OK guys. Now that I have had a little time to mess around with my new lappie here is my review. First off I was very impressed with the packaging job. The laptop was shipped nested in two cardboard boxes; the inner box suspended on foam supports at each corner within the larger box and the laptop suspended on foam supports within the smaller box. I also liked the black tape used to seal the box. Basically it was a nice and rather classy packaging job. I really want to keep the box, but I fear the wife is going to make me toss it soon. Maybe I can hide it behind the china cabinet.
First impressions: the case is awesome. It is very solid and does not flex like some other manufacturers cases. I opened up every port on the case soon after receiving it so I knew where every part was located and noticed that the chassis is rather thick (~1/8”). It would probably survive a significant blow or drop that most of the other parts would not. My brother actually picked it up and started to torque it back and forth in his hands to no avail, but it almost stopped my heart. I really like the look of the saucer silver paint with the contrast of the black accents, but it would be nice if it had a glossier sheen all around. Most of the chassis actually has a smooth finish except for the lid which is rougher in texture. Also on the lid are the hand grips which are not grippy at all (I was thinking rubber grips when I bought it); rather they are just painted black instead of silver.
I opted for the 15.4” screen which is extremely sharp and has great contrast. There are no dead pixels. It would have gone right back in the box if it did. The screen is one of the main reasons that I opted for an Alienware computer. I want a laptop display with a high resolution, high contrast, wide viewing angles and great gaming capabilities. This display covers all those requirements. Basically it is beautiful and has ruined all other displays for me, which is a small price to pay in my opinion. The ATI 9600 allows me to play BF1942 with great FPS, which is all I can ask for now. As for the future, it is upgradeable so we will see.
There are four speakers total on the 15.4” model: two on the front edge and two below the display. The 16.1” comes with only two speakers. The two extra speakers are nice since it allows you to have front and rear channels without an elaborate speaker setup (a great feature that is really helpful for locating planes while playing BF1942). Sound quality from the speakers is great for them being so small. They do not carry low end sound very well, but that is expected. A common complaint is static in the speaker while the wireless card is connected. My setup does not have any static while surfing the internet, but does after playing BF1942 on or offline for a while and gets worse with graphically intense situations. I have a 3-speaker sound system (Creative T2900) that I hook up to the SPDIF output that makes everything sound like a dream.
As for the internal wireless, my setup has not had any signal strength issues with the Atheros a/b/g wireless card. It does not appear to get as strong a signal as my wife’s Netgear WG511 PCMCIA card, but they both had approximately the same range when tested together on our home router. I think that this is a software discrepancy rather than a real difference in hardware capability. The furthest that I could get from the router (Netgear WGR614) was about 100 ft. through 3 brick walls. Not to shabby in my book. I experimented with switching around the wiring on the card as discussed on several threads, but I did not notice a big difference either way. It appeared that having the grey wire on aux and the black wire on main resulted in a greater transmission rate (36-56 Mbps vs. 24-36 Mbps with the grey wire alone), but the grey wire on main alone had a greater range (~15%). I currently have the black wire on the main terminal with the grey wire covered only because that is the last way that I tried it. While it may not have the best range it is great for use near a router and you don’t have to deal with a card constantly sticking out of your PCMCIA port.
As for the input and output connections, I would have preferred them on the back of the unit since they can get in the way of a mouse used on the right side of the computer. It is obvious that there was no other place to put the connections on the back since the space not taken up by the LTP and video port or is occupied by ducts that allow for air to cool the 2.8 GHz CPU and ATI 9600 video card. Otherwise, I like having three USB ports since I can connect a mouse, digital camera and card reader all at the same time. A serial port would have been nice since I have a few devices that use it, but I can still use those with my desktop. I currently don’t have any accessories that have a card that fit in the card reader, but I have tried it out with one of my wife’s and it was quick and easy to use. I have no Firewire products so I have no comments. I benchmarked my system with 3Dmark03. With base GPU setting of 351/202.5 I got 2587. A 400/230 setting resulted in a 2928 while a 440/235 setting netted a 3089. I got about 3 3DMark03 points per 1 MHz engine clock increase and 5 3DMark03 points per 1 MHz memory clock increase based on these results. What that actually translates to in actual gameplay is unknown.
As for the ergonomic of the whole package … it is a laptop so I didn’t expect much consideration to it. I have been using an ergonomic keyboard for two years and love it, so I am having withdrawal at the moment. I forgot how tweaked your wrists get typing on a normal keyboard. That being said I do like the feel of this keyboard. It is quiet and light to the touch although it feels a little cramped like I am typing while stuck in a small box. I have not noticed excessive heat on the keyboard after typing word document for a while. For games it gets a little warm, but goes unnoticed. I plan to get a gaming keypad mostly so I don’t wear out the keys and also because I just want to try one out. It will also make extensive time spent gaming a little more comfortable since the keyboard sits about an inch off the desk and is level flat. Unlike most keyboards which have a downward sloping angle to them this flat position feels a little awkward after a while.
I purchased a Targus Port 3.1 backpack to carry my beast and am very happy with it. The 1-inch foam/air cushions that surround the laptop were the draw for me since I will be transporting it on my bike to and from school almost every day. Hopefully the extra padding will do the job of dulling the rough terrain or I will have to get another full suspension mountain bike just for riding to school. The pack has plenty of room for this huge lappie, accessories as well as two file dividers and a cell phone pocket on the shoulder strap.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. I have only had one issue in which the display started whiting out from the edges like a piece of white paper being burnt in inverse color about 20 seconds after startup. It scared the crap out of me since it really looked like the screen was burning up like a toasty circuit board. The problem appears to stem from having Powerstrip loaded and the GPU slightly overclocked and I have not had the problem recur since removing the program. This concerns me a little since most are able to o/c their GPUs significantly with no ill effects. I have a three year warranty so I am covered if the GPU performance deteriorates or the whiteout problem recurs at factory settings. Thanks to everyone for your comments and discussion before, during and after my purchase. I hope this gives those looking to buy AW51m an idea of what to expect from their purchase.
First impressions: the case is awesome. It is very solid and does not flex like some other manufacturers cases. I opened up every port on the case soon after receiving it so I knew where every part was located and noticed that the chassis is rather thick (~1/8”). It would probably survive a significant blow or drop that most of the other parts would not. My brother actually picked it up and started to torque it back and forth in his hands to no avail, but it almost stopped my heart. I really like the look of the saucer silver paint with the contrast of the black accents, but it would be nice if it had a glossier sheen all around. Most of the chassis actually has a smooth finish except for the lid which is rougher in texture. Also on the lid are the hand grips which are not grippy at all (I was thinking rubber grips when I bought it); rather they are just painted black instead of silver.
I opted for the 15.4” screen which is extremely sharp and has great contrast. There are no dead pixels. It would have gone right back in the box if it did. The screen is one of the main reasons that I opted for an Alienware computer. I want a laptop display with a high resolution, high contrast, wide viewing angles and great gaming capabilities. This display covers all those requirements. Basically it is beautiful and has ruined all other displays for me, which is a small price to pay in my opinion. The ATI 9600 allows me to play BF1942 with great FPS, which is all I can ask for now. As for the future, it is upgradeable so we will see.
There are four speakers total on the 15.4” model: two on the front edge and two below the display. The 16.1” comes with only two speakers. The two extra speakers are nice since it allows you to have front and rear channels without an elaborate speaker setup (a great feature that is really helpful for locating planes while playing BF1942). Sound quality from the speakers is great for them being so small. They do not carry low end sound very well, but that is expected. A common complaint is static in the speaker while the wireless card is connected. My setup does not have any static while surfing the internet, but does after playing BF1942 on or offline for a while and gets worse with graphically intense situations. I have a 3-speaker sound system (Creative T2900) that I hook up to the SPDIF output that makes everything sound like a dream.
As for the internal wireless, my setup has not had any signal strength issues with the Atheros a/b/g wireless card. It does not appear to get as strong a signal as my wife’s Netgear WG511 PCMCIA card, but they both had approximately the same range when tested together on our home router. I think that this is a software discrepancy rather than a real difference in hardware capability. The furthest that I could get from the router (Netgear WGR614) was about 100 ft. through 3 brick walls. Not to shabby in my book. I experimented with switching around the wiring on the card as discussed on several threads, but I did not notice a big difference either way. It appeared that having the grey wire on aux and the black wire on main resulted in a greater transmission rate (36-56 Mbps vs. 24-36 Mbps with the grey wire alone), but the grey wire on main alone had a greater range (~15%). I currently have the black wire on the main terminal with the grey wire covered only because that is the last way that I tried it. While it may not have the best range it is great for use near a router and you don’t have to deal with a card constantly sticking out of your PCMCIA port.
As for the input and output connections, I would have preferred them on the back of the unit since they can get in the way of a mouse used on the right side of the computer. It is obvious that there was no other place to put the connections on the back since the space not taken up by the LTP and video port or is occupied by ducts that allow for air to cool the 2.8 GHz CPU and ATI 9600 video card. Otherwise, I like having three USB ports since I can connect a mouse, digital camera and card reader all at the same time. A serial port would have been nice since I have a few devices that use it, but I can still use those with my desktop. I currently don’t have any accessories that have a card that fit in the card reader, but I have tried it out with one of my wife’s and it was quick and easy to use. I have no Firewire products so I have no comments. I benchmarked my system with 3Dmark03. With base GPU setting of 351/202.5 I got 2587. A 400/230 setting resulted in a 2928 while a 440/235 setting netted a 3089. I got about 3 3DMark03 points per 1 MHz engine clock increase and 5 3DMark03 points per 1 MHz memory clock increase based on these results. What that actually translates to in actual gameplay is unknown.
As for the ergonomic of the whole package … it is a laptop so I didn’t expect much consideration to it. I have been using an ergonomic keyboard for two years and love it, so I am having withdrawal at the moment. I forgot how tweaked your wrists get typing on a normal keyboard. That being said I do like the feel of this keyboard. It is quiet and light to the touch although it feels a little cramped like I am typing while stuck in a small box. I have not noticed excessive heat on the keyboard after typing word document for a while. For games it gets a little warm, but goes unnoticed. I plan to get a gaming keypad mostly so I don’t wear out the keys and also because I just want to try one out. It will also make extensive time spent gaming a little more comfortable since the keyboard sits about an inch off the desk and is level flat. Unlike most keyboards which have a downward sloping angle to them this flat position feels a little awkward after a while.
I purchased a Targus Port 3.1 backpack to carry my beast and am very happy with it. The 1-inch foam/air cushions that surround the laptop were the draw for me since I will be transporting it on my bike to and from school almost every day. Hopefully the extra padding will do the job of dulling the rough terrain or I will have to get another full suspension mountain bike just for riding to school. The pack has plenty of room for this huge lappie, accessories as well as two file dividers and a cell phone pocket on the shoulder strap.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. I have only had one issue in which the display started whiting out from the edges like a piece of white paper being burnt in inverse color about 20 seconds after startup. It scared the crap out of me since it really looked like the screen was burning up like a toasty circuit board. The problem appears to stem from having Powerstrip loaded and the GPU slightly overclocked and I have not had the problem recur since removing the program. This concerns me a little since most are able to o/c their GPUs significantly with no ill effects. I have a three year warranty so I am covered if the GPU performance deteriorates or the whiteout problem recurs at factory settings. Thanks to everyone for your comments and discussion before, during and after my purchase. I hope this gives those looking to buy AW51m an idea of what to expect from their purchase.
