REVIEW: ALIENWARE AREA-51M @ Driverheaven

***Veridian3*** · Feb 25, 2004, 12:24 AM

Hi all,

We've just posted our latest review, you can read it by clicking the link below. This review focuses on the Alienware Area-51M laptop and we have made a few changes to the normal presentation of our reviews. Let us know what you think of the changes, and the review itself by clicking comment which is also below.

"Alienware are a company that are synonymous with quality systems aimed at the gamer who wants the best system money can buy. As well as the excellent desktops that Alienware produce they also make a several high performance laptop models which come equipped with components that most desktop users would love, Pentium 4 processor up to 3.2Ghz, DDR3200 ram, ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 pro graphics. Alienware also provide a real enthusiast feature which allows the laptops graphics card to be upgraded. Sounds too good to be true really! Todays review will compare the Alienware system against a Pentium 4/9600XT based system to see just how good the Alienware is."

Article

wertret · Feb 25, 2004, 12:41 AM

Very nice and complete review Stu, i wish i could put my hands on one of this monsters

Again the performance graphs look amazing, the new color scheme works very well, very pleasant to view but i still prefering the old scheme.

Zardon · Feb 25, 2004, 12:43 AM

its only a special scheme for this review.

zerodamage · Feb 25, 2004, 01:06 AM

Great review Stu. Like the added comments from the owner of the Laptop and the new flash graphs are excellent as usual.

Chaos · Feb 25, 2004, 01:25 AM

nice little laptop

I would love to have one to use but the touchpads and mouse balls driver me nuts. Good job reviewing it Stu, I was rather surprised with the overall performance. I also thought the color scheme used for the review was well chosen...

Ev!L-aLphA · Feb 25, 2004, 02:39 AM

Wow very nice review dude!

Spyro124 · Feb 25, 2004, 09:35 AM

Nice review indeed, one question though you say in the conclusion:

have opted to buy a 3com Xjack a/b/g PCMCIA card. Having worked in networks for several years I have never heard of this particular brand.

Do you mean that you have never heard of 3com or that other brand?? Because if it's 3com i'm not sure where you have worked, because this is one well known brand.

Other then that nice review.

***Veridian3*** · Feb 25, 2004, 10:05 AM

Sorry, that was Projekct's comment and i'll amend that now, it was the Atheros he hadnt heard off. We'll make that clearer later.

patje · Feb 25, 2004, 12:39 PM

Nice review, nice laptop, nice work Stu!

The looks of the laptop already convinced me of it's quality, the review confirmed the rest.

al I can say is: wow, i gotta get me one of those!

No_Style · Feb 25, 2004, 02:37 PM

Great work! I didn't read the review, but I clicked to see how it looked visually. Great touch on the graphs and displaying the differences between the marks

I love them. Colour scheme to match Alienware's colour...nice detail.

Outdid yourself this time, dude. Keep it up. On another note: It's great to see DH getting a lot of hardware to review. The Z-Man must be really happy about that.

Edit:

Perused the review, but I couldn't find any physical descriptions of the laptop itself. Thickness? Weight? Sound of it? (Are the fans loud when gaming?) Quality of speakers?

Just curious.

***Veridian3*** · Feb 25, 2004, 04:13 PM

Thickness is about 1.25 inch all round when closed. Weight....um...never weighed it but its not overly heavy or awkward. I have a Compaq N410c sitting here and its about 50% heavier than that...but the N410c is small.

Noise was not noticable which is an excellent selling point as well i guess

As for the speakers, good for games and movies if your sitting on your own...in a noisier enviroment you'll want some desktop speakers.

projekct · Feb 25, 2004, 07:17 PM

Yep sorry bout that Spyro124, I read it over and over and never noticed it. The comment was that I had never came across Atheros wireless cards before, not 3com (worked for them for 4 years as a debug tech). So I apologise for any confusion.

The Xjack seems to be the best option for this unit, although not having the internal miniPCI card saves you a whole £15, so its not really a great saving. There are other remedies for fixing it posted on the Alienware forum, but sadly none of them worked with any reliable results.

The Unit is a desktop replacement and this is reflected in its sizeable weight (9lb) but they provide a rather nice Targus backpack case to carry it in. Very comfortable to wear indeed.

toddsmack2k · Feb 26, 2004, 04:48 AM

Great read!!!!!!!!!!!

mainman · Feb 26, 2004, 09:01 AM

Excelent review, real nice read!!! Congrats bud, on a job well done!!!

Feb 25, 2004, 12:24 AM	#1
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,828 Rep Power: 174	REVIEW: ALIENWARE AREA-51M @ Driverheaven Hi all, We've just posted our latest review, you can read it by clicking the link below. This review focuses on the Alienware Area-51M laptop and we have made a few changes to the normal presentation of our reviews. Let us know what you think of the changes, and the review itself by clicking comment which is also below. "Alienware are a company that are synonymous with quality systems aimed at the gamer who wants the best system money can buy. As well as the excellent desktops that Alienware produce they also make a several high performance laptop models which come equipped with components that most desktop users would love, Pentium 4 processor up to 3.2Ghz, DDR3200 ram, ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 pro graphics. Alienware also provide a real enthusiast feature which allows the laptops graphics card to be upgraded. Sounds too good to be true really! Todays review will compare the Alienware system against a Pentium 4/9600XT based system to see just how good the Alienware is." Article

Feb 25, 2004, 12:41 AM	#2
wertret Still watching... Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Orihuela (Spain) Posts: 1,560 Rep Power: 0	Very nice and complete review Stu, i wish i could put my hands on one of this monsters Again the performance graphs look amazing, the new color scheme works very well, very pleasant to view but i still prefering the old scheme. __________________ "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."

Feb 25, 2004, 01:25 AM	#5
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,269 Rep Power: 165 System Specs	nice little laptop I would love to have one to use but the touchpads and mouse balls driver me nuts. Good job reviewing it Stu, I was rather surprised with the overall performance. I also thought the color scheme used for the review was well chosen... __________________

Feb 25, 2004, 02:39 AM	#6
Ev!L-aLphA \| n f e c t e D Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: California Posts: 4,111 Rep Power: 60	Wow very nice review dude! __________________ R.I.P 8/8/04 4/21/08

Feb 25, 2004, 09:35 AM	#7
Spyro124 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 120 Rep Power: 0	Nice review indeed, one question though you say in the conclusion: have opted to buy a 3com Xjack a/b/g PCMCIA card. Having worked in networks for several years I have never heard of this particular brand. Do you mean that you have never heard of 3com or that other brand?? Because if it's 3com i'm not sure where you have worked, because this is one well known brand. Other then that nice review. __________________ My Computer stats: AMD64 3200+ Asus A8V Deluxe PNY 6800 GT 2x 512MB Kingston Value Ram pc3200 1x 60GB WD and 1x 74 Gig WD Raptor Dell 1704FP TFT

Feb 25, 2004, 12:43 AM	#3
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 177	its only a special scheme for this review.

Feb 25, 2004, 01:06 AM	#4
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Great review Stu. Like the added comments from the owner of the Laptop and the new flash graphs are excellent as usual.

Feb 25, 2004, 10:05 AM	Thread Starter #8
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,828 Rep Power: 174	Sorry, that was Projekct's comment and i'll amend that now, it was the Atheros he hadnt heard off. We'll make that clearer later.

Feb 25, 2004, 12:39 PM	#9
patje Former Mobility Modman Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Belgium / Antwerp Posts: 1,475 Rep Power: 64	Nice review, nice laptop, nice work Stu! The looks of the laptop already convinced me of it's quality, the review confirmed the rest. al I can say is: wow, i gotta get me one of those! __________________

Feb 25, 2004, 02:37 PM	#10
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Wow Great work! I didn't read the review, but I clicked to see how it looked visually. Great touch on the graphs and displaying the differences between the marks I love them. Colour scheme to match Alienware's colour...nice detail. Outdid yourself this time, dude. Keep it up. On another note: It's great to see DH getting a lot of hardware to review. The Z-Man must be really happy about that. Edit: Perused the review, but I couldn't find any physical descriptions of the laptop itself. Thickness? Weight? Sound of it? (Are the fans loud when gaming?) Quality of speakers? Just curious. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here Last edited by No_Style; Feb 25, 2004 at 02:46 PM.

Feb 25, 2004, 04:13 PM	Thread Starter #11
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,828 Rep Power: 174	Thickness is about 1.25 inch all round when closed. Weight....um...never weighed it but its not overly heavy or awkward. I have a Compaq N410c sitting here and its about 50% heavier than that...but the N410c is small. Noise was not noticable which is an excellent selling point as well i guess As for the speakers, good for games and movies if your sitting on your own...in a noisier enviroment you'll want some desktop speakers.

Feb 25, 2004, 07:17 PM	#12
projekct Hardware Guru Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Yep sorry bout that Spyro124, I read it over and over and never noticed it. The comment was that I had never came across Atheros wireless cards before, not 3com (worked for them for 4 years as a debug tech). So I apologise for any confusion. The Xjack seems to be the best option for this unit, although not having the internal miniPCI card saves you a whole £15, so its not really a great saving. There are other remedies for fixing it posted on the Alienware forum, but sadly none of them worked with any reliable results. The Unit is a desktop replacement and this is reflected in its sizeable weight (9lb) but they provide a rather nice Targus backpack case to carry it in. Very comfortable to wear indeed.

Feb 26, 2004, 04:48 AM	#13
toddsmack2k It Never..... Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,173 Rep Power: 0	Great read!!!!!!!!!!! __________________ [color=blue]*Bleeding From the Inside Pouring Out, The* *DriverHeaven* Spiral, We Shall Never Let Go Of.[/color]

Feb 26, 2004, 09:01 AM	#14
mainman Mr. Nobody Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: OmniPresent Nightwatcher Posts: 5,961 Rep Power: 69	Excelent review, real nice read!!! Congrats bud, on a job well done!!! __________________