Alienware Area-51 m7700

I figure since this forum has given me a bunch of info and help I shall give what I can in return. This is my review of the new 7700 laptop. I have never done a review so bare with me. I will break it down as best as I can. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will answer them as best as I can.

Ordering
I used Alienwares website to place my order. After I roamed around this forum for a few weeks I finally ordered the 7700 laptop the day it came out. Well that was the easy part, now I had to wait. I had the typical buyers remorse and second guessed myself everynight for a week. After talking with Craig for awhile I decided to scrap the 7700 and go with the Aurora desktop. So I called up AW and talked with a rep who was very helpful. He changed my order and I was off and rolling again, or off and waiting. So a two weeks go by and then the next problem rears its ugly head. I change jobs and houses. To make a long story short I decided once again to go with the laptop. Now fastforward to 12/8. I call up AW again, and ask them to change my order back. Not a problem and its $78 dollars cheaper. Cool so now I am back on track.

Phases!!!
Well for those that have been through it know what kind of hell it can be. It is not much fun but there is no way around it. I called the AW reps everyday for about a week untill I realized there was nothing they could do and all I could do was sit back and wait. So I would check the email everyday just hoping to see this huge jump to phase 14. As you would guess it never happened. Phase 3,4,5,6,7,8,13. Wait 13, holy crap I jumped, I jumped phases. Then it started to really set in, I was going to be the proud owner of the new Alienware 7700 laptop. I had to call AW just to make sure I read the email correct. I did, it was on its way. I had an estimated ship date of 01/15. My lappy shipped 12 days early. I felt kind of bad because I have read so many horror stories about people having to wait months and months and here I am 12 days early. I guess I have nothing to complain about now.

It shipped!
So I got the tracking numbers emailed to me. I check the Fedex site about twice a day. I watched my lappy travel from Flordia to Phoenix Arizona in about 3 days. Then from Phx to my city (Prescott, AZ) in a day. Then it gets better, "Out for delievery". Sweet. Well the doorbell rings about 2:30 pm. He asked for a signature, crap all I wanted was the big black box. I think I signed with an X I was so excited. I dont even remember. I got my laptop!!!!

Open it up!
A big black box and a smaller brown one. Which one do I open first? I go for the smaller one. After I get through AW excellent packing I find a few games. Then its off the more important big box. Fly through all the foam and pull out the carrying case that they give you free. There is a smaller black box that has all the extras, cd's, cables, ect. Then its through some more packaging. There she is, my baby. Sitting all nice and pretty. So I finish unwrapping and pulling out the folder and mouse pad in a tin box. Snap some pictures and then its time to fire it up.

Fire it up!
Push the silver button on the right. She comes to life. Bios screen flew by. I think I had about 2 seconds to hit f2, i barly saw it. Go through all the windows loading stuff. Looking around at the huge screen, not a single dead pixel, not one. So I threw on some games, Hl2, battlefiled, ect. This machine handles them with ease. Not a single problem. It flew through the 5 disc hl2 loading. What a dream. I have never had a pc so quick. Im in awe to the day, she just keeps on amazing me. I downloaded a few benchmark programs. I will update this post after I get the benchmark results. I will also do a battery test. ***Battery test results. I was able to play HL2, CS, Battlefield 1942 for 1 hour and 7 minutes before the lappy screamed for a power outlet. I surf all over the internet for 1 hour and 41 minutes. I used the internet for 20 minute, then played HL2 for 20 minute, then back to the internet for 20 minutes, ect for 1 hour and 22 minutes. The screen dims a few clicks when the battery is being used. With the default settings in place the processor runs at 2.6ghz. During the tests I ran the processor at a full 3.2ghz. There where no visual changes between battery and regular wall power. The computer acted exactly the same.
The specs
P4 3.2GHZ
1 gig Corsair DDR2
NVIDIA 6800FXGO 256meg
60gig 7200rpm x2 Non Raid
8x DVD RW
24x CD RW
and all the other basic goodies, xp, card reader, 7.1 sound card, ect.

Final Thoughts
Damn, Damn, Damn, what a sweet computer. What a great company. What a great experience. Not a single problem. The computer was set up the way I had dreamed. The phases went quick, the aw reps helped as best they could. I would do it all over again. I do believe my next pc will be an Alienware. Hope this sheds some light on my experience with Alienware. If you have any questions please ask away. Please let me know what you think of the review, hope I did not bore anyone to death. Good luck with your Alienware and believe me the wait is well worth it. Ryan

Links to the Pictures.....http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=58237




The benchmarks.....

I know nothing about benchmarking or OCing. I just downloaded and ran the programs. Please let me know how they are and if I can make the computer run better. Thanks Ryan

3dmark05 - 2709
3dmark01 - 16061
3dmark03 - 7142