen display. Everything about this laptop met above and beyond my expectations. Even though the beginning started off rough with backordered parts and constant calls to customer care about getting my laptop into production, the end results were impressive.