First Sentia m3450 review! (I think) ... Hi all, I think this is the first review of the Sentia m3450 on notebookforums.com. I say "I think" because ...

jth213 · 08-07-2006, 11:51 PM

Hi all,

I think this is the first review of the Sentia m3450 on notebookforums.com. I say "I think" because I haven't seen one...doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I haven't seen any. But I digress...

First some photos:
The box

I got a kick out of the tape on the outside of the box...now THAT'S theft deterrence!

Inside the box

The box inside the box

Inside the box inside the box

The stuff inside the box inside the box

The box inside the box inside the box

The stuff inside the box inside the box inside the box

More of the stuff inside the box inside the box inside the box

The reason we're all here

Closeup

Opening the lid

Keyboard - definitely not 'spongy'

Back (a little blurry...sorry!)

Left side

Right side

First boot...look how clean that desktop is (no bloatware!)

Glowing alien head and logo (a bit blurry)

Lights out

Lights out - closeup (green spectrum really overpowers...this looks blue to the human eye)

Side-by-side comparison to my old laptop - Dell Inspiron 6000

I'm extremely happy with my m3450. My old laptop, seen in the last photo, is a Dell Inspiron 6000, which is juuuuust a little big (for me, anyway) to be a 'true' laptop. She weighs in at a bit over 6 lbs., has a 15.4" screen, runs very, very hot and loud, and is basically just a beast to lug around (it barely fits in my Targus backpack). The I6000 also has just 1GB of RAM and a 5400 RPM hard disk, which just isn't a good combination. I find that XP swaps pages almost constantly to the slow hard disk.

The Sentia, on the other hand, is a really great form factor, in my opinion. I won't buy another machine for portable use that has a screen bigger than 14"...that's just a good, manageable, luggable size for me.

First impressions:
OK, this baby has no lid lock. Huh? Yeah, that's right, no lid lock. About 1/2" before being fully closed, the lid hinge kind of "locks" and pulls itself shut. Weird, but I can live with it.

The keys seem to be a little bigger than on my Inspiron, making it feel almost like a full size keyboard. Maybe it's just my smallish fingers, but the keys just feel "meatier" and more solid. Some posters in my earlier thread about the m3450 mentioned a "spongy" feel to the keys that others had reported. I don't think they feel spongy at all. The period key (.) has been giving me a little bit of trouble, not wanting to actuate with a light touch from my right ring finger. Not sure what to do about that, especially if I'm typing fast.

The touch pad is pretty sensitive, and after a full day of use, I found that my cursor would jump unexpectedly to another location on my screen if my thumb brushed the pad while I was typing. A little fiddling with the touchpad settings revealed an option to disable the touchpad while typing. That took care of the problem.

I'm more of a business user (software developer) than a gamer, so I haven't even attempted to play any games on this machine. I can tell you that the screen is clear and bright, with some glare due to the high-gloss coating the screen ships with. Max resolution is 1280x768 (widescreen) which is just fine for my needs.

The webcam provides a nice crisp, clear image @ 640x480, and works well with Skype and Windows Movie Maker (the only apps I tried it with).

She runs surprisingly quiet, and I have not had any issues with excessive heat. I did use it on my lap for about 2 hours this evening and it felt comfortable. By contrast, my Inspiron would almost burn my thigh, even through pants, and would almost constantly run its fans.

Performance-wise, I'd say the Core Duo processor (2Ghz T2500) is a real rocket. Again, I'm not a gamer, but I can bring my Inspiron to its knees by running 2 or 3 instances of Visual Studio 2005, Outlook, Word, maybe SQL Management Studio and a couple of utilities simultaneously. The m3450 handles this workload with ease, due in part to the 2GB of 667Mhz RAM and the 7200 RPM hard disk.

One of the best "features" (and part of the reason why I was willing to pay a premium for Alienware) was the lack of pre-installed "crapware" that most PC manufacturers insist on shipping with their machines. The m3450 was clean as a whistle when she arrived, with only 3 preinstalled apps on board: a video capture utility, Nero Express and Cyberlink PowerDVD. The desktop had a couple of shortcuts, one to AlienGUIse Theme Manager (which, curiosly, would produce a dialog box with 6 question marks upon launching) and the other to an xml file containing configuration info and checklists produced during the build process. A nice clean machine right out of the box!

Overall I'm very pleased with my new machine. The order/build/ship process took a lot longer than I expected (34 days from order to delivery), but I'm glad I waited it out. The Sentia m3450 is a nicely built little workhorse of a machine that will suit any business user or student well.

I hope this review was helpful. Please feel free to ask any specific questions about the m3450.

John

Cpt skrotum · 08-08-2006, 12:05 AM

ive got ants in my pants. THIS THING BETTER GET HERE FAST!!!!!!!!

FTLOSM · 08-08-2006, 12:06 AM

John,

Thanks for the pics and review! Wondered do they give you any sort of restore disc with this? I saw no option available for a respawn disc on this model but wondered what you do when its time to wipe and start over, is there any basic windows restore disc or anything in there?

Looks like you got the hard drive I want (7200rpm 100gig) no extra heat felt from it sounds good! I will prob go with the 1.8 duo core, I think it is more of a question of waiting a bit more to see if they drop any more for back to school or not on this model.

With the talk of possible memon or whatever its called I wonder if these first duo core 3450's will go down in price just before the memon ones release...

Drop me an email when your up in my neck of the woods to see your sister, hopefully I can meet with ya for 10-15 mins to see this baby in person, but it sounds like the keyboard and touchpad issues I have read about are not issues here which is nice to read...

Do you happen to know who makes the 7200 drive in these (guessing seagate HOPING not Toshiba).

Bill

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTLOSM

John,

Thanks for the pics and review! Wondered do they give you any sort of restore disc with this? I saw no option available for a respawn disc on this model but wondered what you do when its time to wipe and start over, is there any basic windows restore disc or anything in there?

Looks like you got the hard drive I want (7200rpm 100gig) no extra heat felt from it sounds good! I will prob go with the 1.8 duo core, I think it is more of a question of waiting a bit more to see if they drop any more for back to school or not on this model.

With the talk of possible memon or whatever its called I wonder if these first duo core 3450's will go down in price just before the memon ones release...

Drop me an email when your up in my neck of the woods to see your sister, hopefully I can meet with ya for 10-15 mins to see this baby in person, but it sounds like the keyboard and touchpad issues I have read about are not issues here which is nice to read...

Do you happen to know who makes the 7200 drive in these (guessing seagate HOPING not Toshiba).

Bill

The white booklet shown in the photo titled "More of the stuff inside the box inside the box inside the box" contains a system recovery CD, along with several driver and utility CDs.

The hard disk is a Seagate Momentus ST910021AS on a SATA-150 interface.

I may be up at my sister's sometime this weekend...all depends on how my mom is doing. I'll let you know.

Cpt skrotum · 08-08-2006, 12:46 AM

i ordered mine with media center, without trying it out. how much different is it compared to home edition?

FTLOSM · 08-08-2006, 12:56 AM

John,

DO please get in touch with me if your up this way this weekend at all, actually would be awesome for two reasons...

First my wife is taking our daughter to her aunts to visit saturday all day (leaving my day open with no kids) and second cuz I don't know how long I can go without ordering one of these but sure do wanna see it in person.

I wish alienware had a local store to walk in and just TRY them at least...

Bill

Here is my addy BillAustin@comcast.net , wed thru fri i am out of town but friday night i return and will be here all weekend no plans...hope Mom is doing well and thanks again for the review and pics!

FTLOSM · 08-08-2006, 12:57 AM

Oh btw didnt see image of, but are there any fans underneath the unit or is it all draw in and exhaust out from back and side type ports?

I smell a STICKY coming to this thread soon...

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTLOSM

Oh btw didnt see image of, but are there any fans underneath the unit or is it all draw in and exhaust out from back and side type ports?

I smell a STICKY coming to this thread soon...

There is one fan on the bottom, and an exhaust port on the left side under the two USB ports. I'll try and get a pic of the bottom of the machine up tonight.

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 07:30 AM

Bottom of m3450

Exhaust port on left side

maxrule · 08-08-2006, 08:11 AM

Nice review. Dont get confused though it doesnt have a PCMCIA slot it has a pciexpress slot. That was a lesson learned on my m5700.

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxrule

Nice review. Dont get confused though it doesnt have a PCMCIA slot it has a pciexpress slot. That was a lesson learned on my m5700.

Ah, thanks maxrule...duly noted. I haven't used PCMCIA/PC cards in years, so I didn't know the technology had changed!

Italianfemmy · 08-08-2006, 01:59 PM

JTH,

Thank you soooooo much for the pics and the review. I am a little bit skeptical of this touchpad issue still but your review has convinced me to make this purchase as soon as I get my check at the end of the month. I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a review and take some pics for us. Most people would have dissapeared and never posted a review unless they wound up hating the pc, so I applaud you for that.

I did have one question. The pics you took make it look a lot smaller than I thought it was. It says it is a widescreen. When the laptop is open, from top of monitor to bottom, how many inches is it? And from left to right? U don't have to answer now ... but when you get a chance please. Thanks again!

- Alicia

seanmiller · 08-08-2006, 03:36 PM

Thanks for the review jth! I feel alot better about my order now! If only it didnt take so long!!

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Italianfemmy

JTH,

Thank you soooooo much for the pics and the review. I am a little bit skeptical of this touchpad issue still but your review has convinced me to make this purchase as soon as I get my check at the end of the month. I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a review and take some pics for us. Most people would have dissapeared and never posted a review unless they wound up hating the pc, so I applaud you for that.

I did have one question. The pics you took make it look a lot smaller than I thought it was. It says it is a widescreen. When the laptop is open, from top of monitor to bottom, how many inches is it? And from left to right? U don't have to answer now ... but when you get a chance please. Thanks again!

- Alicia

No problem, Alicia...I enjoyed writing the review and taking the pictures almost as much as I did playing with my new toy!

Here are the screen measurements you asked for:

Outside dimensions (case edge to case edge)
Width: 13"
Height: 9.5"

Inside dimensions (screen edge to screen edge)
Width: 12"
Height: 7.25"
Diagonal: 14"

Hope that clears things up for you.

jth213 · 08-08-2006, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanmiller

Thanks for the review jth! I feel alot better about my order now! If only it didnt take so long!!

I was at Phase 3 for a good couple of weeks, so I know the agony you're going through. Take slow, deep breaths and you'll get through it.

08-07-2006, 11:51 PM	#1
jth213 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 26 Credits: -342	First Sentia m3450 review! (I think) Hi all, I think this is the first review of the Sentia m3450 on notebookforums.com. I say "I think" because I haven't seen one...doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I haven't seen any. But I digress... First some photos: The box I got a kick out of the tape on the outside of the box...now THAT'S theft deterrence! Inside the box The box inside the box Inside the box inside the box The stuff inside the box inside the box The box inside the box inside the box The stuff inside the box inside the box inside the box More of the stuff inside the box inside the box inside the box The reason we're all here Closeup Opening the lid Keyboard - definitely not 'spongy' Back (a little blurry...sorry!) Left side Right side First boot...look how clean that desktop is (no bloatware!) Glowing alien head and logo (a bit blurry) Lights out Lights out - closeup (green spectrum really overpowers...this looks blue to the human eye) Side-by-side comparison to my old laptop - Dell Inspiron 6000 I'm extremely happy with my m3450. My old laptop, seen in the last photo, is a Dell Inspiron 6000, which is juuuuust a little big (for me, anyway) to be a 'true' laptop. She weighs in at a bit over 6 lbs., has a 15.4" screen, runs very, very hot and loud, and is basically just a beast to lug around (it barely fits in my Targus backpack). The I6000 also has just 1GB of RAM and a 5400 RPM hard disk, which just isn't a good combination. I find that XP swaps pages almost constantly to the slow hard disk. The Sentia, on the other hand, is a really great form factor, in my opinion. I won't buy another machine for portable use that has a screen bigger than 14"...that's just a good, manageable, luggable size for me. First impressions: OK, this baby has no lid lock. Huh? Yeah, that's right, no lid lock. About 1/2" before being fully closed, the lid hinge kind of "locks" and pulls itself shut. Weird, but I can live with it. The keys seem to be a little bigger than on my Inspiron, making it feel almost like a full size keyboard. Maybe it's just my smallish fingers, but the keys just feel "meatier" and more solid. Some posters in my earlier thread about the m3450 mentioned a "spongy" feel to the keys that others had reported. I don't think they feel spongy at all. The period key (.) has been giving me a little bit of trouble, not wanting to actuate with a light touch from my right ring finger. Not sure what to do about that, especially if I'm typing fast. The touch pad is pretty sensitive, and after a full day of use, I found that my cursor would jump unexpectedly to another location on my screen if my thumb brushed the pad while I was typing. A little fiddling with the touchpad settings revealed an option to disable the touchpad while typing. That took care of the problem. I'm more of a business user (software developer) than a gamer, so I haven't even attempted to play any games on this machine. I can tell you that the screen is clear and bright, with some glare due to the high-gloss coating the screen ships with. Max resolution is 1280x768 (widescreen) which is just fine for my needs. The webcam provides a nice crisp, clear image @ 640x480, and works well with Skype and Windows Movie Maker (the only apps I tried it with). She runs surprisingly quiet, and I have not had any issues with excessive heat. I did use it on my lap for about 2 hours this evening and it felt comfortable. By contrast, my Inspiron would almost burn my thigh, even through pants, and would almost constantly run its fans. Performance-wise, I'd say the Core Duo processor (2Ghz T2500) is a real rocket. Again, I'm not a gamer, but I can bring my Inspiron to its knees by running 2 or 3 instances of Visual Studio 2005, Outlook, Word, maybe SQL Management Studio and a couple of utilities simultaneously. The m3450 handles this workload with ease, due in part to the 2GB of 667Mhz RAM and the 7200 RPM hard disk. One of the best "features" (and part of the reason why I was willing to pay a premium for Alienware) was the lack of pre-installed "crapware" that most PC manufacturers insist on shipping with their machines. The m3450 was clean as a whistle when she arrived, with only 3 preinstalled apps on board: a video capture utility, Nero Express and Cyberlink PowerDVD. The desktop had a couple of shortcuts, one to AlienGUIse Theme Manager (which, curiosly, would produce a dialog box with 6 question marks upon launching) and the other to an xml file containing configuration info and checklists produced during the build process. A nice clean machine right out of the box! Overall I'm very pleased with my new machine. The order/build/ship process took a lot longer than I expected (34 days from order to delivery), but I'm glad I waited it out. The Sentia m3450 is a nicely built little workhorse of a machine that will suit any business user or student well. I hope this review was helpful. Please feel free to ask any specific questions about the m3450. John Last edited by jth213; 08-08-2006 at 08:28 PM.

08-08-2006, 12:05 AM	#2
Cpt skrotum Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 79 Credits: -330	ive got ants in my pants. THIS THING BETTER GET HERE FAST!!!!!!!! __________________ SENTIA 3450 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.0GHz Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 512MB 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Intel® GMA 950 Extreme Graphics Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem Integrated Bluetooth® Device

08-08-2006, 12:06 AM	#3
FTLOSM Pc Load Letter? WTFDTM? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: White Lake Michigan Posts: 344 Reviews: 1 Credits: 331	John, Thanks for the pics and review! Wondered do they give you any sort of restore disc with this? I saw no option available for a respawn disc on this model but wondered what you do when its time to wipe and start over, is there any basic windows restore disc or anything in there? Looks like you got the hard drive I want (7200rpm 100gig) no extra heat felt from it sounds good! I will prob go with the 1.8 duo core, I think it is more of a question of waiting a bit more to see if they drop any more for back to school or not on this model. With the talk of possible memon or whatever its called I wonder if these first duo core 3450's will go down in price just before the memon ones release... Drop me an email when your up in my neck of the woods to see your sister, hopefully I can meet with ya for 10-15 mins to see this baby in person, but it sounds like the keyboard and touchpad issues I have read about are not issues here which is nice to read... Do you happen to know who makes the 7200 drive in these (guessing seagate HOPING not Toshiba). Bill Last edited by FTLOSM; 08-08-2006 at 12:09 AM.

08-08-2006, 12:46 AM	#5
Cpt skrotum Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 79 Credits: -330	i ordered mine with media center, without trying it out. how much different is it compared to home edition? __________________ SENTIA 3450 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.0GHz Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 512MB 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Intel® GMA 950 Extreme Graphics Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem Integrated Bluetooth® Device

08-08-2006, 12:57 AM	#7
FTLOSM Pc Load Letter? WTFDTM? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: White Lake Michigan Posts: 344 Reviews: 1 Credits: 331	Oh btw didnt see image of, but are there any fans underneath the unit or is it all draw in and exhaust out from back and side type ports? I smell a STICKY coming to this thread soon... Last edited by FTLOSM; 08-08-2006 at 01:03 AM.

Notebooks For Sale

User Links

Latest Pricing

Top Posters

Todays Top Posters

Fastest Benchmarks

Latest Benchmarks

08-08-2006, 12:56 AM	#6
FTLOSM Pc Load Letter? WTFDTM? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: White Lake Michigan Posts: 344 Reviews: 1 Credits: 331	John, DO please get in touch with me if your up this way this weekend at all, actually would be awesome for two reasons... First my wife is taking our daughter to her aunts to visit saturday all day (leaving my day open with no kids) and second cuz I don't know how long I can go without ordering one of these but sure do wanna see it in person. I wish alienware had a local store to walk in and just TRY them at least... Bill Here is my addy BillAustin@comcast.net , wed thru fri i am out of town but friday night i return and will be here all weekend no plans...hope Mom is doing well and thanks again for the review and pics!

08-08-2006, 07:30 AM	#9
jth213 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 26 Credits: -342	Bottom of m3450 Exhaust port on left side

08-08-2006, 08:11 AM	#10
maxrule I like to do it myself Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,600 Credits: 2,288	Nice review. Dont get confused though it doesnt have a PCMCIA slot it has a pciexpress slot. That was a lesson learned on my m5700.

08-08-2006, 01:59 PM	#12
Italianfemmy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 9 Credits: -347	Bows down and praises Jth JTH, Thank you soooooo much for the pics and the review. I am a little bit skeptical of this touchpad issue still but your review has convinced me to make this purchase as soon as I get my check at the end of the month. I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a review and take some pics for us. Most people would have dissapeared and never posted a review unless they wound up hating the pc, so I applaud you for that. I did have one question. The pics you took make it look a lot smaller than I thought it was. It says it is a widescreen. When the laptop is open, from top of monitor to bottom, how many inches is it? And from left to right? U don't have to answer now ... but when you get a chance please. Thanks again! - Alicia

08-08-2006, 03:36 PM	#13
seanmiller Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 9 Credits: -347	Thanks for the review jth! I feel alot better about my order now! If only it didnt take so long!! __________________ Acer Aspire 5102 -AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50 -1gb DDR2 (PC 5300) -Radeon Xpress 1100 -120gb Hdd

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Alienware Sentia m3450 (Review Soon)	Wiccaan	Alienware Sentia and M11x	134	11-03-2008 10:21 AM
Guerrilla Sentia m3450 Review	Guerrilla	Alienware Sentia and M11x	51	05-01-2007 11:00 PM
Sentia m3450 Issue	Wiccaan	Alienware General	4	09-10-2006 09:31 PM
Sentia m3450 -MISSING BT!?	xliner247	Alienware Sentia and M11x	8	08-15-2006 03:16 PM
Some general sentia m3450 questions	johnathan clark	Alienware General	2	07-26-2006 05:34 AM