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SagerMeister's m7700 Aurora & Odyssey Backpack Review - Page 6

post #101 of 124
9/12/06 at 10:53am
Haha, ya the wait is painfull.. now I have a friend trying to convince me to get the Aurora M9700 ~ SLI, duel 512 graphics.. sounds hawt, but I know nothing about the comparison on the processors and the rest of the machine. I like the sound of the 9700 due to its smaller size.. but the 7700 looks to have more desktop functions.. ~ lots more ports and a better sound system in it * along with more speakers *. Any feedback on the comparison? P.S. what speed does the FX 60 run at.. anyone?
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post #102 of 124
9/12/06 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
I haven't studied the 9700, but I think it's more of a gaming machine rather than a desktop replacement (DTR). The Aurora has a dual core chip for great processing power, but the 9700 does not. OTOH, the 9700 should kick buttocks in gaming situations with the dual SLI graphics.

So, I see it as a question of asking yourself what's the primary use of the machine? Gaming or desktop/web development? The 9700 for the former and the 7700 for the latter.

Now, someone call me when there's a dual core/dual (or quad) SLI notebook available. That's my next dream machine.
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post #103 of 124
9/12/06 at 12:21pm
Ya, so I went with the M9700 :[. Just got off the phone with the guy and he was pritty cool about it ~ helped me delete the old order and redo the new one without waiting for the first 4 stages.. = Going into production today <3. I was lookin foward to the 7700 to.. u made it seem so dreamy ~ but I did relize I was looking for gaming more then PC work, I mean after all.. that is what that giant tower is for next to my desk.
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post #104 of 124
9/12/06 at 3:05pm
Very cool SagerMeister that you're still happy with your rig.
I've just found out that my order for the Aurora m7700 will be delivered tomorrow by DHL.
Will provide a review within the next couple of days (got 3 days off work to play - yippeee!!!!!)
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post #105 of 124
9/12/06 at 4:47pm
Ahh cool.. now I really feel bad about switchin.. another 7700 customer >_<.. I will def not hesitate to return the 9700 if I feel it is not to my needs
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post #106 of 124
9/12/06 at 5:29pm
I wouldn't worry too much Shifteee. I'm a techie by nature (i never stop pushing my systems to the limit and beyond!!
I run many programs at once (especially using VM Server) so that is why i went for the aurora m7700, but i'm also pleased that it can run the latest games as well.
If you're generally only running 1 or 2 programs at once and you're more of a gamer, then you'll be more than happy with the 9700.
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post #107 of 124
9/13/06 at 6:37am
Aaaarrrgggg!!!! the wait is unbearable!!!

There's a DHL Van driving around out there with my Beast in it's hold!!!

WHERE IS IT!!! WHERE IS IT!!! WHERE IS IT!!!
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post #108 of 124
9/13/06 at 11:06am
Haha I can only imagine.. just throw out a spike strip and hold any DHL employee hostige till they are forced to rush it there :] ~ lol. Now that I think about it.. my FedEx drivers are going to be there "funny" selves and play a prank on me ~ I can see it now : FedEx driver walks in with a half torched Alienware box, with what is left in a ziplock bag , fallowed by them asking how much I want to pay to hand over the real box/boxes
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post #109 of 124
5/28/07 at 1:53am

w00t for Alienware m770's!!!

hey thanks from me too, ur review of ur m7700 is mouth watering (only, i dont know if im getting an Aurora, or Area 51, i think im getting an Aurora) and the backpack too...very yummy!!

I think the one im getting is much the same config as urs, ill post mine anyway;

Processor: AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 - 4800+ with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Built-in Camera. Super high resolution for Gamming.
Motherboard: VIA K8T890 + VT8237A Chipset.
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel Kingston DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB.
Graphics Accelerator: 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 6800. Direct x9 compatiable.
Hard Drive: Extreme Performance: 100GB 7200 RPM Seagate SATA Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Primary Battery: Alienware® m7700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Wireless Network Card: Internal Orinoco Wireless 802.11b/g miniPCI Card
Digital Audio Hardware: High-Definition Audio with surround sound

I know im gonna upgrade the hard drive, and the optical bay, i really like the dual opti. bays, and im gonna get another 100gig high performance HD

I had a Sager before, but sadly, it was struck down in the prime of life by a lightning bolt...

anyway, it was nice to, but insurance is great to pay for an alienware eh?

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post #110 of 124
5/28/07 at 3:34pm
Hey neo - take a look at my full review at the following URL:

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread193172.html

I still have 2 add the pics (coming soon), but there is info on upgrading the graphics card.

I am also looking into overclocking the processor and graphics processor - just to add a little more ooomph!

Good luck with your purchase - the m7700a is a real powerhouse!!!
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post #111 of 124
5/28/07 at 5:05pm

thx

hey, thx wolf, i read your review a couple days ago, uber cool...

can i upgrade from a 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 6800 to a 512mb 7950GTX Card, it sounds super sweet of a card, and I heard it runs a lot cooler than the 6800
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post #112 of 124
5/31/07 at 9:56pm
As Far as I am aware Neo - you can only upgrade to the 7950 if the machine came stock with the 7800GTX or the 7900GTX.

Reason being that the 7800's and above have a different power requirement to that of earlier cards.

Make sure that your's comes stock with either the 7800GTX or the 7900GTX and then the upgrade will then be possible.

Good luck and have fun with your new machine.
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post #113 of 124
6/1/07 at 1:03am
well...sadly, im positive my AW has a 6800 Go card... :-(

w00t!, my AW bookbag came today, uber sweet!...tons o' room, cool compartments, etc. Although, i must admit, its only really good for the laptop and a few laptop stuff, and possibly a few personal items...but for school, is not so good.

Anyway...thanx for all the help...and maybe I can find a way to get a 512 mb video card for it.
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post #114 of 124
6/9/07 at 2:18pm
Mine came today...it's in my lap now, and MY GOD!, its awesome!!!!!!!!!

I love it to death...the Blue, the gripies, mmm *drool, drool.* (ooops, got drool on the alienware, need a napkin!)..., the sounds, now all i need to do is to get into personalize mode, and set it up to be my laptop!!!!

w00t!!
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post #115 of 124
6/9/07 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
16 months and going strong here. I'm in love with it as much now as I was on the day I first booted it up and submitted the review starting this thread.

Digg it, baby!
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post #116 of 124
6/14/07 at 10:53am
8 1/2 months and mine is also going strong - the extra graphics ooomph provided by the 7950GTX has made a real difference (game wise).
Still searching for ways to overclock the fx60 - but no-one else has tried it just yet (for the lappy).
I'm glad your's came through ok Neo - have lots of fun.
Currently waiting for new cooler to arrive - old one not quite big enough for the Beast!!!

Oh well.....back to the studying
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post #117 of 124
6/14/07 at 12:09pm

w00t v.1.01

yeah my laptop came, and its great...only wish there was a way to get 512mbs of video memory in this beast

backpack is great (have to trim the strap a tab, it cant hardly get the velcro on the laptop padding), holds all the stuff i need, and looks sweet too...

in general, gotta say, its all awesome!!!

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post #118 of 124
9/6/09 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 

The King is Dead...

Well, after 3.75 years of 15 hours/day of hard use, my venerable Aurora m7700a, which I reviewed to start this thread, finally died. It expired at 2245 hours EDT, Friday September 4th. May it rest in peace. I will miss it, unless I scrounge up the funds to buy the new M17x!

The biggest complaint I had about the Aurora (aside from the size and weight of the power brick!) was its amazing appetite for dust. Every couple of months I had to perform heat sink surgery on the CPU/GPU and de-dust them. I figured it was the price I needed to pay for owning the computer equivalent of a Ferrari. Over time, I got quite efficient at the procedure and even managed to treat it to an Arctic Silver lapping.

Still, accident risk goes up when monkeying around internally. One time I must have accidentally overtorqued the GPU heat sink screws because I snapped off two of the screw sockets that were soldered into the motherboard. It's possible it could have been joint fatigue from repeated heat sink maintenance coupled with long term thermal cycling of internal components, but who knows.

I did suffer a hard drive failure at the 3 year point. I replaced the two original drives with 320 GB Seagate Momentus SATA II drives which required hard drive jumpers in order for the bios to recognize them. Those will carry over to whatever machine I purchase next (I keep hearing these voices repeating, "M17x, M17x, M17x!").

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Aurora. Losing it sure hits home as I type this post on an IBM Thinkpad X60 tablet with a max screen resolution of 1024 x 768, LOL. (It does run WoW though!) The Odyssey backpack lives on, but Big Blue, I'll sure miss you...
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post #119 of 124
9/9/09 at 11:36am
Sorry to hear it finally died. Are you planning on buying a new Alienware?
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post #120 of 124
9/9/09 at 11:43am
Thread Starter 
Yes. I have my sights set on the M17x and have been combing the reviews of it for a couple of days now. Sounds like a more than capable replacement for the old Aurora. I especially like what AW has done with the changes to the cooling design. The current solution looks very robust. The screen glare could be an issue, however.

I found a very in-depth review over at notebookcheck which even includes noise measurement analysis. They use language translation, so the English is stilted, but it's no more stilted than my trying to play WoW on an old IBM Thinkpad X60 tablet running a resolution of 1024 x 768!

Thanks for the credit donation, btw! I always wondered why I was carrying a negative balance...
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