FTLOSM's Alienware Sentia m3450 Review - Page 2

Just added a battery rating to review

Battery 3/5

When I first got this I didn't have the wifi on and let it charge up fully before use, I spent close to 2 hours on it mainly installing programs and was just under the 50% mark battery wise with a few restarts - that was with using a 3 fan usb coolerpad, but no wifi, so I thought I was easily looking at 3+ hr battery life as Alienware stated...

Well a bit more real everyday use here with wifi on and NO cooler pad I am getting just over 2 hours use before it showed 10% and stopped running on me, probably could have EKKED it out to 2 1/2 hours but at 10% I just re-plugged it in, my use was mostly web and email I did do a defrag and antivirus complete scan, plus one reboot after a windows update install.

Maybe the lower life was due to more heat (no cooler pad being on) or possibly due to the faster hard drive (7200 rpm) warming up from no cooler pad on (fans did kick in but are so quiet! But to see the 10% battery warning at just over 2 hours of being online was not fun. It still didn't feel that hot though with the cooler pad not on... I think the wifi really zapped battery life tho I dunno but I wasn't too happy to see just over 2 hours and it's zapped out (with wifi on).

I will try it with same use and usb coolerpad & wifi & who knows maybe running it cooler off the pad will help it run longer I dunno but I will probably do a test too of NO wifi NO coolerpad just to see what that does to it too, I will report back...

BTW all the mentions of me saying the fans aren't coming on and it is scaring me are FALSE the fans ARE coming on I honestly just did not hear them! They are super whisper quiet, I only found out the fan was on when it kicked in high mode for about 5 seconds when I changed video resolutions, then a few mins later i felt the exhaust port, it wasnt in high mode and I couldn't hear it but I did feel airflow, so they are coming on but are super quiet which is nice!

Guer,

What settings can I change on this that might help extend battery life?

I haven't messed with laptops much, the few I have had all were sucky old slow and the gateway 9500 (newest of them all) had a bad battery so I ran it mainly off powercord.

As for the mic boost info thanks I will look into that for sure, great tip tho, I am just learning my way around a real laptop here with the 3450 and would LOVE to know what I can change or set differently to possibly get more out of it battery life wise (where and what do I look at or adjust) is it screen brightness or ???

Yep I am a laptop Newbie and will admit it... I need to start reading the manuals, it is prob all in there right?

Ok I broke out the manual here, see the power schemes section 3-4 and went into my Power Options Properties and see the schemes available one says max battery, seems like it just turns monitor off early (after 1 min) and hd off after 3 standby after 2 etc, if it is just those things it adjusts my time would be the same cuz I never let it sit (I was using it constantly during the 2 hours) so it never would have had the chance to turn off monitor hd or go into standby mode during those 2 hrs...

So with that in mind it would still result in about the same battery time if I set it at max battery right? I don't see that it changes anything else (no other options I can see) mainly just how long things stay on gets shortened and since I use it constantly I don't see that helping much.

Unless I am missing something else I can adjust or do differently?

Ok been reading thru the manual, besides just putting power scheme into max battery life is there anything else I am missing on what to adjust (maybe graphics card wise or something). And a question on max battery life power scheme, since I was using the laptop fully for the 2 hrs and since max battery life settings to me appeared to just be when things would turn off time wise (reducing each) yet during my use I didn't ever reach those timeframes, would max battery life really do me any good or last any longer? Does that mode automatically change anything else I can't see - graphics card usage or cpu speed or something I cant see or adjust but that will help max battery life?

Also anyone know if there is a way to turn off the glowing icon when I don't want it on, figured during the day alone at home might just turn it off to save battery power and not wear out the light (if its a bulb of somekind)...

Ok i did change the scheme to max battery, will reduce the screen brightness and turn off wifi when messing with photoshop and such, no cooler pad (so no extra fans going) and will test it again tonight for use, those settings for max battery kick it into standby pretty fast but i really didnt stop using it the other day altho for about 20 mins or so i was in photoshop so I could have turned wifi off.

Sure am hoping with these settings i might see the 3 hr mark.

Not using either but will look into NHC today for sure!

I am loving the NHC thanks mgl for suggesting it!

Overall tho after almost 2 weeks of owning this and using it for hours everyday so far it has a few minor quirks -

The cd tray is touchy pops out with slightest touch for me and is located next to the power cord so everytime I go to unplug it opens tray or when I go to eject a cd power cord is somewhat in the way (wish it was on the back vs side).

Touchpad cursor snaps me off my sentence (jumps around) when my left thumb taps it by accident in typing (even went in and checked disable touchpad while typing), have been reading many touchpads are this way, so I am trying to re-train that thumb to stay UP.

Battery life - well it could be better but I did reduce a few settings for max battery life and I do keep the cord handy and am getting just shy 3 hrs out of it before I get the warnings of 10% left and have to re-plug in, if it were closer to 4 hrs I would be happier but 3 isn't horrible I guess and if I pushed it to 2% or something I could probably get 3 hrs 15mins or so out of it.

Loving the screen crisp bright beautiful (I turn mine all the way down brightness wise) and it is STILL very crisp and bright.

Dig the keyboard and layout feels good and have done well with it.

Haven't used any ports except a usb for my cooler pad and the power jack.

Burns dvds great tho and plays them well too.

Looking forward to reading others reviews on the 3450 and hope I can learn to get around the touchy cdrom and touchpad issues mentioned above with time and practice/use.

Bill

A little update after using this beast for just over a month....

Thought my review might earn a sticky but guess not....


Anyways,
still workin like a champ, fans are ULTRA quiet and rarely kick on, seems I only get a fan to kick on when I first boot for like 4 seconds and when I change video modes, beyond that have surfed, photoshoped, emailed, webdesign/edited, even made a few dvds on it, all without any fans that I felt or heard kick on.

My only complaints after a month of really breaking it in are with the touchpad (hours - ok too many hours) almost every night I have used it a good 2-4+ hours after dinner on lap in livingroom.

That darn touchpad is driving me nuts, if I type and even barely touch it it jumps the cursor to another sentence, (regardless of me checking the box for disable touchpad while typing), also can't seem to find a happy sensitivity spot, it either jumps around like a scared cat or I am thumping it to respond (again trying all sorts of sensitivity settings in options menus).

Lastly and this is probably software related, my junker old gateway 9500 scroll had this cool tap and it would allow you to with your finger from center of touchpad scroll down vs using the side scroll area part, this 3450 side scroll area just is a bit hard to use vs that old gateway, sorta like my mouse, when I click within a text block i could then scroll with the wheel down the page vs using the browsers side scroll frame.

So far I haven't seen any option like this on the 3450 and I didn't realize how much I miss it till I switched over to the 3450 and now when I want to scroll down I have to use that side scroll area and its sorta touchy, seems like the very right side of the touchpad doesnt do anything so you have to run your finger down the white line lane to get the scroll down to work, minor i guess but sorta annoying.

Beyond all that tho fast fast fast (even with only 512 ram, havent upgraded that yet), quiet unit overall, keyboard great, sound so so, touchpad not diggin it so much, but goin strong!

Guer,

Despite the fact I am 38, tell me like I am a 4 yr old, what do I do to try other drivers or whatever it is that might help me get along with this touchpad a bit better?

I will admit I am pretty stupid when it comes to changing stuff like that but sure will give it a shot.

Bill

sweet thanks I am gonna try this tonight once I have time to sit down with the laptop after daughter goes to bed.

I still need to buy a real laptop backpack or case or something, im sticking mine in my normal backpack and its freakin me out a bit (no real padding), so thats next on the list - getting a good backpack or case of some sorts.

Bill

Well I did uninstall the original touchpad, installed the synaptics rebooted configured it and it IS better in terms of moving the mouse around (yet I still get that cursor jump thing when my thumb touches the pad as I type), I tried both ways xp loading basic drivers and also loading in the synaptics drivers.

Control of the touchpad IS better with both the xp version and synaptics versions but I am bummed i still can't just click in a text box and scroll down without using the side scroll feature, I dont know what my gateway had but it was super nice i could click in the center of any page and a small circle would appear and allow me to drag down anywhere in the touchpad to scroll downword.

The only other blah thing on this switch over (tried both versions saw no option for it) was top left and right corner options, I used those for back and forward in web browser, but on both of these other installed versions I see no options for assigning any corner button options.

Overall tho yes basic touchpad functions DO work better than with the original drivers for the mousepad Alienware issued, maybe in the future they will improve the touchpad drivers/software or whatever and I can go back to it and try it again someday soon.

Thanks for the idea to do this though,
Bill

Guer,

Man I musta missed that, which version are you running the synaptics?

I only messed with that version about 5 mins then uninstalled, rebooted and let windows instal default basics for it, then i used it for a good 20 mins or so but never saw or was able to scroll except side bar (like original drivers did).

It is possible if its in the synaptics i just didnt tap fast enough or tick some box in settings, i do remember it showed wheel mouse or other device in the setup of synaptic menus i picked other device, maybe if i stuck with wheel mouse that feature would work.

Im a dork ill admit it, but trial and error will get me there later tonight when i sit down to use it.

Bill