http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Alie...a-51-m9750.htm
Alienware Area-51 m9750
This is the first Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and its speed blew our minds.
We had to check and recheck our test results when we finished benchmarking the new Alienware Area-51 m9750. We expected the combination of top-of-the-line Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 processor and dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX GPUs (in an SLI configuration) to be fast--but the numbers were off the charts. This is the first (and only, at test time) Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and the speed this potent combo delivers makes the m9750 our hands-down pick for gamers.
Available at launch in either black or white (more color choices will follow), the 9.5-pound m9750 uses the same chassis as the m9700, complete with ribbed lid and glowing silver alien head. The 17.1-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel widescreen is one of the glossier ones we've seen and is prone to reflection in bright environments. (But who games with the lights on, right?)
Alienware offers a Blu-ray drive option to put the gorgeous screen (and Nvidia Purevideo HD technology) to work. The display can handle full 1080p HD resolution, and high-def movies showed visual pop and excellent detail in shadow areas. The screen's good viewing-angle performance makes the m9750 ideal to share (again, just watch for reflections from lights and windows). Sound quality from the 2.1 sound system was better than what most laptops deliver, and volume was adequate. However, we recommend adding a set of powered speakers for maximizing your gaming or movie-watching pleasure.
Other multimedia features include optical audio connections, DVI-D output, which can be used to output video to a larger TV, multimedia quick-launch buttons, and an internal standard-def TV tuner for use with the Media Center Edition OS. Vista is available on this model, but (surprisingly) Nvidia had not yet finalized SLI drivers for use with it. Two 7,200-rpm hard drives deliver a total of 400GB of space.
The top-shelf components delivered phenomenal performance: a score of 5,552 on PCMark05, and 34,585 on 3DMark03-the best score we've ever seen. Clearly built for gaming, the m9750 handled F.E.A.R. without breaking a sweat, delivering 140 frames per second at full resolution. In fact, the only score the m9750 wasn't number-one on was battery life, at 1 hour and 26 minutes.
So if you want a no-compromise gaming rig you can actually take with you, the Area-51 m9750 is currently the best machine available. It isn't cheap, but the full complement of gaming and multimedia features makes it the only PC you'll need for years to come.
Alienware Area-51 m9750
This is the first Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and its speed blew our minds.
We had to check and recheck our test results when we finished benchmarking the new Alienware Area-51 m9750. We expected the combination of top-of-the-line Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 processor and dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX GPUs (in an SLI configuration) to be fast--but the numbers were off the charts. This is the first (and only, at test time) Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and the speed this potent combo delivers makes the m9750 our hands-down pick for gamers.
Available at launch in either black or white (more color choices will follow), the 9.5-pound m9750 uses the same chassis as the m9700, complete with ribbed lid and glowing silver alien head. The 17.1-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel widescreen is one of the glossier ones we've seen and is prone to reflection in bright environments. (But who games with the lights on, right?)
Alienware offers a Blu-ray drive option to put the gorgeous screen (and Nvidia Purevideo HD technology) to work. The display can handle full 1080p HD resolution, and high-def movies showed visual pop and excellent detail in shadow areas. The screen's good viewing-angle performance makes the m9750 ideal to share (again, just watch for reflections from lights and windows). Sound quality from the 2.1 sound system was better than what most laptops deliver, and volume was adequate. However, we recommend adding a set of powered speakers for maximizing your gaming or movie-watching pleasure.
Other multimedia features include optical audio connections, DVI-D output, which can be used to output video to a larger TV, multimedia quick-launch buttons, and an internal standard-def TV tuner for use with the Media Center Edition OS. Vista is available on this model, but (surprisingly) Nvidia had not yet finalized SLI drivers for use with it. Two 7,200-rpm hard drives deliver a total of 400GB of space.
The top-shelf components delivered phenomenal performance: a score of 5,552 on PCMark05, and 34,585 on 3DMark03-the best score we've ever seen. Clearly built for gaming, the m9750 handled F.E.A.R. without breaking a sweat, delivering 140 frames per second at full resolution. In fact, the only score the m9750 wasn't number-one on was battery life, at 1 hour and 26 minutes.
So if you want a no-compromise gaming rig you can actually take with you, the Area-51 m9750 is currently the best machine available. It isn't cheap, but the full complement of gaming and multimedia features makes it the only PC you'll need for years to come.
