Lets start with shipping
orderd it online pritty easy. pick the best parts you can get under your buget. waiting for the laptop to come is anoying but i'm glad that they take time to build a laptop specificly made for you. i was in stage six or nine i forget... for over 2 weeks and then i called cuztomer support. i have to hand it to alienware. although a fiew people say alienware's customer service is not amazing i realy thought it was good. the people on the phone sounded like they knew what they were doing. they imidiatly located teh computer and found it was missplaced and put into a sorting room before shipping or somethingwich was lame but at liest they fixed the problem quickly. so it arived in beutiful condition loved it and still do lol
performance
alienware IS performance period. teh core 2 duo rips data to shreads. anything i can give it. it just eats it alive. 2 gigs of ram is fast, 667 is fast for a laptop. highest speed available. the one thing i am a bit disopointed with is the video card. not amazing for gameing. you are looking at low-med settings in newer games. was kinda hopeing alienware would put more than 1 fan on the laptop but one is all i got lol. the 7600 is too weak for a gameing computer period and alienware should have put a 7700 in or modded a 7800 with fans blowing on it or something because i was hopeing for more of a gameing laptop than what i got.
design
well i am gona have to say that the design is not amazing on this laptop. alienware is known for makeing amazing designs like the 17inch SLI core2duo 9750 and also the 9700 the only two 17inch sli notebooks. the m5550is an average run of the mill notebook other than the fact that it can have parts replaced becasue of the orientation of the mobo but any company can make a product of the same performance. so design=not impressed but that dosent mean its not a sexy notebook lol
screen
pritty good with being able to see it from an offset angle but i have the 1900 1200 so maybe the stalk one is different. amazing screen. high pixle rate, no dead pixles as of yet. i like it.
extra
I wanted a gameing computer that i could also be moderately portable and although i am impressed with how my laptop pw3ns every other normal laptop, i am kinda regretting just eating the high portability and going with the m9700. for the same price i spent at about 2300, i could have gotten SLI, 2 gigs of ram, 2.0processor ect so the m5550 is still a good deal but if you are going to go into the higher range of price then just do yourself a favor and get the m9700.
once the card was overheating dramaticly and had performance issues when i installed vista so i called tech support and got some help from them. sat on the phone teching my alienware for about 2 hrs. went in with a 3Dmark06 of 850 and came out with a 1650 so alienware tech support realy knows what they are doing belive it or not.
the biggest problem with this laptop is the video card. the video card is by far the weekest link period. if only alienware had a better design, had mroe fans or something and put an oversized card or jsut the 7700 wich is a 15inch card, in their laptop then by god this thing would dominate.
so burning question... get one or not? if you are on the go and want speed performance moderate graphics then absolutely 100% yes you had me at hello.
gameing and rendering? mmmm this is gona be a no for me simply because the graphics card is not outstanding but once AW makes the 8600 or 8700 fit in this badboy then oh yea it'll be pw3nzors time alright.
i hope this helps you on your alienware quest becasue one thing is forsure... i would buy another system from alienware over any other computer company because one thing is for sure... although i am not amazed with this laptop.. it is better than 95% of other laptops in its class and alienwares 17inch SLI are in a class of their own simply becasue alienware makes teh best computers on teh planet and judgeing by their name maybe even more lol... get an alienware? yes defanently yes.
orderd it online pritty easy. pick the best parts you can get under your buget. waiting for the laptop to come is anoying but i'm glad that they take time to build a laptop specificly made for you. i was in stage six or nine i forget... for over 2 weeks and then i called cuztomer support. i have to hand it to alienware. although a fiew people say alienware's customer service is not amazing i realy thought it was good. the people on the phone sounded like they knew what they were doing. they imidiatly located teh computer and found it was missplaced and put into a sorting room before shipping or somethingwich was lame but at liest they fixed the problem quickly. so it arived in beutiful condition loved it and still do lol
performance
alienware IS performance period. teh core 2 duo rips data to shreads. anything i can give it. it just eats it alive. 2 gigs of ram is fast, 667 is fast for a laptop. highest speed available. the one thing i am a bit disopointed with is the video card. not amazing for gameing. you are looking at low-med settings in newer games. was kinda hopeing alienware would put more than 1 fan on the laptop but one is all i got lol. the 7600 is too weak for a gameing computer period and alienware should have put a 7700 in or modded a 7800 with fans blowing on it or something because i was hopeing for more of a gameing laptop than what i got.
design
well i am gona have to say that the design is not amazing on this laptop. alienware is known for makeing amazing designs like the 17inch SLI core2duo 9750 and also the 9700 the only two 17inch sli notebooks. the m5550is an average run of the mill notebook other than the fact that it can have parts replaced becasue of the orientation of the mobo but any company can make a product of the same performance. so design=not impressed but that dosent mean its not a sexy notebook lol
screen
pritty good with being able to see it from an offset angle but i have the 1900 1200 so maybe the stalk one is different. amazing screen. high pixle rate, no dead pixles as of yet. i like it.
extra
I wanted a gameing computer that i could also be moderately portable and although i am impressed with how my laptop pw3ns every other normal laptop, i am kinda regretting just eating the high portability and going with the m9700. for the same price i spent at about 2300, i could have gotten SLI, 2 gigs of ram, 2.0processor ect so the m5550 is still a good deal but if you are going to go into the higher range of price then just do yourself a favor and get the m9700.
once the card was overheating dramaticly and had performance issues when i installed vista so i called tech support and got some help from them. sat on the phone teching my alienware for about 2 hrs. went in with a 3Dmark06 of 850 and came out with a 1650 so alienware tech support realy knows what they are doing belive it or not.
the biggest problem with this laptop is the video card. the video card is by far the weekest link period. if only alienware had a better design, had mroe fans or something and put an oversized card or jsut the 7700 wich is a 15inch card, in their laptop then by god this thing would dominate.
so burning question... get one or not? if you are on the go and want speed performance moderate graphics then absolutely 100% yes you had me at hello.
gameing and rendering? mmmm this is gona be a no for me simply because the graphics card is not outstanding but once AW makes the 8600 or 8700 fit in this badboy then oh yea it'll be pw3nzors time alright.
i hope this helps you on your alienware quest becasue one thing is forsure... i would buy another system from alienware over any other computer company because one thing is for sure... although i am not amazed with this laptop.. it is better than 95% of other laptops in its class and alienwares 17inch SLI are in a class of their own simply becasue alienware makes teh best computers on teh planet and judgeing by their name maybe even more lol... get an alienware? yes defanently yes.
