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Sentia M3450: Gaming laptop?

post #1 of 25
1/29/07 at 7:02pm
Thread Starter 
I am considering buying a Alienware Sentia M3450 but the Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics card has really put me off.
I am confused as to the actual performance of this card. I want to a card that can deal with older PC games (tiberium dawn/sun, etc) but not nessesarily with windows aero or Photoshop (which i rarely use).

Also what is the true performance of the Intel 950? what games can it run?
Thanks in advance!
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post #2 of 25
1/30/07 at 6:09am
It is the lowest of the low grafixs cards available, it will run aero and photoshop fine, it wont run many games, and the few that is can run will be horrid.

this is not the grfx solution/laptop for u.
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post #3 of 25
1/30/07 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 
If the m3450 can't run many games what is the compartitive preformance of the m5550 with the 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 card?
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post #4 of 25
1/30/07 at 3:15pm
The is no comparison, the x1400 is a lower mid level mobile grfx card, and it completely destroys everything the gma950 in the sentia does on every level except battery performance.
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post #5 of 25
1/30/07 at 7:47pm
Thread Starter 
It would seem that my decicion has been made for me, alienware just bumped up the price of the Sentia m3450 from £699 to £898 so it is now £1 cheaper than the Area 51 m5550! Does anyone know if alienware have set sales at certain times of the year or if prices are likely to drop again soon?
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post #6 of 25
1/30/07 at 8:19pm
Why not just buy a XPS?
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post #7 of 25
1/31/07 at 6:16am
Thread Starter 
Because it was the alienware looks that I really like, there just aren't any other good looking (not a grey cuboid) high performance laptops at a similar price.
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post #8 of 25
1/31/07 at 8:57am
Thread Starter 
I intend on buying the m3450 with a core 2 duo 2.0Ghz 4mb cache processor, 2Gb of RAM and a 80Gb 7200rpm HD. I am an occasional PC gamer and have a 17' Acer laptop and decent desktop already so i would rarley be gaming on the sentia i just want to now if i could, in a pinch, run a few less intensive games on lower (but playable) settings.
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post #9 of 25
1/31/07 at 8:58am
Thread Starter 
Has anyone any experiences of "gaming" on the m3450, if so what and on what settings?
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post #10 of 25
2/1/07 at 4:42am
Yes some games will run on LOW settings, everyones definition of playable is different, imo the ability to run a game and a minimum playable ability are two different things and the sentia will struggle with most games to reach a minimal playable ability.
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post #11 of 25
2/1/07 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 
Would it be possible to connect a Asus XG Station to the m3450 when these become available (Q2 2007)?
Have a look at the specs;http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=5469
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post #12 of 25
2/2/07 at 12:55am
Early signs say yes, but for the price just get the 5550, in the end you'll save money and be able to game everywhere, not just were the XG Station is hooked up.
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post #13 of 25
2/2/07 at 2:45pm
Thread Starter 
That is true but i really need the sentias 3.5 hr battery life and am concerned by the heat issues with the m5550 due to the dedicated graphics card.
Could the 128Mb ATI card handle new games on mid-setting or would i need the 256Mb nVIDIA?
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post #14 of 25
2/2/07 at 6:55pm
for the price just buy a second battery, its still cheaper, the m5550 does run hot, but not Apple PowerBook G4 hot.....
The size of ram is important, but for lower end cards the series/model is more important.

Just know the Sentia is a HORRIBLE choice is you intend to play games. PERIOD.
I am done trying to inform you of its short comings.
If you want it, get it, regret it, then come back here and complain noone told you differently........
The Sentia is a great laptop, it just doesnt handle games!
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post #15 of 25
2/2/07 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your advice, with the current difference in price (£0.00) i think it would be foolish not to.
Just one more thing can the standard 128mb ATI card cope with new games or should i upgrade to the nVIDIA 256mb?
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post #16 of 25
2/3/07 at 4:53am
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post #17 of 25
2/3/07 at 8:50am
Thread Starter 
Would either of these cards run autoCAD or is it nessesary to upgrade to avoid any problems?
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post #18 of 25
2/3/07 at 3:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by basil101
Would either of these cards run autoCAD or is it nessesary to upgrade to avoid any problems?
I'd upgrade for atuoCad.

Here's a link for AutoCad recommendations...

Auto CAD Specs
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post #19 of 25
2/3/07 at 3:45pm
Thread Starter 
Would the upgraded nVUDIA graphics card generate more heat than the 128mb ATI?
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post #20 of 25
2/3/07 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by basil101
Would the upgraded nVUDIA graphics card generate more heat than the 128mb ATI?
I'm not the most expert person in this area, as I don't push my graphics to the limit. But I will say that the stronger the card, the more heat it will produce under heavy loads.
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