First off, Special thanks go to Jamsta14 for writing his original review of the Alienware Area-51m (from which I am using the format). Here’s linkage for his review: http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=16759
Dimensions:
Width: 14.1"
Depth: 10.8"
Thickness: 2.0"
Weight ~9.5lbs.
Screen: 15.4" Viewable
I/O:
4 USB 2.0 Ports (1 powered USB)
1 Firewire (4-pin un-powered)
1 DVI Port
1 Analog Monitor Port
10/100 Ethernet
56K Modem
S-Video TV-Out
2 Audio Ports (1 Mic In, 1 Headphone Out)
1 PC Card Slot
1 Infrared Reciever
Peripherals & Hardware:
8x DVD+RW Dual Layer Burner
Internal 802.11b/g wireless card at 54Mbps
60GB Hard drive spinning at 7200rpm
1 GB DDR 400MHz RAM (2x512MB)
128 ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
Venice Blue Quicksnap Cover
12-Cell Battery with built in subwoofer
Logitech Elite Keyboard (Not Included)
Logitech MX700 Mouse (Not Included)
SanDisk 256MB Cruzer mini USB Key (Not Included)
MobileEdge Premium Briefcase (Not Included)
Software & OS:
Microsoft Money 2004 Standard
CyberLink PowerDVD
Sonic MyDVD 5.3
RecordNow 7.1
Windows XP Pro (Not Included)
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (Not Included)
Macromedia Studio MX Student Edition (Not Included)
Adobe Photoshop CS (Not Included)
Rainbow Six 3: Gold Edition (Not Included)
Ghost Recon: Gold Edition (Not Included)
Jedi Academy (Not Included)
Avant Browser (Not Included)
*pauses* DAAAAAAANG that’s a lotta stuff I threw on there….
Okay, Review time.
Accessories:
USB Key: Really, the only reason I picked the sucker up was because it was pretty cheap after rebates at Best Buy ($30). But now that I have it, I am amazed at how much I use it. I take it with me everyday to work and if I see something I think would be good to have, I download it to there and then transfer to the 9100. So useful. I highly recommend the purchase of a similar device for anybody heading off to college. 5/5
Manuals: Decent enough I suppose. I used it to look up the ports because I was too lazy to move the laptop around
. ?/5
Cooling pad: Don’t have one. Want one. When I get one I will post review if it here.
Carry Case: Not gonna lie, its smallish. The laptop is very snug in the case. But, the padding is also very thick. What I really like is that, even with the laptop inside, there is still space for me to throw in the power brick and whatever papers and such I’ll need. Very nice package overall. 5/5
Laptop Notes:
Delivery:
Now for some stuff to read about the compy itself, finally. By following the UPS tracking system I was able to know exactly the day it was to be delivered. I cut out of work 3 hours early to be home in time. Waited 4.5 hours for the UPS man.
Packaging:
Standard Dell packaging. Brown cardboard box holding *gasp* more brown cardboard boxes. The attached pictures show how the compy was packaged, which was in a plastic sleeve with Styrofoam end caps. (those end cap things work really well in propping up the old I8000).
Build Quality: First thing I noticed when I unpacked the laptop itself was the sheer size of it. This is a big machine. It’s one thing to know the numbers, but its something else entirely to experience it. The power brick is similarly huge. One of the attached pictures is of the brick, power cable, and a quarter. The quarter is there for 2 reasons: 1) I like shiny things, 2) scale. Overall though, this is a very solid piece of equipment. The weight isn’t a concern for me. At about 10lbs its hefty, but not deadly. After lugging around engineering text books for 3 years (with 1 more to go) this is a piece of cake. Besides, the I9100 will be guarding my desk most times anyways. Have to make sure it doesn’t get blown away. :P
Display: Very bright. Very bright. And that is something I like a lot. It’s also quite wide, but I guess that’s why they call it a widescreen display. For gaming there are no issues when it drops down to other resolutions. I have yet to test the screen with a DVD, but there is no noticeable light leakage during normal use so I don’t care. Nor are there any dead pixels that I can see. Simply put: I haven’t seen any of the problems people get worked up over, so I’m not worried. Only flaw I’ve seen is some slight ghosting of the mouse cursor when I move it. Now, the only time this happens is when I actually LOOK for the ghosting. Any other time I don’t see anything at all. Except the pointer, that is.
Keyboards/Mouse/Trackstuff: The standard laptop keyboard is extremely nice. I haven’t noticed any flex in it at all. Of course, I haven’t been actively looking either. My only issue with the keyboard is the overall design. For me, when I use if for a long period of time I feel it start to dig into my forearms. Cause that’s where they lay. That’s a personal issue solved by the external keyboard.
The keyboard also has a bunch of nifty extra buttons for media playing (to mimic those found on the laptop keyboard) and program launching. Very cool.
The trackstick is nice. I’m used to having one from using the I8000. What I like about this iteration is that its not wacky. On the I8000 the trackstick will keep the mouse pointer moving when you let go of it. Dunno why, and I don’t care all that much either. I have noticed the “play” in the buttons for the trackstick that other people have talked about though. I just think of it as having a set of silent mouse buttens. Makes me feel all stealthy and such when I use it. Like I’m a ninja.
I don’t use the touchpad, never really did. Its nice though. Has a blue ring of plastic around it, and the buttons click real good.
I primarily use the MX700 mouse when I’m doing stuff. It is the best mouse I have ever used, without a doubt. There are no worries when using it in games because of the wireless-nessness of it. And, on top of it all, its comfy.
DVD-Burning (Burnination): One word: F-A-S-T. I burned about 3.5GB of data in about 10 minutes. Also, it has a cool way of being removed with the button and the pulling and such. It made me go “wow…” like a 3 year old when I first tried it. I was grinning like a fool too.
Laptop Images: (See Attachments)
Gaming:
Rainbow Six 3: Great game. Lots of fun. Graphics look superb the game play is super smooth.
Jedi Academy: Same as with Rainbow Six, super smooth game play with superb graphics.
Other Games: I have yet to install Ghost Recon or Rise of Nations, but I have high hopes. Doom 3 is not a concern for me (not my sort of game) but I might play Half-Life 2. Who knows. The laptop is perfect for my gaming needs right now, and that’s all that matters.
Other Software Usage:
Development: I do web development for my internship so I’ve acquired a good amount of knowledge using Dreamwaver MX, Flash MX, and Photoshop. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to use these programs extensively at home. Also, as a computer engineering student I do a good amount of coding, but I have yet to install Visual Studio.net. Somehow I find it hard to invest the time to do that when I’m not coding. Guess I’m just lazy.
Web Browsing and such are unremarkable tasks. And I suppose that’s the best statement I can say on the subject. I don’t notice anything out of the ordinary. NetZero is slow, but that’s because its NetZero. Compy wouldn’t have an impact there anyways.
Ratings (out of 10):
Speed: 10
Screen: 10
Sound: 10
Noise: 10
Heat: 8
Battery Life: 6
Gaming: 10
DVD: ??
DVD burn: 10
USB ports: 9
Firewire: 3
keyboard: 5
Conclusion:
Okay, here’s some explination about my ratings. For the Firewire, the technology has been around a little while now. Isn’t it about time a PC laptop came with 6-pin Firewire? A battery that goes for 1.5 hours is decent at best. Of course, for my purposes it’s a non-issue. Keyboard stuff was explained up top. As for the USB Ports, I just want more. I’m greedy. I don't benchmark mostly because I don't see much benefit there. The numbers don't mean much to me. *shrug*
Final Rating:
5/5 Bounces, cause I'm that sorta wacky guy.
Thanks again to Jamasta14 for letting me use the review format! More pictures will be in the photo gallery if I ever get around to it, just pester me about it if you wanna see them.
Dimensions:
Width: 14.1"
Depth: 10.8"
Thickness: 2.0"
Weight ~9.5lbs.
Screen: 15.4" Viewable
I/O:
4 USB 2.0 Ports (1 powered USB)
1 Firewire (4-pin un-powered)
1 DVI Port
1 Analog Monitor Port
10/100 Ethernet
56K Modem
S-Video TV-Out
2 Audio Ports (1 Mic In, 1 Headphone Out)
1 PC Card Slot
1 Infrared Reciever
Peripherals & Hardware:
8x DVD+RW Dual Layer Burner
Internal 802.11b/g wireless card at 54Mbps
60GB Hard drive spinning at 7200rpm
1 GB DDR 400MHz RAM (2x512MB)
128 ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
Venice Blue Quicksnap Cover
12-Cell Battery with built in subwoofer
Logitech Elite Keyboard (Not Included)
Logitech MX700 Mouse (Not Included)
SanDisk 256MB Cruzer mini USB Key (Not Included)
MobileEdge Premium Briefcase (Not Included)
Software & OS:
Microsoft Money 2004 Standard
CyberLink PowerDVD
Sonic MyDVD 5.3
RecordNow 7.1
Windows XP Pro (Not Included)
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (Not Included)
Macromedia Studio MX Student Edition (Not Included)
Adobe Photoshop CS (Not Included)
Rainbow Six 3: Gold Edition (Not Included)
Ghost Recon: Gold Edition (Not Included)
Jedi Academy (Not Included)
Avant Browser (Not Included)
*pauses* DAAAAAAANG that’s a lotta stuff I threw on there….
Okay, Review time.
Accessories:
USB Key: Really, the only reason I picked the sucker up was because it was pretty cheap after rebates at Best Buy ($30). But now that I have it, I am amazed at how much I use it. I take it with me everyday to work and if I see something I think would be good to have, I download it to there and then transfer to the 9100. So useful. I highly recommend the purchase of a similar device for anybody heading off to college. 5/5
Manuals: Decent enough I suppose. I used it to look up the ports because I was too lazy to move the laptop around
. ?/5Cooling pad: Don’t have one. Want one. When I get one I will post review if it here.
Wireless:
The wireless card sitting somewhere inside the 9100 might work, it might not work. It was free, and I love free stuff. That’s why I go to Happy Hour at the hotel by campus: free pizza & wings. Don’t have to drink either. ?/5Carry Case: Not gonna lie, its smallish. The laptop is very snug in the case. But, the padding is also very thick. What I really like is that, even with the laptop inside, there is still space for me to throw in the power brick and whatever papers and such I’ll need. Very nice package overall. 5/5
Laptop Notes:
Delivery:
Now for some stuff to read about the compy itself, finally. By following the UPS tracking system I was able to know exactly the day it was to be delivered. I cut out of work 3 hours early to be home in time. Waited 4.5 hours for the UPS man.
Packaging:
Standard Dell packaging. Brown cardboard box holding *gasp* more brown cardboard boxes. The attached pictures show how the compy was packaged, which was in a plastic sleeve with Styrofoam end caps. (those end cap things work really well in propping up the old I8000).
Build Quality: First thing I noticed when I unpacked the laptop itself was the sheer size of it. This is a big machine. It’s one thing to know the numbers, but its something else entirely to experience it. The power brick is similarly huge. One of the attached pictures is of the brick, power cable, and a quarter. The quarter is there for 2 reasons: 1) I like shiny things, 2) scale. Overall though, this is a very solid piece of equipment. The weight isn’t a concern for me. At about 10lbs its hefty, but not deadly. After lugging around engineering text books for 3 years (with 1 more to go) this is a piece of cake. Besides, the I9100 will be guarding my desk most times anyways. Have to make sure it doesn’t get blown away. :P
Display: Very bright. Very bright. And that is something I like a lot. It’s also quite wide, but I guess that’s why they call it a widescreen display. For gaming there are no issues when it drops down to other resolutions. I have yet to test the screen with a DVD, but there is no noticeable light leakage during normal use so I don’t care. Nor are there any dead pixels that I can see. Simply put: I haven’t seen any of the problems people get worked up over, so I’m not worried. Only flaw I’ve seen is some slight ghosting of the mouse cursor when I move it. Now, the only time this happens is when I actually LOOK for the ghosting. Any other time I don’t see anything at all. Except the pointer, that is.
Keyboards/Mouse/Trackstuff: The standard laptop keyboard is extremely nice. I haven’t noticed any flex in it at all. Of course, I haven’t been actively looking either. My only issue with the keyboard is the overall design. For me, when I use if for a long period of time I feel it start to dig into my forearms. Cause that’s where they lay. That’s a personal issue solved by the external keyboard.
The keyboard also has a bunch of nifty extra buttons for media playing (to mimic those found on the laptop keyboard) and program launching. Very cool.
The trackstick is nice. I’m used to having one from using the I8000. What I like about this iteration is that its not wacky. On the I8000 the trackstick will keep the mouse pointer moving when you let go of it. Dunno why, and I don’t care all that much either. I have noticed the “play” in the buttons for the trackstick that other people have talked about though. I just think of it as having a set of silent mouse buttens. Makes me feel all stealthy and such when I use it. Like I’m a ninja.
I don’t use the touchpad, never really did. Its nice though. Has a blue ring of plastic around it, and the buttons click real good.
I primarily use the MX700 mouse when I’m doing stuff. It is the best mouse I have ever used, without a doubt. There are no worries when using it in games because of the wireless-nessness of it. And, on top of it all, its comfy.
DVD-Burning (Burnination): One word: F-A-S-T. I burned about 3.5GB of data in about 10 minutes. Also, it has a cool way of being removed with the button and the pulling and such. It made me go “wow…” like a 3 year old when I first tried it. I was grinning like a fool too.
Laptop Images: (See Attachments)
Gaming:
Rainbow Six 3: Great game. Lots of fun. Graphics look superb the game play is super smooth.
Jedi Academy: Same as with Rainbow Six, super smooth game play with superb graphics.
Other Games: I have yet to install Ghost Recon or Rise of Nations, but I have high hopes. Doom 3 is not a concern for me (not my sort of game) but I might play Half-Life 2. Who knows. The laptop is perfect for my gaming needs right now, and that’s all that matters.
Other Software Usage:
Development: I do web development for my internship so I’ve acquired a good amount of knowledge using Dreamwaver MX, Flash MX, and Photoshop. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to use these programs extensively at home. Also, as a computer engineering student I do a good amount of coding, but I have yet to install Visual Studio.net. Somehow I find it hard to invest the time to do that when I’m not coding. Guess I’m just lazy.
Web Browsing and such are unremarkable tasks. And I suppose that’s the best statement I can say on the subject. I don’t notice anything out of the ordinary. NetZero is slow, but that’s because its NetZero. Compy wouldn’t have an impact there anyways.
Ratings (out of 10):
Speed: 10
Screen: 10
Sound: 10
Noise: 10
Heat: 8
Battery Life: 6
Gaming: 10
DVD: ??
DVD burn: 10
USB ports: 9
Firewire: 3
keyboard: 5
Conclusion:
Okay, here’s some explination about my ratings. For the Firewire, the technology has been around a little while now. Isn’t it about time a PC laptop came with 6-pin Firewire? A battery that goes for 1.5 hours is decent at best. Of course, for my purposes it’s a non-issue. Keyboard stuff was explained up top. As for the USB Ports, I just want more. I’m greedy. I don't benchmark mostly because I don't see much benefit there. The numbers don't mean much to me. *shrug*
Final Rating:
5/5 Bounces, cause I'm that sorta wacky guy.
Thanks again to Jamasta14 for letting me use the review format! More pictures will be in the photo gallery if I ever get around to it, just pester me about it if you wanna see them.
