Here's a brief history of my m5550's life.
I originally bought it in July of 2006.
I ordered it with 2 GB of RAM, a Core "1" Duo T2500 @ 2.0 ghz, GeForce 7600, and Windows XP Professional. (By the way, the core "1" duo was the only chip available at the time I made the purchase; the Core 2 Duos had not been released yet)
First upgrade was to install Vista 64, as soon as it was released.
Second upgrade was to 4 gigs of ram. I use PNY. Haven't had any trouble with it at all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178166
Third upgrade, I bought a Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz T7600 off Ebay and put that in myself.
Finally, as some of you may remember from a thread I started, I also temporarily swapped video cards. The video card in the m5550 can be upgraded, contrary to popular belief. I bought an ATI X1900 from mxm-upgrade.com.
The card could be installed, though I needed to use a dremel to remove part of the Alienware heat sink. (the ATI x1900 had one slightly taller chip than the 7600, and the heat sink needed to be ground down to make it fit flush). However, this card turned the laptop into an extremely finicky machine. My m5550 basically became a hot plate. When I loaded up the video card, ie gaming, I could cook eggs with it. The transformer brick also became extremely hot. However, the performance difference between the Go7600 and the ATI x1900 was staggering. I could actually play modern games like Silent Hunter 4 (that was my test game). The difference was night and day, I was so disappointed when I finally had to return the x1900. In the end, I the x1900 was just too hot for the 15.4" chassis, and I returned it for a refund. (Thank you mxm-upgrade!) I wish someone would release a 8600 512MB that would boot in the m5550.
All in all, my m5550, even souped up with 4GB of ram and a Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33, is still no gaming machine. (though it was pretty good for that week I had the ATI x1900 installed!) It plays old stuff OK, but thats about it.
Screens of Vista 64 Bit score and memory available:
I originally bought it in July of 2006.
I ordered it with 2 GB of RAM, a Core "1" Duo T2500 @ 2.0 ghz, GeForce 7600, and Windows XP Professional. (By the way, the core "1" duo was the only chip available at the time I made the purchase; the Core 2 Duos had not been released yet)
First upgrade was to install Vista 64, as soon as it was released.
Second upgrade was to 4 gigs of ram. I use PNY. Haven't had any trouble with it at all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178166
Third upgrade, I bought a Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz T7600 off Ebay and put that in myself.
Finally, as some of you may remember from a thread I started, I also temporarily swapped video cards. The video card in the m5550 can be upgraded, contrary to popular belief. I bought an ATI X1900 from mxm-upgrade.com.
The card could be installed, though I needed to use a dremel to remove part of the Alienware heat sink. (the ATI x1900 had one slightly taller chip than the 7600, and the heat sink needed to be ground down to make it fit flush). However, this card turned the laptop into an extremely finicky machine. My m5550 basically became a hot plate. When I loaded up the video card, ie gaming, I could cook eggs with it. The transformer brick also became extremely hot. However, the performance difference between the Go7600 and the ATI x1900 was staggering. I could actually play modern games like Silent Hunter 4 (that was my test game). The difference was night and day, I was so disappointed when I finally had to return the x1900. In the end, I the x1900 was just too hot for the 15.4" chassis, and I returned it for a refund. (Thank you mxm-upgrade!) I wish someone would release a 8600 512MB that would boot in the m5550.
All in all, my m5550, even souped up with 4GB of ram and a Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33, is still no gaming machine. (though it was pretty good for that week I had the ATI x1900 installed!) It plays old stuff OK, but thats about it.
Screens of Vista 64 Bit score and memory available:
