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Alienware Sentia m3450 (Review Soon) - Page 7

post #121 of 136
10/29/06 at 4:38pm
Thanks for your reply. The possibility does exist that the OS killed the processor, while rare, I suppose it is possible. But another thing to remember is that the day I received it, the sound worked for a few minutes then died and I had to get a new mobo, and yes, I had the original OS that the system came with on it when it happened, I think it may be a problem with the psu damaging the board. Yes the power is getting to the LED's and I mentioned that many times to the tech, I think it was just coincidence that the processor died after installing OSX. Anyways, I've decided to give up on this machine. I like its looks, but it runs hotter than it should, I'm so nervous about scratching or damaging its exterior and its battery life is only 3 hours. I'm a student and I need something with a bit more battery life and less opt for scratches or damage. I may get a thinkpad t60 or the new viao C-190 (I really like the 13.3" size), tossup between the two. Again thanks for your reply.

PS- OSX did run fine on it with no issues till I tried to install the intel updates online. I was just trying to get my sound and wireless card to be detected. The only way software (the OS) can damage the cpu is by either manipulating the voltage of the system, or overwritting the firmware imbedded in the chips. I doubt it changed the voltage, and I don't think software has access to the imbedded firmware of the processor. Hardware has it's own protection against things like that.
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post #122 of 136
10/29/06 at 8:16pm
Sorry to hear that. I know it was a long shot, but it's all I could think of. I always try to check the other possibilities before I declare a piece of hardware dead. You were dealt an unfortunate hand and that's a shame

I've seen this happen before on PCs I've repaired. I just remembered I learned the hard way long ago when I dropped a new mobo into a PC and it ran great only to be returned later with the same problem, a dead mobo. The question was why did this happen twice? I tested the PSU previously and it was fine, but that time I tested it again and only half the lights turned on on my testing unit. No red lights, but not all green. Let it run a little bit longer watching the lights, watched the lights turn all green at one point and then go off and the PSU fried itself. My best assumption was the PSU did that to the 2 mobos, a sudden rise in current destroying them.

That could be the situation, but I can understand your frustration and desire to just rid yourself of the laptop all together.
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post #123 of 136
10/30/06 at 8:32am
Thread Starter 
Over-Time Updates

Ok so, this is the time were I update things a little and give my input and opinion since I have had my laptop for a while now.

First I want to start with, my laptop is running great still. Minor issues at the start, but yeah, things are bound to happen. I havent had to send her back, or call support at all, yet, and Im pretty pleased with that

The Case

The case, as I said before, is great. The only issue I've had over time is the location of a few things on it. For one, the touchpad. It could be centered a little more. The side of my had tends to tap the top left corner once in a while and caues it to click off of where Im typing and such. But not a major deal.

One main thing I do a lot is hitting the disk eject button for the DVD drive heh. I tend to hit it just about every time I pick up the laptop. Which does get pretty annoying. The button is pretty sensitive.

As for the extra ports, the headphone/mic jack would do be me better being on the left side, rather then the right. Not a major issue, but I tend to hit them with my USB mouse a lot.

The Microphone
Beings this is a laptop, I wont bash it too hard, but yeah. It flat out sucks lol. Picks up way to much background noise, and friends complained of hearing my proc fan more then me. So I just use the headset now over that. Would have been nice if it worked better though. Although the placement for it isnt the best either. It sits under your arm, which could be a problem with sound if it worked better.

The Microphone
Ok, I know I bashed these in the beginning, but I didnt update the main review. These are actually pretty decent once you configure all the sound options for what you are using, and the main system when you are ready to use them. The sound is very clear, and easy to listen to. I perfer a headset, but they work great.

The Screen
As before, the screen is great. Love it.

The Webcam
Works great, awsome quality for a built in cam.

The Wireless Card
In the main review I didnt get to test this yet because I didnt have my new router for it yet. But, I got it now and use it all the time. I must say 5/5 for this wireless card. I have a fast, clear, constant connection without any issues. I never get disconnected at all, unless the router turns off for any reason. I can get up and move anywhere in the house and the singal is always strong. Deffintly a nice card. Very pleased with this.

The Headphone / Mic Jacks
After a bit of configurations, I got these to work great. I would change the main post from 3/5 to 5/5.


Performance
Well this is where everyone asks how this laptop stands in the market. I would say, deffintly worth the money for a work computer. Fast, light weight, and easy to travel with. Not something you would want to push out for games and such. Although it will play most games, some will have issues. I currently play Final Fantasy 11, and it runs very smooth and looks great on this machine. Other games do have their issues though.

I am also a programmer, so Im constantly doing something, working on new programs, old ones, ect. I work in VB6, C++ 6, as well as Visual Studio 2005 for C++. I'm constantly debugging and compiling, and this machine has stood up to everything I've thrown at it. I have not had any lag during anything I've done ever. Which gave me a nice smile

The core 2 duo is an amazing piece of technology. I am very satisfied with what I paid for over all. I can absolutly recommend this machine to a business person for work, as well as a small time, not so major gamer. This machine is deffintly worth its price, you will get what you pay for, for sure.
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post #124 of 136
11/7/06 at 4:08pm
Hi guys,
I again talked to alienware, and they told me, that there were not going to release a new bios version due to the fact, that they don't think the problem lies within the bios firmware.

they asked me to send them my serial number, cause at the moment they are making statistic to find out what things the loud sentias have in common. so now I'm waiting for them to contact me.

meanwhile I noticed, that the system works better. now the fan doesn't run all the time at full load, only 5 minutes (till the cpu is back under 20 °C) and then they stop turning.
I love the sentia, as I had to use it more often now. I just wondered, don't you guys think the display is way to bright, even on the lowest level. I'm sure I could make the sentia work 4,5 hours on battery if I could lower the brightness just 50% more. at the moment I have 3,5 hours battery life time, but the display is way too bright for me.

by the way guerilla, could you please tell me how you configurated FEAR. I just installed the demo version to try out how the game would run. because until now I didn't find any solution to make some games run on the sentia. I tried in vain to start C&C generals + zero hour, I also tried again installing BF2 but them game won't start, and I wondered, that Counter strike source didn't work as well... does anyone of you have an idea how to make those games run... most importantly i'd like to play bf2.

thx for help!
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post #125 of 136
11/7/06 at 7:38pm
You're not going to get BF2 running on a Sentia, there's just no way.

Same for CS:S, at least if you're installing the version with HF2. I tried and could never get it to launch, but maybe that one is just me since the Sentia should be able to handle CS:S just fine. The question is, though, can the 950GMA handle it.

As for F.E.A.R., I installed it and let it automaticaly set all my settings. I had it on Medium computer settings and Low graphics. F.E.A.R. itself made some custom modifications in the graphics for the Intel GMA950.
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post #126 of 136
1/21/07 at 5:11am
So I am back with the new semester of school starting and once again I pulled out my trusty m3450. Unfortunately....Still making a loouudd whirring I just wondered if anyone had heard anything about the possibilities of fixing this blasted problem. I am in a lecture hall with 300 people and my laptop can be heard by everyone around me. It sounds as louder than an older Pentium 4 notebook that was a 17 incher I use to have and this is suppose to be much quieter. Last time I heard, Alienware was working on a new BIOS. When talking to other owners, my BIOS version was different and I also learned that Alienware had many complaints with the same problem. I have tried to call Alienware and I also left several messages at the online support area, but I have yet to receive a response. Has anyone else heard anything about this problem? The temperature is reading at 56 degrees and the fan is spinning very loudly. HELP!
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post #127 of 136
1/22/07 at 7:22pm
I've had my M3450 for about 1 month now with no fan issues. Once in awhile after being used for some time the fan kicks in, but not for long.
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post #128 of 136
1/31/07 at 1:20am
I know how you feel chris....ive been having the same problem, at first my sentia used to turn its fan on after about 4 minutes of being on, alot of the time only at 35 degrees( now its more like 11 mins since im usually coming inside from the cold) ,my laptop is making me feel like the shame of my computer science course......
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post #129 of 136
8/8/07 at 8:36pm
Thread Starter 
Whoo, haven't been around here in a while. Figured I'd drop in and leave another update about my laptop and how its doing. Since my last post was back on 10-30-2006, I think it's been enough time (almost a year ) since I posted an update.

First and foremost, the laptop is running fine still. Nice and strong, no major issues that I would complain about. (Over heating has been an issue but its due to what I do on the machine which it wasn't really ment for >.>)

Anyway, everything seems to be in top shape. Everything on the system is still running fine without error or issue.

- Monitor -
Looks great, no dead pixels that I can notice myself. Nice and bright still with no issues of turning on / off or doing what ever its needed to be doing.

- Sound -
Still sounds crystal clear. I don't use the speakers on the laptop as I said above they are very quiet and not worth using unless you are in a quiet room.

- Wireless -
I read that someone had an issue with the card that ships with the Sentia m3450's, but mine is still going strong. I use it 24/7 as my computer never gets turned off and I don't use anything other then wireless unless I go some where.

- The Case -
Well, this is more my fault then anything. Beings that I use my computer all the time, as I am sleep deprived, the paint on the front of the case where your wrists rest has faded. It doesn't look like crap though, it actually made the front of the case look camouflaged in a way.


The ultimate issue I have had is the video card over heating. Again, this is my fault as I do things on the laptop I wasn't planning on using it for. Mainly gaming and trying to do multiple tasks this laptop isn't built for.

But the main thing I got it for was programming and debugging things and it does that without issue, beautifully.

As any other computer the overall performance has "decayed" a little due to being used, space, and heat. But it isn't really noticable and the machine runs without issue

For the reasons I got this laptop for, I still give it a 5/5.

- Wiccaan
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post #130 of 136
12/21/07 at 10:40pm
I have not been on the board since I bought my sentia 3450 last december exactly a year ago and thought I just in and give a quick review.

For those that have found the fan a problem, well my fan never turns off that I know of, but than I have sound forge recording and so it has to have the fan on. I do not play games on my laptop mainly email, and ebay and the occasional recording with Sound Forge nothing fancy. So far this laptop has done its job though I am not crazy about the workman ship. IT SUCKS. The tab that holds that batter locked broke off in the first month, very flimsy and cheap. Called alienware and said they would charge me over $200! forget it I can live with it as long as I do not move around much the battery will stay in place. The second thing I noticed right out of the box is on the front left corner one of the screws did not make it to the to and so it is a bit lose again I can live with that but for the $1500 laid down I would have thought that the workmanship on this machine would have been better. Yea the alien logo is cool but after a few months you think about it and say to yourself, heck I could have gotten a dell with 17 inch monitor about for the same price range or a bit cheaper. Yea I kknow alienware got bought out by Dell but think they may have better workmanship on there machines? Anyways I will hang on to this laptop a bit longer and may make the move and just list it on ebay and get something different after the new years. Anyways fan is still on since I started typing this up. Good luck to you guys trying to get the fan to turn off, not going to happen.
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post #131 of 136
12/21/07 at 11:32pm
new AW lappies are coming soon espresso.
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post #132 of 136
12/22/07 at 4:52pm
The 3450 is a "Clevo" based notebook. Very problematic and poor quality those are. Great hardware but poor quality all round. I believe the materials they use also do not dissipate the heat very well, instead the plastic actually makes their lappies hotter and the main problem with electronics is heat.

The newer lappies that AW offers are built with better materials and I believe have lesser problems...
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post #133 of 136
12/23/07 at 1:26am
Let's hope that the m8800 don't heat up the new laptops too much.
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post #134 of 136
4/12/08 at 6:31am
I've had my m3450 for over a year now and it's still running strong. No major problems to report. One thing was that the AC adapter connector got screwed up, but AW replaced it for me. They said it was from plugging the AC adapter into the computer while it was plugged into the wall. No problems since they fixed it. No dead pixels on the screen, unlike my old Toshiba satellite that developed some after about the same amount of usage. the paint on the case did wear where I rest my left wrist, but it's not a big deal. I would give the computer a 9/10 overall.
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post #135 of 136
11/3/08 at 1:21pm
New M17 just released this morning. I still have my trusty Sentia 3450 and don't have a budget to upgrade at the moment. Still happy with my Sentia as I use it very light. Email, ebay but I do sometimes do a lot of recording using sound forge. But for the most part I keep it clean, re-install every 6 months to keep it in tip top shpae. So at the moment no complaints except for what I wrote up on 12-21-2007, you can scroll up and see. Anyways just thought I give my yearly sort of update.
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post #136 of 136
11/2/10 at 11:11pm
OMG! Alienware ooooooh aaaaah shiny, colorful keyboard that lights up! haha this is SOOO worth the extra 800 dollars! Lol sorry to be a killjoy but sometimes it just makes me mad that so many buy Alienware, the only Alienware I would be okay with me or one of my friends buying, is the M11X I suppose, it seems pretty good, I was going to get one, but my mind has changed after a while and I decided to get an Asus this christmas when i have enough money, but yeah ever since Alienware was bought by Dell (I think it was) everything went up in price
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