ColdSun's Area-51 m5750 Review

Overview and Information

Alienware recently released the Area-51 m5750 17" Laptop with the Core Duo processor and ATI Radeon x1800 256MB GPU. After much research on which laptop I wanted to buy, I decided to buy this one. One of the reasons is due to this being the same laptop as the Fujitsu Xi1546 which I had read a review on elsewhere and was impressed with. I liked how it looked, I liked the rare GPU it had and it seemed to have the power I needed with a mid-level price tag. Find out more about this laptop at http://www.alienware.com

Since this is my first laptop, this is also my first review of one. I'll try to be as detailed as I can. I'm not quite sure where to get all the benchmarking stuff so I'll have to add that later. I apologize if these pictures aren't the best. If anyone wants to give me picture pointers I'm definately ready to listen.

Delivery and Packaging

My laptop was delivered by FedEx on the exact day it was supposed to. The packaging was quite impressive. I received 2 boxes - one with the laptop and the other with my Alienware Backpack. The brown box with the laptop in it had a warning about satellite tracking on it and inside that box was the pretty black Alienware box.






What Came With The Beast

[1] Area-51® m5750
Processor: Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 1.86GHz 2MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Service Pack 2
Display: Alienware® m5750 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1800
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Works 8 Productivity Suite
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Odyssey Backpack
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager

I decided to get a cheaper hard drive because I can upgrade that later and I was short on money after everything else.






Build and Design

The first thing I noticed when I took it out of the plastic was how large it was. At the same time it really wasn't very heavy at all. Then I noticed the polished sheen grey color of the chassis. All I can say is that it looked high quality. When I opened the laptop to look at the screen I was very impressed by the quality of the arms that hold the screen to the laptop - this thing won't break easily. It felt very solid. Although the screen is wide and large, it feels very solid thanks to the Alienhead casing. I didn't feel any bend at all to be honest.

Turning it on was also a pleasure. The lights all light up a pleasant blue. As you all know, the Alienhead on the back of the screen also lights up. Damned if I didn't just sit and stare at that awesome logo for about 5 minutes. I've been to all the local stores looking at laptops and the quality on this baby really made me feel I made the right choice in spending a little more money on an Alienware.





The Screen

I chose the 1440x900 option because I wanted my games to run as fast as possible in the native resolution and I was planning on using an external LCD in a dual setup if I needed more real estate when working at home. I see now that even without that external monitor there is plent of real estate *for me.*

I didn't see any dead pixels, at least that I can notice. The screen is just gorgeous. The glossy display looks great! Also, the I get a clear view from just about any angle I view this thing, which is really nice. I still need to see some games on this screen but so far I am very happy with my choice. The screen was a big thing for me and I'm totally satisfied.







The Speakers

Like any laptop speakers, they aren't going to blow you away. They sound adequate. Not bad really. My recommendation is to get some really nice speakers or headphones though. This isn't a bad point - its just the way it is with all laptops I guess. I suppose I could watch movies just fine with the built in ones though. One thing that is totally cool is the volume control on the left side. It feels sturdy and is a nice feature to have.

Performance

Well here is where my limited experience with benchmarking comes in. I'll do my best. First of all, the system boots up real fast. You go through the standard Windows setup stuff when you first turn it on (timezone, personalization, networking, etc). After that I had to switch to the screen's native resolution. ** More Coming To This Section Soon ** Note: I have not experienced any issues with both wireless and normal network connections that someone else mentioned. Speeds seem great to me.

The Keyboard

This keyboard feels really nice. I really like the numeric keypad. The key pressing has a solid feeling and I don't feel any flex in the keyboard when I press down.

The Touchpad

The touchpad seems about like others I've used. I won't use it much to begin with, but I really like the buttons. They feel very solid and high quality.

Heat and Noise

Wow. This thing is very quiet. I've had mine on for a long time now. Its slightly warm under the right keyrest area but not bad at all. Its super quiet. I haven't even turned it on quiet mode yet (there is a button that does this)! I'm going to keep a close eye on the heat and report back again when I play some games. Update: I had this thing on all day yesterday. It gets a little warm on the right wrist area as I reported before but nothing serious.

Gaming

Well I'm sure this is where many of you will want me to write something more significant. I promise I will - as soon as I get done with loading some up and doing some benchmarks I'll come back and add to this section.

Update: Titan Quest at 1440x900 = perfectly smooth and beautiful. Vampire Bloodlines with patched widescreen support = awesome at full settings. Dark Star One and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic demos both have crashing problems which I don't know if I can blame on the laptop or the game. It seems the forums for both of these demos have folks complaining of issues. When Dark Messiah runs though - wow its a real treat. I'm going to continue working with these two demos to see if I can find the problem. I'm still using the stock drivers for this that came from Alienware - so if anyone knows a better video driver for the x1800 than this one please let me know.

New Addition to Review - Cyberlink PowerCinema

The leftmost button below the screen and above the keyboard turns on Cyberlink PowerCinema. This can be used instead of booting to windows to watch DVDs, play music or even view pictures. It comes up in about 5-8 seconds from the moment you press the button. Its pretty cool and I didn't notice it before. A guess a lot of newer laptops use something like this. It will be nice for watching movies on and not booting to Windows.


Overall

Well what can I say? I'm tickled pink. I love this laptop and I can't wait to do more with it. I'm happy with my decision to buy it. I'll update this section after I play with it some more - but as of now I feel that just about anyone looking for a mid-to-high level desktop replacement would be happy with this beast. Thanks for reading this and I hope it helps folks decide on a laptop.

Sorry about that and the 56k stuff. Thanks guys for the kind words. I'm still working with it right now. I just installed the Dark Messiah of Might and Magic demo and it ran flawlessly with high setting.

Dark Messiah Demo UPDATE: Crashes at certain points. I'm thinking its a demo issue and not the laptop though. See other posts in this thread for updates.

Quick Update: I've run into some problems with a couple game demos. Dark Star One and Dark Messiah of Magic and Magic.

Both demos run fine until I put it in native resolution and then both have crashing issues. I've checked the support forums for both of these game demos and other people are having these problems too. I can only assume it is because the x1800 is so new? I've still got the drivers loaded by AW for it, so if anyone can recommend better drivers let me know.

Another game I've played: Titan Quest. Its a fairly demanding game which has had a lot of problems for people. Well I can report that it runs flawlessly on this laptop at the highest settings.

I also loaded Vampire Bloodlines and set up widescreen support for it. The game runs flawlessly on high settings. You have to download a widescreen patch utility but it looks gorgeous.

My next test will be Command and Conquer Generals + Zero Hour. I'll be patching it to support widescreen.

I still haven't gotten Dark Messiah of M&M demo working, or DarkStar One Demo. Both crash when I try to run them.

Quake 4 plays smooth as silk. So does Doom 3 (same engine). I downloaded a demo called "Call of Jaurez" (a western shooter) and it was very pretty and ran perfectly at high settings.

So far I am very impressed. I wish I could figure out why these other two demos won't work.

Are there better drivers for the x1800 than the Radeon Mobility 6.7 drivers?

I had the laptop on all day yesterday and it got warm under the right wrist area. It wasn't hot but I think I'll have to run some temperature tests or something to make sure its not too hot.

I'm still very happy with this beast. My only concern is that x1800 not being as widely supported as NVIDIA cards and possibly causing me the crashes mentioned on the two demos above. We'll have to wait and see. The screen is gorgeous!

It came with Nero, PowerDVD and some other DVD playing software, forgot the name. It came with AlienGUIse which is pretty cool. Other than that there was no bloatware and they didn't load Works (which I don't want anyhow).

I've narrowed the problems with Dark Messiah Demo and Darkstar One demo to being problems with the games - not my laptop. Which is good news. I'm thinking when "full" versions of these games come out that the support for my screen resolution will be there. Dark Messiah better work!

My pleasure. I haven't measured battery time. I mostly use this at work and at home plugged in. Tripz in another thread his lasted about 1.5 hours. I might bring it downstairs at home and test it tonight on my wireless while watching tv.

My buttons (power and the others to the left of it) are all pretty much flush with the surface or only slightly raised so they can be pushed. They are all the same level though. They do make a slight click sound when pushed though. They all seem to be working perfectly.

I didn't charge it for six hours because I plugged it in and it turned right on. I left it plugged in all night to charge when I was done though. It sounds to me like yours is not working right. Perhaps damaged during shipping? Mine turned right on when I plugged in the power. I didn't try to turn it on by battery only because I figured it wasn't charged.

New Addition to Review - Cyberlink PowerCinema

The leftmost button below the screen and above the keyboard turns on Cyberlink PowerCinema. This can be used instead of booting to windows to watch DVDs, play music or even view pictures. It comes up in about 5-8 seconds from the moment you press the button. Its pretty cool and I didn't notice it before. A guess a lot of newer laptops use something like this. It will be nice for watching movies on and not booting to Windows.