ALIENWARE 51 7700 REVIEW
Hi All
I am now a proud owner of an Alienware 7700 laptop. I've had it for about a week now and used it every day. Here's my review of the laptop and the ordering process.
ORDERING PROCESS
I live in the UK and ordered from the Alienware UK website. The configuration process was relatively simple and I placed the order with no difficulty at all.
Here are the specs:
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition UK with SP2
Case: Area-51m 7700 Case with 17" WideSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 LCD Display with Built-in Camera - Xeno Grey
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 550 w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 1MB Cache
Motherboard: Intel® 915P Chipset Supporting PCI-Express
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 PC-4200 533MHz - 2x512MB
Video Card: Area-51m 7700 NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6800 with 256MB of DDR3 memory
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB 5400 RPM ATA100
Optical Drive One: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Floppy Drive: USB Floppy Drive
Sound Card: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with 7.1 surround sound
Ethernet NIC: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Wireless network: Built-In Wireless 802.11a/b/g miniPCI Card
Modem: 56K Modem with V.92 Technology
Keypad: Mobile Keypad - English
Optional Mouse: Microsoft® IntelliMouse Explorer USB 4.0 - Space Black
Warranty: Aliencare Free Phone 1-Year 24/7 Warranty
Free Game 1: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory™
Free Game 2: Brother in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Tuning - Performance Optimiser: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Ireland (they handle all UK orders) called to confirm my order and then the phase game commenced.
My order was placed on the 29th March 2005.
VERDICT: 9 out of 10 - very easy to configure and place the order.
THE PHASES
I discovered this forum not long after purchasing the 7700. I'd read a few negative reviews on the web about the laptop and Alienware customer service and started to develop buyer's remorse. Notebookforums had far more balanced views and reviews - most of which were positive. This forum has been very helpful in easing the wait for me during the phase game.
Just to confirm a few well known facts - the Alienware order status page very often does not reflect the true status of your order. It is much better to call Alienware every so often to check the progress of your order. By doing this I found that they were awaiting delivery of more laptop cases / displays whilst the web site actually showed my order as being in Phase 9. I did make one change to my order early on, and that was to opt for 2 x 512 RAM instead of the 4 x 256 RAM I had initially selected. After calling them twice, Alienware confirmed the change in the order and very promptly credited my account with the difference (which only amounted to about 8 GB pounds).
The process from order placement to shipment took around a month (from 29th March to 28th April). Delivery in the UK is through DHL and not FedEx as in the US. DHL would have delivered to me within 24 hours were it not for the fact that they collected the order on a Friday and than had to wait until Tuesday (Monday was a national holiday in the UK) to deliver to me - 3 extra days of waiting - AAARGH!).
Thankfully I had the Tuesday off from work and waited to receive the delivery - which arrived around in the afternoon. Alienware email you the DHL tracking ref so you can track the package during it's travels.
VERDICT: 6 out of 10 - I feel Alienware can improve on the length of time you have to wait through better stock forecasting and holding minimum levels of parts. The order status on the web does not accurately reflect the true status of your order and the email updates are usually delayed.
THE PACKAGING
The 7700 and accessories were all extremely well packaged in a large box. I have attached pics of the packaging below. Everything was securely held in place and there was no signs of any damage during delivery. The laptop itself is packaged in the now all too familiar black alienware box.
VERDICT: 10 out of 10
THE LAPTOP
The laptop is very big! All the pictures I've seen in the forums and on the web and all the reviews don't truly prepare you for how big this thing is. It is also heavy, but can be carried from room to room quite easily. Carrying it around in a backpack slung on your shoulder is quite another matter. The power unit/adapter is ludicrously large! It's larger than a brick.
The body of the laptop is well finshed and the laptop itself seems very robust. The display is the best laptop display I've seen. It is better than many monitor and flat panel displays. And NO DEAD PIXELS! The display is quite reflective, but this does not really impact on image viewing quality. Two of my friends have the Dell XPS Gen 2 - one with the Samsung display and one with the LG Display. One of them also has the Alienware 7700. I intiially considered buying the Dell (mainly due to the 6800 Go Ultra card), but the display on the Alienware is what changed my mind.
The glossy WSXGA screen, in our opinion, offers a superior viewing experience than the two Dell screens. People will obviously have different opinions, and this is my opinion (an opinion also shared by my friends). I also had the chance to compare the performance of the XPS Gen2 and the 7700 side by side in playing Far Cry, Half Life 2 and Doom 3. Although the 6800 Go Ultra in the XPS is undoubtably the faster card, the actual difference in the PLAYING experience is hardly noticeable, unless you are very carefully looking for the differences. Just to test this informally, we called my friend's brother (an avid desktop gamer) in to play the games (on the same screen resolutions) and tell us which laptop he thought had the faster graphics card, and he picked the Alienware 7700!!! Just shows that the difference isn't that great.
BTW, the cards were not overclocked, and I play games on the factory settings. Half Life 2, Doom 3 and far Cry all play well on 1680 x 1050 resolution with full AF (a custom x12 on far cry) and x2 AA with no slowdown and smooth framerates. The actual FPS do vary alot between different sections on all of the games, but the lowest FPS i have seen was a temporary dip to 24 on Far Cry with the above settings. Average FPS in the above games at the settings described is well over 30. With Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 hovering around 60 FPS.
To summarise I am extremely satisfied with the gaming performance.
Now on to my only real complaint - heat! The laptop does generate a fair amount of heat most of the time. Idle temps are usually between 40C and 52C. When gaming or higher processing, the temp rises to 60C, with the highest temp I've seen being around 65C. The air is expelled through side vents and this really doesn't cause me any concerns, but the area on the left side of the keyboard (often used during gaming) can become uncomfortably warm. I use an external keyboard during gaming, so it doesn't really bother me, but I can see this being a problem for other people. The fans do come on every so often, but the noise isn't too loud and I haven't experienced the 'chirping' that some people have reported.
Also I think the USB ports should be located on both sides and not just all on one side. This can lead to intertwining cables and difficulties in inserting and removing multiple USB cables.
The blue eyes on the alien face on the top of the laptop are impressive, without being too childish. The blue light is quite intense and lights up part of my room in the dark. The laptop itself looks impressively large and stylish. It certainly attracts attention.
I've no problems with any of the hardware or software (yet). I will perform some more detailed benchmarks in due course.
VERDICT: 8.5 out of 10 The laptop is well built, robust and stylish with a good overall finish. The WSXGA display is outstanding and easily the main attraction. The heat can be a problem if you are gaming without the use of an external keyboard - but this will not be an issue for everyone AND is not enough of an issue for me to regret purchasing the 7700. The Manuals and accessories are all very well packaged and presented. The wireless card works extremely well.
FINAL VERDICT: 8.5 out of 10. I am extremely happy with my purchase so far and were it not for a few issues I had with the phases and the heat isssue, I can truly say that I would have given an overall score of 9 or 9.5 out of 10. I, at this moment, would certainly consider purchasing my next system from Alienware. The 7700 is a wonderfully powerful machine.
Some pics attached.... There are physical comparisons here of the laptop with an Apple powerbook and Sony 12" laptop.
Hi All
I am now a proud owner of an Alienware 7700 laptop. I've had it for about a week now and used it every day. Here's my review of the laptop and the ordering process.
ORDERING PROCESS
I live in the UK and ordered from the Alienware UK website. The configuration process was relatively simple and I placed the order with no difficulty at all.
Here are the specs:
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition UK with SP2
Case: Area-51m 7700 Case with 17" WideSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 LCD Display with Built-in Camera - Xeno Grey
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 550 w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 1MB Cache
Motherboard: Intel® 915P Chipset Supporting PCI-Express
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 PC-4200 533MHz - 2x512MB
Video Card: Area-51m 7700 NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6800 with 256MB of DDR3 memory
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB 5400 RPM ATA100
Optical Drive One: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Floppy Drive: USB Floppy Drive
Sound Card: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with 7.1 surround sound
Ethernet NIC: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Wireless network: Built-In Wireless 802.11a/b/g miniPCI Card
Modem: 56K Modem with V.92 Technology
Keypad: Mobile Keypad - English
Optional Mouse: Microsoft® IntelliMouse Explorer USB 4.0 - Space Black
Warranty: Aliencare Free Phone 1-Year 24/7 Warranty
Free Game 1: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory™
Free Game 2: Brother in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Tuning - Performance Optimiser: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Ireland (they handle all UK orders) called to confirm my order and then the phase game commenced.
My order was placed on the 29th March 2005.
VERDICT: 9 out of 10 - very easy to configure and place the order.
THE PHASES
I discovered this forum not long after purchasing the 7700. I'd read a few negative reviews on the web about the laptop and Alienware customer service and started to develop buyer's remorse. Notebookforums had far more balanced views and reviews - most of which were positive. This forum has been very helpful in easing the wait for me during the phase game.
Just to confirm a few well known facts - the Alienware order status page very often does not reflect the true status of your order. It is much better to call Alienware every so often to check the progress of your order. By doing this I found that they were awaiting delivery of more laptop cases / displays whilst the web site actually showed my order as being in Phase 9. I did make one change to my order early on, and that was to opt for 2 x 512 RAM instead of the 4 x 256 RAM I had initially selected. After calling them twice, Alienware confirmed the change in the order and very promptly credited my account with the difference (which only amounted to about 8 GB pounds).
The process from order placement to shipment took around a month (from 29th March to 28th April). Delivery in the UK is through DHL and not FedEx as in the US. DHL would have delivered to me within 24 hours were it not for the fact that they collected the order on a Friday and than had to wait until Tuesday (Monday was a national holiday in the UK) to deliver to me - 3 extra days of waiting - AAARGH!).
Thankfully I had the Tuesday off from work and waited to receive the delivery - which arrived around in the afternoon. Alienware email you the DHL tracking ref so you can track the package during it's travels.
VERDICT: 6 out of 10 - I feel Alienware can improve on the length of time you have to wait through better stock forecasting and holding minimum levels of parts. The order status on the web does not accurately reflect the true status of your order and the email updates are usually delayed.
THE PACKAGING
The 7700 and accessories were all extremely well packaged in a large box. I have attached pics of the packaging below. Everything was securely held in place and there was no signs of any damage during delivery. The laptop itself is packaged in the now all too familiar black alienware box.
VERDICT: 10 out of 10
THE LAPTOP
The laptop is very big! All the pictures I've seen in the forums and on the web and all the reviews don't truly prepare you for how big this thing is. It is also heavy, but can be carried from room to room quite easily. Carrying it around in a backpack slung on your shoulder is quite another matter. The power unit/adapter is ludicrously large! It's larger than a brick.
The body of the laptop is well finshed and the laptop itself seems very robust. The display is the best laptop display I've seen. It is better than many monitor and flat panel displays. And NO DEAD PIXELS! The display is quite reflective, but this does not really impact on image viewing quality. Two of my friends have the Dell XPS Gen 2 - one with the Samsung display and one with the LG Display. One of them also has the Alienware 7700. I intiially considered buying the Dell (mainly due to the 6800 Go Ultra card), but the display on the Alienware is what changed my mind.
The glossy WSXGA screen, in our opinion, offers a superior viewing experience than the two Dell screens. People will obviously have different opinions, and this is my opinion (an opinion also shared by my friends). I also had the chance to compare the performance of the XPS Gen2 and the 7700 side by side in playing Far Cry, Half Life 2 and Doom 3. Although the 6800 Go Ultra in the XPS is undoubtably the faster card, the actual difference in the PLAYING experience is hardly noticeable, unless you are very carefully looking for the differences. Just to test this informally, we called my friend's brother (an avid desktop gamer) in to play the games (on the same screen resolutions) and tell us which laptop he thought had the faster graphics card, and he picked the Alienware 7700!!! Just shows that the difference isn't that great.
BTW, the cards were not overclocked, and I play games on the factory settings. Half Life 2, Doom 3 and far Cry all play well on 1680 x 1050 resolution with full AF (a custom x12 on far cry) and x2 AA with no slowdown and smooth framerates. The actual FPS do vary alot between different sections on all of the games, but the lowest FPS i have seen was a temporary dip to 24 on Far Cry with the above settings. Average FPS in the above games at the settings described is well over 30. With Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 hovering around 60 FPS.
To summarise I am extremely satisfied with the gaming performance.
Now on to my only real complaint - heat! The laptop does generate a fair amount of heat most of the time. Idle temps are usually between 40C and 52C. When gaming or higher processing, the temp rises to 60C, with the highest temp I've seen being around 65C. The air is expelled through side vents and this really doesn't cause me any concerns, but the area on the left side of the keyboard (often used during gaming) can become uncomfortably warm. I use an external keyboard during gaming, so it doesn't really bother me, but I can see this being a problem for other people. The fans do come on every so often, but the noise isn't too loud and I haven't experienced the 'chirping' that some people have reported.
Also I think the USB ports should be located on both sides and not just all on one side. This can lead to intertwining cables and difficulties in inserting and removing multiple USB cables.
The blue eyes on the alien face on the top of the laptop are impressive, without being too childish. The blue light is quite intense and lights up part of my room in the dark. The laptop itself looks impressively large and stylish. It certainly attracts attention.
I've no problems with any of the hardware or software (yet). I will perform some more detailed benchmarks in due course.
VERDICT: 8.5 out of 10 The laptop is well built, robust and stylish with a good overall finish. The WSXGA display is outstanding and easily the main attraction. The heat can be a problem if you are gaming without the use of an external keyboard - but this will not be an issue for everyone AND is not enough of an issue for me to regret purchasing the 7700. The Manuals and accessories are all very well packaged and presented. The wireless card works extremely well.
FINAL VERDICT: 8.5 out of 10. I am extremely happy with my purchase so far and were it not for a few issues I had with the phases and the heat isssue, I can truly say that I would have given an overall score of 9 or 9.5 out of 10. I, at this moment, would certainly consider purchasing my next system from Alienware. The 7700 is a wonderfully powerful machine.
Some pics attached.... There are physical comparisons here of the laptop with an Apple powerbook and Sony 12" laptop.
after reading your review i can't wait XD its so close to getting here.
