Review of the a51m-5500
First Impressions
Let me remind all of you this is my first Alienware. I am simply amazed at its features and speed. I have owned many laptops, and being a computer hardware technician and avid gamer, buying this Alienware was a no-brainer. Other choices were Dell, IBM and Sony.
Ordering
One of the better sites to order something from. Alienwares layout is pretty nice, comparable to Dell. I ordered my system in less than 10 minutes and had an order confirmation about 5 minutes after ordering.
The Infamous Phase Game
We all know about this. Pretty much felt like a crackhead feening for more crack. I never even saw one yet, so my thoughts were mixed; curious yet nervous.
Finally, It's Here!
Nothing better than seeing that big huge beautiful black box. Shipping and packing job was done perfectly, and everything was in the box. I carefully opened each supplement to the laptop, awaiting the moment of truth. Finally it came time to open the smaller box in which the laptop was held. I have to say the shipping guys do a great job to make sure no laptop arrives damaged by shipping. I carefully placed each part out, carefully inspecting. It was like a dream come true. A better way to describe it is like the first time you have sex.
The Case
Case is awesome, beautiful design, crystal clear screen, nice feel on keys, touchpad is a dream, especially with the scroll bar.
Features
Pretty basic stuff, nothing super exciting, but enough to make me happy. Instant ON is awesome I have to say. Havent used it much, but definitely cool stuff. Wireless is great has really good strength. The built in card is very good and if you don’t have one I suggest getting the intel 2915.
Upgrades
Well as with any hardware tech, I just had to open the bitch up. So first thing was the memory. I replaced the shipping 512MB (2 X 256MB) with Transcend 2GB (2 x 1GB) Samsung memory chips. Next was the hard drive. I put in a Hitachi 7200RPM 80GB in place of the standard 40GB. The last mod I have done is pop in a Pentium M 725 Mobile CPU, instead of the stock Celeron M 1.5GHZ. I pinmodded it which allows the FSB to run at 533MHZ instead of 400MHZ. It does kill battery life slighty, but not as bad as you would think. The current CPU clock is at 2.24MHZ. Stock is 1.6MHz for the Pentium M 725. The Celeron M is 1.5.
Other Tweaks.
I used nVidias own Coolbits to run the GPU Memory clock at 745MHZ and the Core at 372MHZ. I could of went a little more but this is what the best config for longer battery life and increased performance is. I also used Prime95 and RMclock to undervolt the CPU so it is not using that much power but still running the at 2.24MHZ
Last Impressions
i love this laptop. it is by far the best laptop i have owned. i do wish i had gotten the m5700 or 7700 but they are a little large for my taste. i like this laptop because its light, fast, and didnt kill my wallet.
as a gadget geek, i couldnt be more happy with the features. the graphics control technology is simply awesome, though i was missleaded because i thought it was on the fly graphics switching, but its ok, its such a great feature that prolongs battery life.
First Impressions
Let me remind all of you this is my first Alienware. I am simply amazed at its features and speed. I have owned many laptops, and being a computer hardware technician and avid gamer, buying this Alienware was a no-brainer. Other choices were Dell, IBM and Sony.
Ordering
One of the better sites to order something from. Alienwares layout is pretty nice, comparable to Dell. I ordered my system in less than 10 minutes and had an order confirmation about 5 minutes after ordering.
The Infamous Phase Game
We all know about this. Pretty much felt like a crackhead feening for more crack. I never even saw one yet, so my thoughts were mixed; curious yet nervous.
Finally, It's Here!
Nothing better than seeing that big huge beautiful black box. Shipping and packing job was done perfectly, and everything was in the box. I carefully opened each supplement to the laptop, awaiting the moment of truth. Finally it came time to open the smaller box in which the laptop was held. I have to say the shipping guys do a great job to make sure no laptop arrives damaged by shipping. I carefully placed each part out, carefully inspecting. It was like a dream come true. A better way to describe it is like the first time you have sex.
The Case
Case is awesome, beautiful design, crystal clear screen, nice feel on keys, touchpad is a dream, especially with the scroll bar.
Features
Pretty basic stuff, nothing super exciting, but enough to make me happy. Instant ON is awesome I have to say. Havent used it much, but definitely cool stuff. Wireless is great has really good strength. The built in card is very good and if you don’t have one I suggest getting the intel 2915.
Upgrades
Well as with any hardware tech, I just had to open the bitch up. So first thing was the memory. I replaced the shipping 512MB (2 X 256MB) with Transcend 2GB (2 x 1GB) Samsung memory chips. Next was the hard drive. I put in a Hitachi 7200RPM 80GB in place of the standard 40GB. The last mod I have done is pop in a Pentium M 725 Mobile CPU, instead of the stock Celeron M 1.5GHZ. I pinmodded it which allows the FSB to run at 533MHZ instead of 400MHZ. It does kill battery life slighty, but not as bad as you would think. The current CPU clock is at 2.24MHZ. Stock is 1.6MHz for the Pentium M 725. The Celeron M is 1.5.
Other Tweaks.
I used nVidias own Coolbits to run the GPU Memory clock at 745MHZ and the Core at 372MHZ. I could of went a little more but this is what the best config for longer battery life and increased performance is. I also used Prime95 and RMclock to undervolt the CPU so it is not using that much power but still running the at 2.24MHZ
Last Impressions
i love this laptop. it is by far the best laptop i have owned. i do wish i had gotten the m5700 or 7700 but they are a little large for my taste. i like this laptop because its light, fast, and didnt kill my wallet.
as a gadget geek, i couldnt be more happy with the features. the graphics control technology is simply awesome, though i was missleaded because i thought it was on the fly graphics switching, but its ok, its such a great feature that prolongs battery life.
