I got my Area 51m 7700 on Tuesday 2/8/05. I've had a few days to play with it and here are my impressions.
Before I start, I just want to say that I haven't spoken to anyone in Tech Support about any of these issues. I'm actually not planning on keeping the laptop after only 3 days due to a variety of reasons which I'll outline below:
1) The Lappy seems to be lacking in real power management support. For some reason or another my "plug" icon would pop up but when I unplug it, the battery icon would never show up and I would have to go into the power control panel to get the "battery left" level. I fixed this by (re)loading the intel drivers from the AW site. There also are no settings in BIOS for anything related to power.
2) I have been totally unsucessful in being able to wake the lappy up from putting it to sleep or hibernation. Either would be fine with me, but I'd prefer sleep as I like the faster start up time.
3) On battery it seems to act slower than the 2.96Ghz is shows in the "My Computer" screen. I think this might be an adaptation of the same problem of the lack of proper power management.
4) I know speedstep was/is an older intel technology, but it seems this Lappy would greatly be improved by the ability to use it a bit longer on the battery. I really don't have a problem with how long the battery lasts. Its seems reasonable for the speed at which its running and given the display size.
5) The Card reader on the side seems to be USB connected. So if you want to use a CF Modem or some other device, I've been unable to get mine to work. I have a CF 2031 SprintPCS data card. It does work fine in the PCMCIA slot with no issues. It did come with a rather groovy rubber dust cover that goes over the card slots themselves (nice touch guys)
6) The lappy is heavy. No, that weight is NOT an exageration. The power brick also weighs more than my sister's ThinkPad. The power brick is about 8"x4"x2"...so you aren't going to be toting it around much. I have had two power bricks for my previous laptop, so I anticipated this and bought two this time. Its a really good idea if you move it alot between home and work/school.
7) Something annoying. There is a control panel on the front to play CDs with the built in drive. But for some reason, the buttons don't do anything once the lappy is turned on. They have a set of volume buttons on the keyboard by hitting "Fn" and either F5 or F6... but it should have been the buttons on the front.
8) The screen...<drool> is awesome. Mine is flawless. (aka No dead pixels) I think its probably the nicest lappy screen I've seen. I ordered the one with the camera on it and I am not disappointed. Also, the camera does fairly well too. Its connected to the MB via USB (all built in) it takes decent pictures if there is enough light. I found it to be quite adaquate and useful.
9) Keyboard is decent. No complaints. The Number pad on the side has buttons slightly smaller than the rest of the keys on the KB. Not something i'd complain about at all. I would have liked the arrow keys just a bit bigger.
10) Case construction is .....well... I'd say its ok. Though it does creek a little after only 3 days. Not really good. Also, I've noticed that a small line is beginning to rub in the base where the screen closes down. It looks like the top plastic framing is rubbing the paint off of the case adjacent to the trackpad. After three days, this isn't really good.
11) Trackpad. I really am a big fan of trackpads, but this one is 2nd rate. I find myself having to fight with it. I've adjusted it quite a bit only to get it better, but not nearly as accurate as I'd like. This might just be a getting used to new lappy. The surface seems a bit rough too, but again, thats a break in period thing.
12) Fans. The fans on mine run pretty much all the time at various speeds. if you want to work quietly, this might be bothersome. I leave mine running all night with SETI@home and it chugs away slowing down and speeding up as the need require. It does need adequate ventilation. In your lap it NOT a good place for it to run. You'll need to make sure you leave enough clearance for it.
I think I had unreasonable expectations as to what I was going to get. The laptop is very nice, but it really is a portable Desktop, not a laptop. I am sending it back to AW and have an RMA already pending with them. But alas, I left the standard case that came with it at home so I have to wait till tomorrow.
All in all, this is one of those things you have to really touchy feely see to appreciate. Of all the IT people I showed who thought this would be their "Dream" laptop, most said "WOW" and then went on to remark about size and wieght (negatively). I'd recommend that you really touch it before plopping down the $3400 for one. My company is picking up the restocking fee, but I am not sure I would do buisness again with them because of it. This isn't a complaint, but when spending this kind of money, there should be no reason they won't take it back no questions asked after only a week. But I agreed to the terms when I bought it so I can't complain about it. Just an observation, and I know why they do it, I just don't like it.
Those are my $.02....
Questions? Feel free to email me Mike@mikewood.org
Mike
Before I start, I just want to say that I haven't spoken to anyone in Tech Support about any of these issues. I'm actually not planning on keeping the laptop after only 3 days due to a variety of reasons which I'll outline below:
1) The Lappy seems to be lacking in real power management support. For some reason or another my "plug" icon would pop up but when I unplug it, the battery icon would never show up and I would have to go into the power control panel to get the "battery left" level. I fixed this by (re)loading the intel drivers from the AW site. There also are no settings in BIOS for anything related to power.
2) I have been totally unsucessful in being able to wake the lappy up from putting it to sleep or hibernation. Either would be fine with me, but I'd prefer sleep as I like the faster start up time.
3) On battery it seems to act slower than the 2.96Ghz is shows in the "My Computer" screen. I think this might be an adaptation of the same problem of the lack of proper power management.
4) I know speedstep was/is an older intel technology, but it seems this Lappy would greatly be improved by the ability to use it a bit longer on the battery. I really don't have a problem with how long the battery lasts. Its seems reasonable for the speed at which its running and given the display size.
5) The Card reader on the side seems to be USB connected. So if you want to use a CF Modem or some other device, I've been unable to get mine to work. I have a CF 2031 SprintPCS data card. It does work fine in the PCMCIA slot with no issues. It did come with a rather groovy rubber dust cover that goes over the card slots themselves (nice touch guys)
6) The lappy is heavy. No, that weight is NOT an exageration. The power brick also weighs more than my sister's ThinkPad. The power brick is about 8"x4"x2"...so you aren't going to be toting it around much. I have had two power bricks for my previous laptop, so I anticipated this and bought two this time. Its a really good idea if you move it alot between home and work/school.
7) Something annoying. There is a control panel on the front to play CDs with the built in drive. But for some reason, the buttons don't do anything once the lappy is turned on. They have a set of volume buttons on the keyboard by hitting "Fn" and either F5 or F6... but it should have been the buttons on the front.
8) The screen...<drool> is awesome. Mine is flawless. (aka No dead pixels) I think its probably the nicest lappy screen I've seen. I ordered the one with the camera on it and I am not disappointed. Also, the camera does fairly well too. Its connected to the MB via USB (all built in) it takes decent pictures if there is enough light. I found it to be quite adaquate and useful.
9) Keyboard is decent. No complaints. The Number pad on the side has buttons slightly smaller than the rest of the keys on the KB. Not something i'd complain about at all. I would have liked the arrow keys just a bit bigger.
10) Case construction is .....well... I'd say its ok. Though it does creek a little after only 3 days. Not really good. Also, I've noticed that a small line is beginning to rub in the base where the screen closes down. It looks like the top plastic framing is rubbing the paint off of the case adjacent to the trackpad. After three days, this isn't really good.
11) Trackpad. I really am a big fan of trackpads, but this one is 2nd rate. I find myself having to fight with it. I've adjusted it quite a bit only to get it better, but not nearly as accurate as I'd like. This might just be a getting used to new lappy. The surface seems a bit rough too, but again, thats a break in period thing.
12) Fans. The fans on mine run pretty much all the time at various speeds. if you want to work quietly, this might be bothersome. I leave mine running all night with SETI@home and it chugs away slowing down and speeding up as the need require. It does need adequate ventilation. In your lap it NOT a good place for it to run. You'll need to make sure you leave enough clearance for it.
I think I had unreasonable expectations as to what I was going to get. The laptop is very nice, but it really is a portable Desktop, not a laptop. I am sending it back to AW and have an RMA already pending with them. But alas, I left the standard case that came with it at home so I have to wait till tomorrow.
All in all, this is one of those things you have to really touchy feely see to appreciate. Of all the IT people I showed who thought this would be their "Dream" laptop, most said "WOW" and then went on to remark about size and wieght (negatively). I'd recommend that you really touch it before plopping down the $3400 for one. My company is picking up the restocking fee, but I am not sure I would do buisness again with them because of it. This isn't a complaint, but when spending this kind of money, there should be no reason they won't take it back no questions asked after only a week. But I agreed to the terms when I bought it so I can't complain about it. Just an observation, and I know why they do it, I just don't like it.
Those are my $.02....
Questions? Feel free to email me Mike@mikewood.org
Mike
respect to the Alienware...use common sense before ordering a laptop which dont suit what you want hence we made measurements and weight stats on the site.
