Tridge's Second Alienware Review - m9700

Specs:

m9700- Cyborg Green
AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML44 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
2GB Dual Channel Patriot DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
120GB 1.5GB/s ATA 5,400RPM w/ 8MB Cache
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo
Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card w/ Airgo MIMO Technology

The starting deal:

I purchased a m7700 9/26/2005 and I fell in love with Alienware. Needless to say, after three GPU replacements, two hard drive replacements, a motherboard replacement, a full replacement of panels and much more Alienware decided to give me a full refund for my purchase 12/21/06 after footing the repair bill themselves of 1,873.78. I spoke with Marco in critical issues, this was the man Alex himself placed in charge of my situation after Alex received my email with detailed descriptions of my problems.


The switch:

Marco in critical issues made my new computer switch very painless. I was to return my m7700 with a prepaid shipping label and wait until the machine was reverse-inventoried by Alienware. After the reverse-inventory of my m7700 they would start the build on the new m9700 that Marco had suggested to me that I purchase for the replacement.


The build or phase game:

The phase game only took a week. I was surprised when Marco had told me that while they were reverse-inventorying my m7700 they had started the build process on my new m9700. This worked out perfectly. Because of this my new m9700 was shipped the same day they confirmed the inventory of the m7700.


The box:

Oh boy! When I pulled the handle of the black box out of the shipping box I smiled so big. This was the day I was waiting for! I opened the box and found another box with another alienhead on it that contained all the extras. In the extras box was the nice leather planner with the installation CD's and system CD's. In another case was the Alienware Respawn DVD. I also was fortunate enough to receive the mobile bonus pack with my purchase and I got a second power adapter and a very cool Logitec G5 laser mouse. Also inside that box was my white Alienware T-shirt and the very awesome Alienware FUNC gaming mousepad. I liked the fact that the G5 was inside the original box as it would be at any retailer, it just goes to show Alienware's policy on non-proprietorship of hardware and software.


First Boot:

Wow, how fast was that. The machine booted almost instantly and I continued to enter my user information to complete the windows installation. The system was ready to get online and play games without having to upgrade any drivers or software. The first thing I did was enable SLI with the Nvidia control panel.


Software:

I was impressed by the minimal software that I received with the system. I looked around and found that Alienware only shipped the system with AlienGUIs, PowerDVD, BisonCAM, SoundMAX, Stardock, and Nero. I noticed a “Install Shield Updater” and I uninstalled that right away because it would make pop-ups whenever it felt like it (Being a gamer I cannot have that!).

My Software:

I made sure to install:
Spybot Search & Destroy
Notebook Hardware Controller
Firefox 2.0
FLV Player
VLC Media Player
Winamp
AVG Free
UPS Software from Cyberpower (900AV)
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

My Games:

Guildwars
Diablo II
Unreal 2004
FEAR
BF2

My 3D Mark Scores:

3DMark05:

My Overall Experience:

I was very happy with the experience that I had. Marco made this painless for me. I do not contact just anyone at Alienware anymore, no matter the situation I go straight to Marco. I was without a computer for only a week during the switch, but I was really out of a computer for almost a month if I include the repair time with the m7700. I was very pleased with the decision to replace my machine with a new one. Marco explained to me that the majority of the reason for the refund was the fact that Alienware is fully aware that the m7700 models were built with low-end hardware because of contracts that other larger companies had with the high-end hardware manufactures. The fact that Alienware was purchased by DELL made it possible to create the m9700 with high-end hardware and made it possible for Alienware to have resources to the high-end manufactures hardware.

Would I do it again:

Yes, I love Alienware machines and the support that FEW give at the company. Like I said, I can deal with Alienware as long as I can deal with Marco, he really made my experience worth it.

Notes:

If I can add any information to make this more useful please let me know!

Update 02/03/08:

Holy crap, I have had this machine for like a year now? I'm not sure.. but anyhow. I leave it plugged in 24/7 running, no sleep and it has never had any problems. I love this machine. I have not had to call TS for any reason. Very good machine. Would recommend this machine to anyone.

lol.

Well making a review on this site is usless... No comments after 15 days.

Wow, thank you for the comments! and I love the added questions, so here I go... Memory upgrade is workign great. You wont be able to find the patriot 1g around anywhere anymore. I was told by patriot they discontinued it. I bought one from newegg and one from walmart. both places are out of stock and I could not find any other sites out there that had it. The briefcase holds enough for me. I do have a bit of gripe with the width of the compartments, I cant really fit my G7 in the bag w/o squishing it (it is ok though, im just over precaucious*) I fit a mousepad, power supply, laptop stand, cd book, toolcase (the small black one), and once and a while I will toss a book or two in there... I wouldnt recommend tossing much more into it then that. I have the Alienware PremiumXL Backpack and the Oddessey Breifcase. I use the backpack when going gaming at a friends or on a trip. I use the breifcase to go to school and work. I fit a shitload more into the backpack very comfortably.

Thanks, I am still using the original drivers from AW. I have heard that any of the others lowered scores by at least 100 or more. About the CPU driver, where could I find the new one? My CPU driver version is...1.3.2.0 5/27/2006

Oh, so that's the catch~