My Review-
My Alienware Area51 3.2 Ghz, SaucerSilver!
-Warranty- I got the 3-year plan...havnt had to use it yet, I hope nothing will ever happen to the point at witch I have to, but I'm glad that I got it!
-OS- I got XP Professional, and very glad that I did. I have home on my Sony Vaio(desktop) and its good for a base station. Pro has more networking capabilities that I have only begun to explore...This leaves much more to come!
-Case- The 16.1" screen is outrageously large. It makes me drool, so have ot be careful over the keyboard. haha! It seems a lot larger while you are infront of it than the website leads it to be. Im very glad that I chose this over the 15". The screen's washout problem is not much of a problem at all. If youve owned an LCD before than you wont notice any difference, its a little different comming from a huge monitor, but it's very sharp, very fast, very colorful, and one of the best i've seen yet. I also got the Saucer Silver, It's not glossy like the green and blue, its more of a dull sandpaper, but I like the silver, and it's very nice looking.
-I got the P4 3.2 Ghz Processor. It's outrageously fast. I thought that it would be big numbers, but somekind of downside. NO DOWNSIDES! It is the fastest computer i've used yet. My friends are very envious.
-Memory- 1024 MB DDR PC-3200. Im not quite sure why I wanted a Gig, instead of the 512, but It can multitask like nothing i've ever seen. I hope that they begin to support 2 Gigs of RAM, I wait for the day.
-Video Card- ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 128MB DDR. I've never had an ATI video card before, so I figured that I would try this. I cant compare against the nVidia, but I can say that this card is an amazing piece of technology. Its quite hard to get started, but it's dependable, so far, and i'm very satisfied with it!
-Sound Card- External Sound Audigy. I have not gotten a chance to try this yet. I do not have a surround sound setup for the computer, but I did purchase the Zalman surround headphones, and will install the software tomarrow, and try them out...Any one out there wanting a review on the Auigy, I will update in a day or so.
-Hard Drive- I got the Hitachi 60 Gb, 7200 RPM drive. It is noticably faster with readouts and graphics. The better speed of the drive was deffinatley worth it, ans i also got a second one, I have not tried dual harddrives yet, but Im sure it will be nice for traveling. Also to note, the drive is very quiet, and when it is going full blast, you cant even hear it over the volume, the power AC for the computer (seperate box on the floor near outlet) is actually louder than anything on the computer!!
-Smart Bay One- 4x2x8x DVD-RW / 16x10x24x CD-RW Combo. This thing can read everything, do everything, its nice, fast and Good looking. I have not tried burning Cd's or DVD's with it, that will also come later.
-Wireless Network- I have not tried the internal PCI a/b/g card yet, as I do not have the wireless base station yet....will get back to you on that.
-Optional Keyboard- The wireless keyboard is the equivilant of the Alienware keyboard. If you have used an alienware keyboard, you know how nice it is. The mouse that comes with the wireless keyboard is really nice. Its a laser mouse that fits your hand perfectly. It is also rechargable!
-Notebook Bag- The Targus Notebook backpack is the coolest carying case i've seen yet. Personally I love backpacks, they dont get in the way. The computer fits very snuggly and perfectly in the backpack. It also has a lot space for everything that you could have ordered with your computer. Lots of padding also,very safe to carry your precious new toy in!
-Microsoft Office- Its a necessity....
-AlienAutopsy- My friend tells me thats it always annoys him on his computer, but i've yet to have it come up on mine, which is a good thing! Its going to be a great technical service tool to have though...I think it was worth it.
-My View on the "Ultimate Gaming Machine"-
This is my first lappy, so my first impressions were that of astonishment. I couldnt beleive how small my new 3.2 ghz computer was. Taking this places would be a breeze. Starting it up was no problem at all, and setting up Windows Pro seemed like a vacation. The first thing that I did was Installed the AIM program and it installed nicley, and easily. Internet explorer was amazing and nothing had any problems. Yes it was quite bright, but easy fixed after a deep breath. I love the 16.1" screen, It plays movies exceptionaly well, and games are better on this than my 21" sony CRT.
-My problems, Yes, Alienware has problems!-
When I booted up the first time it was as if I stepped outside and starred at the sun for a few seconds, Brightness. But I easily fixed it with the display setting (thanks to on of Craig's Posts on sttings) I fixed this problem in about 30 seconds. I tried a few things right off the bat, Like HALO, C&C genreals, The fast and the Furious DVD, and Bad Boys II Soundtrack CD. 1)HALO- Ran fine, super bright, but in game settings fixed it quite well, still needs some work. THe First-person shooter runs smoothly on 1600x1200. There is little if no "ghosting". 2)C&C Generals- Had trouble installing, kept giving me errors, but i aborted and started from the beginning again and it installed fine. Although when i tried to play it, it would freeze EVERY time. I began panicking, and Direct Conneccted through NEXTEL with BKJOLLY. He guided me through the uninstallation of the ATI Video drivers that the computer comes with, and the instalation of the new catalyst ones. After this there was more tweakingt o get the system back to looking normal, but it ran great. ANYONE having trouble with games freezing and such, if you have not installed hte new drivers, this is most likely the problem, it solved all of my freezing problems. It also seems to have made the games run smoother, such as HALO. The Fast and the Furious (DVD)- This was very troublesome before the installation of the New Catalyst ATI drivers. It would give me Wierd looking lines that would stretch accross the screen and distort everything beyond recognition. After the Now after the driver installation, I was able to play the movie only after sleecting sceen one, it would NOT just start up and play. I ended up updating the PowerDVD program, and after installing the update it seems to have corrected the problem, and it runs flawlessly. The CD had no problems at all. Which brings me to the speakers. Perfect. They give you the correct sounds, and dont distort it at all, It is very nice to have them, and I cant wait to try those surround Headphones!!
All in all, this computer is an exellent machine, and is worth the wait. Be very glad that you orederd it, and be proud to be a member of the Alienware crew. The battery has lasted me this review, a total of 1 hour so far and has 60% left. That is basic typing with AIM running in the background. If there are any questions please let me know, I would be glad ot answer them. Here are some pics of the computer when it came.
Enjoy
Alright guys...Heres an update!
I got my wireless keyboard installed, It works great, and I deffinatley didnt hesitate going back to typing on a normal sized keyboard. The wireless connection is really nice to have, because I can put it anywhere, on ym lap, in fornt of the comp, spinning around in the chair...whatever! The wireless mouse is more than perfect, it even has a recharging station! That way I dont go through 20 bucks in AA's avery week like I used to. I installed the Creative Audigy surround box. At first it sucked, real bad...I couldnt find the setup box, hence no surround. But after playing around for a little while I found it and pluged in my Zalman Surround 5.1 hadphones and I couldnt beleifve what I was hearing! I use them all the time now. The box was super easy to set up, looks really nice, and it even has a Remote!
Heres a few pics of my evolving setup, the sound box, and the wireless stuff! Have fun...Im sure i'll be adding more updates as I figure everything out!
Enjoy!
Alrighty guys, heres a few more pics (taken in my spare time..) SOme may be a bit blurry, still tryin to figure out this digital camera. If theres any other pics that youd like to see, just let me know. And also, I know theres a thread, but how high have you guys with the area 51m's been getting on the 3Dmark03. Mine getts a flat 2500 without overclocking. It gets a 3139 by overclocking a bit. Thanks guys!
Enjoy!
Also Im thinking of getting a corner desk and putting the workstation in my room, do you guys know of any really nice looking and very functional corner desks that I could take a look at?
My Alienware Area51 3.2 Ghz, SaucerSilver!
-Warranty- I got the 3-year plan...havnt had to use it yet, I hope nothing will ever happen to the point at witch I have to, but I'm glad that I got it!
-OS- I got XP Professional, and very glad that I did. I have home on my Sony Vaio(desktop) and its good for a base station. Pro has more networking capabilities that I have only begun to explore...This leaves much more to come!
-Case- The 16.1" screen is outrageously large. It makes me drool, so have ot be careful over the keyboard. haha! It seems a lot larger while you are infront of it than the website leads it to be. Im very glad that I chose this over the 15". The screen's washout problem is not much of a problem at all. If youve owned an LCD before than you wont notice any difference, its a little different comming from a huge monitor, but it's very sharp, very fast, very colorful, and one of the best i've seen yet. I also got the Saucer Silver, It's not glossy like the green and blue, its more of a dull sandpaper, but I like the silver, and it's very nice looking.
-I got the P4 3.2 Ghz Processor. It's outrageously fast. I thought that it would be big numbers, but somekind of downside. NO DOWNSIDES! It is the fastest computer i've used yet. My friends are very envious.
-Memory- 1024 MB DDR PC-3200. Im not quite sure why I wanted a Gig, instead of the 512, but It can multitask like nothing i've ever seen. I hope that they begin to support 2 Gigs of RAM, I wait for the day.
-Video Card- ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 128MB DDR. I've never had an ATI video card before, so I figured that I would try this. I cant compare against the nVidia, but I can say that this card is an amazing piece of technology. Its quite hard to get started, but it's dependable, so far, and i'm very satisfied with it!
-Sound Card- External Sound Audigy. I have not gotten a chance to try this yet. I do not have a surround sound setup for the computer, but I did purchase the Zalman surround headphones, and will install the software tomarrow, and try them out...Any one out there wanting a review on the Auigy, I will update in a day or so.
-Hard Drive- I got the Hitachi 60 Gb, 7200 RPM drive. It is noticably faster with readouts and graphics. The better speed of the drive was deffinatley worth it, ans i also got a second one, I have not tried dual harddrives yet, but Im sure it will be nice for traveling. Also to note, the drive is very quiet, and when it is going full blast, you cant even hear it over the volume, the power AC for the computer (seperate box on the floor near outlet) is actually louder than anything on the computer!!
-Smart Bay One- 4x2x8x DVD-RW / 16x10x24x CD-RW Combo. This thing can read everything, do everything, its nice, fast and Good looking. I have not tried burning Cd's or DVD's with it, that will also come later.
-Wireless Network- I have not tried the internal PCI a/b/g card yet, as I do not have the wireless base station yet....will get back to you on that.
-Optional Keyboard- The wireless keyboard is the equivilant of the Alienware keyboard. If you have used an alienware keyboard, you know how nice it is. The mouse that comes with the wireless keyboard is really nice. Its a laser mouse that fits your hand perfectly. It is also rechargable!
-Notebook Bag- The Targus Notebook backpack is the coolest carying case i've seen yet. Personally I love backpacks, they dont get in the way. The computer fits very snuggly and perfectly in the backpack. It also has a lot space for everything that you could have ordered with your computer. Lots of padding also,very safe to carry your precious new toy in!
-Microsoft Office- Its a necessity....
-AlienAutopsy- My friend tells me thats it always annoys him on his computer, but i've yet to have it come up on mine, which is a good thing! Its going to be a great technical service tool to have though...I think it was worth it.
-My View on the "Ultimate Gaming Machine"-
This is my first lappy, so my first impressions were that of astonishment. I couldnt beleive how small my new 3.2 ghz computer was. Taking this places would be a breeze. Starting it up was no problem at all, and setting up Windows Pro seemed like a vacation. The first thing that I did was Installed the AIM program and it installed nicley, and easily. Internet explorer was amazing and nothing had any problems. Yes it was quite bright, but easy fixed after a deep breath. I love the 16.1" screen, It plays movies exceptionaly well, and games are better on this than my 21" sony CRT.
-My problems, Yes, Alienware has problems!-
When I booted up the first time it was as if I stepped outside and starred at the sun for a few seconds, Brightness. But I easily fixed it with the display setting (thanks to on of Craig's Posts on sttings) I fixed this problem in about 30 seconds. I tried a few things right off the bat, Like HALO, C&C genreals, The fast and the Furious DVD, and Bad Boys II Soundtrack CD. 1)HALO- Ran fine, super bright, but in game settings fixed it quite well, still needs some work. THe First-person shooter runs smoothly on 1600x1200. There is little if no "ghosting". 2)C&C Generals- Had trouble installing, kept giving me errors, but i aborted and started from the beginning again and it installed fine. Although when i tried to play it, it would freeze EVERY time. I began panicking, and Direct Conneccted through NEXTEL with BKJOLLY. He guided me through the uninstallation of the ATI Video drivers that the computer comes with, and the instalation of the new catalyst ones. After this there was more tweakingt o get the system back to looking normal, but it ran great. ANYONE having trouble with games freezing and such, if you have not installed hte new drivers, this is most likely the problem, it solved all of my freezing problems. It also seems to have made the games run smoother, such as HALO. The Fast and the Furious (DVD)- This was very troublesome before the installation of the New Catalyst ATI drivers. It would give me Wierd looking lines that would stretch accross the screen and distort everything beyond recognition. After the Now after the driver installation, I was able to play the movie only after sleecting sceen one, it would NOT just start up and play. I ended up updating the PowerDVD program, and after installing the update it seems to have corrected the problem, and it runs flawlessly. The CD had no problems at all. Which brings me to the speakers. Perfect. They give you the correct sounds, and dont distort it at all, It is very nice to have them, and I cant wait to try those surround Headphones!!
All in all, this computer is an exellent machine, and is worth the wait. Be very glad that you orederd it, and be proud to be a member of the Alienware crew. The battery has lasted me this review, a total of 1 hour so far and has 60% left. That is basic typing with AIM running in the background. If there are any questions please let me know, I would be glad ot answer them. Here are some pics of the computer when it came.
Enjoy
Alright guys...Heres an update!
I got my wireless keyboard installed, It works great, and I deffinatley didnt hesitate going back to typing on a normal sized keyboard. The wireless connection is really nice to have, because I can put it anywhere, on ym lap, in fornt of the comp, spinning around in the chair...whatever! The wireless mouse is more than perfect, it even has a recharging station! That way I dont go through 20 bucks in AA's avery week like I used to. I installed the Creative Audigy surround box. At first it sucked, real bad...I couldnt find the setup box, hence no surround. But after playing around for a little while I found it and pluged in my Zalman Surround 5.1 hadphones and I couldnt beleifve what I was hearing! I use them all the time now. The box was super easy to set up, looks really nice, and it even has a Remote!
Heres a few pics of my evolving setup, the sound box, and the wireless stuff! Have fun...Im sure i'll be adding more updates as I figure everything out!
Enjoy!
Alrighty guys, heres a few more pics (taken in my spare time..) SOme may be a bit blurry, still tryin to figure out this digital camera. If theres any other pics that youd like to see, just let me know. And also, I know theres a thread, but how high have you guys with the area 51m's been getting on the 3Dmark03. Mine getts a flat 2500 without overclocking. It gets a 3139 by overclocking a bit. Thanks guys!
Enjoy!
Also Im thinking of getting a corner desk and putting the workstation in my room, do you guys know of any really nice looking and very functional corner desks that I could take a look at?
account of your Area51m thus far. I look forward to seeing how you enjoy the machine in the days to come.
) just wondering how good it is.
