Alienware Area-15 m9750 - A Dream Comes True

“Just when you thought it couldn't get any better... we bring you this!”
Most of you might be wondering what this things is, something related to aliens, from another world? You are almost right, ‘cos there is almost nothing in this earth which can compete with this bad boy! It’s the most recent edition to my gadget collection, and the most priced one too, my new laptop. I cannot entirely say its brand new, ‘cos I’ve had this baby for around a month.

From a Bad Start
I would say, I added this buddy to my collection at a really bad time, at the beginning of the first semester of my Masters. I had some problems getting right ordering and support and also with the factory installed software and drivers. Also I still haven’t got time to play around with it, the way I want to. But I can’t wait to write this entry for so long. ‘Cos its one of my dreams coming true.

My Alienware Area-51 m9750

The Spec Stuff
You can get a usual round of review from any review site in net, but I am going to present the details of my system. In short, it’s awesome. Better than the best machine I have seen and used so far. (that includes desktops also, since I haven’t used any desktops with the Ge-Force 200 series GPUs). Armed with GeForce 8700m GT GPU - “the world's first Microsoft DirectX®10 supported high performance enthusiast gaming notebook GUP”, after which any serious gamer started to think about gaming on a laptop, with a core clock speed of 625MHz, memory clock of 800MHz, dedicated 512MB video memory and a total of around 1269MB (including ~700+MB shared memory), 32 stream processors, and a 128bit memory interface, this baby flies with almost all the latest games. Other specs of this machine includes a Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0 GHz processor, 2GB DDR2, a 17” LCD Display with a resolution of 1920x1200 @ 60Hz, 5.1 surround speakers with sub woofer, 160GB HDD, blah blah blah...

The combination of the big display and the 8700m GPU give you the best imaging quality you have ecer experienced. With digital vibrance technology, I have realized that images were this colorful and vibrant. And with that high resolution, you mostly never have to use the scroll function, since a 100% zoomed MS word page will fit in one screen.

As some of you may have already guessed, this is not the newest laptop or the best configuration available in the market. I wanted to have an SLi with the 9M series, a 4Gig RAM, an SSD HDD etc, but I had constraints on my ‘pocket size’.

I have included screenshot of the System requirements Lab Analysis report of Tomb Raider 8 and Halo 2 here. The recommended requirements for Tomb Raider 8 are shown failed ‘cos they expect to have a CPU with 2.2GHz speed and also a GPU which is Ge-Force 9800GTX/ATI HD 4800 or higher. For a DirectX 9 based, previous generation game like Halo 2, this system passes both the tests.


Gaming Gaming Gaming! - “Seeing is Believing”
As I have stated earlier, I haven’t got enough time to play around with this baby. But I somehow managed to test it with Crysis and Tomb Raider 8. I don’t want to explain the experience. Just see it for yourself.




You could see the expression in Lara’s face. Gaming in this machine is not just fun or entertainment, but it’s an experience. [You may have already guessed it, I am waiting to finish Tomb Raider 8 and write an entry on it ;-)]

Best Machine (with some glitches), Worst Support
Event though the laptop is the best of its class, there is no excuse for the continuous bad support (or lack of support) I am receiving from Alienware. I had to wait for more than 2 months to get my order shipped. Of course it was an international order. Even then, whenever I call them, I got overall really bad experience. (Exceptions are there).

I am having trouble with the integrated webcam. When I received the system, the cam was working fine for 2-3 days. Now it’s not at all showing anything other than a dark screen. I have tried updating my driver. No result. I found that others also had the same experience from some forums, but no idea how to rectify it. I have already sent 3 support request mails to the Alienware team, but no replies. Also, my wireless adapter stops abruptly sometime. The problem used to occur frequently in the beginning, but after driver updates, its working fine.

From my experience, I seriously urge anyone who is thinking to go with an Alienware machine to reconsider your decision, if support is of utmost importance to you.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Pros
- Amazing graphics, fast gaming performance
- Awesome screen resolution and large display
- Cool, Solid Design
- Best laptop in its class and worth every penny you spend

Cons
- Weight = Min 3.5Kg/8lbs, Portability = 0, Not for travelers.
- Pricing. I went for the relatively low configuration. But it cost me $1716 + my long distance calling charges for tracking the laptop updates.
- Bad Support

Summary - “Neighbor’s Envy, Owners Pride - Onida”
This machine is not for the ‘casual, light hearted’ people, who’s concept of a laptop is ‘just’ another portable electronic gadget. This is the real thing, custom built for enthusiasts or gadget geeks who are performance hungry, who likes to stay in the bleeding edge of technology. Its not all about performance alone, but about the brand also. Most of the people whom I have come across have no idea what Alienware means or which company made this laptop. But for the few who know what it means to own an Alienware machine, I have seen the mixture of respect and envy in their eyes at the mere mention of the term Alienware or when they see that blue eyed alien shining on the lid of my laptop. I can read their thoughts from their expression - which is something I used to have before, “I wish…”

Links and References
http://www.alienware.com/products/area-51-m9750-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M9750&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3840
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3070
http://laptoplogic.com/best-gaming-laptops/
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8700m.html

The Tomb Raider in Me...

Some of my friends know that I am a huge fan of the Action/Adventure computer game series, Tomb Raider - starring Lara Croft. If I just say that I like that game, it may be an understatement. I love the game so much that I will do almost anything to get my hands on one of them (I already have all of them) and play them. I even built a website about Lara [I never finished it though]. But there was a time when I browsed through the game reviews me heart really sank [before releasing Tomb Raider Legend]. Even if the first game was a huge success, as the sequels came on, the popularity began going down. And after the fourth in the series, Tomb Raider - The Last Revelation, I was outraged by their [creators] decision to kill such a finest creation of character among all the video games. But on the other side, I have read many gamer reviews screaming for her head after the third game in the series. May be that’s why they killed her. And there was the expansion [as always] Tomb Raider - Chronicles, with the level editor. When they released the level editor, I was sad and happy at the same time. Happy, because I can create and play almost infinite number of custom levels [fan creations also]. Sad, because, I thought that would be the end of it.
To my astonishment, they came again with Angel of Darkness, the 6th in the series. I can’t really say about that game, because, to this day I am not able to fully play it, even if I have the game with me. When it released, I was busy with my studies and career plans and all. Still, somehow I managed to get it, but couldn’t make it to play it. [Its only recently that the computer games are available in India, that too only in cities. In my home place, even now, you won’t be able to find computer games in any store. Back then, in order to get my hands on a Tomb raider game, I had to travel around 500 ~ 700 kilometers to Bangalore or Chennai (~12 hrs - Indian Roads)]

I had been closely watching the tomb raider websites out of my curiosity to know what will happen next. Its then that I saw the ads about Tomb Raider - Legend, the 7th in the series. When I read about the details and expectations and saw the game play trailers, I thought it might be a joke. At the same time I was really excited about it that I bought it at the first chance possible and what to say, it broke all my expectations. Wow! It really was amazing, I couldn’t really believe my eyes first. Eidos did a really wonderful job in bringing back Lara in to the scene. It had almost every element you could hope for in a Tomb Raider game, except that I felt it was a bit easier, even as compared to the first one, that it took only around 8-9hrs to finish the whole game. The graphics, the puzzles, the movements of Lara, the incorporation of mouse to the game play, the environments, the stunt scenes, the music and the list goes on unending.
Now that they have released the latest in the series - Tomb Raider: Anniversary. I started playing it and it is amazing, not just because of its graphics [Legend’s game engine] and game play, but because it is the remake of the first game. Also I was in the middle of playing the first tomb raider game in my N-gage QD (Nokia gaming mobile). So it is much more fun going through the same locations and remembering the first time you played it.
To me, all the Tomb Raider games are so fascinating. At times I asked myself why I love them so much, when my friends say they didn’t like it simply because, it is less in action and more in puzzle solving and at times you get stuck in some unrealistic situations. May be it’s because I like to explore/work alone, the worlds, humans has never set their foot on, like she do, or her boldness that she will do almost anything, just for sport, or the mystic beauty in the music and background sounds they have used, or the locations which coincides with my interests or all of it together. [Sometimes, I did agree to my friends, (only secretly, before Legend), that the game play and graphics are not that good. Also the movies too pictured the ‘relic huntress’ as a super human which I didn’t like much] But the last one is the answer for all their protests against Lara. To all my friends, just play it and you will love the game…
Just refer to this “She’s spent and awful lot of time getting kicked around by her creators. But last year’s Legend went a long way toward redeeming Lara and compensating for the many wrongs done to her and the franchise. Now, Tomb Raider: Anniversary proves that was no fluke.
Gone are the vast black, cubist spaces of the first game, replaced by enormous, gorgeous, detailed levels with plenty of opportunities for vertical movement and vertigo-inducing acrobatics” - Games for Windows Magazine, August 2007, Page 76.
And so my friends, Lara is back in business and she will always remain as a Legend, who hunts for relics and raids the hearts and minds of gamers with her boldness sexiness and her pistols…
http://www.tombraider.com/ [Use your headphones and explore all the pages]