I'm still of the opinion that it's a Dell. And therefore no longer the quality company that Dell bought. But my grudges last a looooong time.

qbrad

How is their Sentia at playing games? That notebook is around $1000 in standard configuration, and comes with a decent GPU for the money.

Too bad their case design is Buddha-awful.

Kaiser-Machead

Possible budget gaming notebook from Alienware = awesome.

Lstormy10

I gotta say, I like that keyboard.

Kaiser-Machead

is it just me, or is that thing huge?

che_leo

From a owner of an Alienware laptop, some experiences:

1) I purchased a Alienware m9700 (several years back) for around $3000.

2) Initial impressions is that the case was kinda cheap, but I got over that. It is the same chassis that other laptop vendors (not mainline vendors, but small mom/pop laptop vendors)

3) it was HOT. Not like the curvacious doll-face that works in the cubical down the hall, but HOT like make your palms sweat. Wait...isn't that the same thing?

4) My DVD ROM drive died. I replaced it myself under warranty. They charged me $50 for the old part and were to reimburse it after I returned the bad part. I sent it back the day after I received the new part. 6 months later and several emails/phone calls I was reimbursed.

5) I extended warranty another year for a couple hundred bucks. It was expensive, but worth it...

6) The LCD thingy-ma-jigger died, so no LCD output. VGA output still worked. They sent a guy to replace the part on-site and fixed it.

7) Did I mention this is hot? I bought a simple laptop stand to raise it off the desk and allow better airflow, I assume it helped a little.

8) The video card is now flaky/dead. I can get video in safe mode, but installing drivers causes a BSOD. I looked at replacing video card or sending back to AW, but it is going to cost $500+ to replace it (out of warranty now). I assume the heat finally killed it.

It was a good machine. I played DOOM3, Half Life 2, Company of Heros, NWN2, and other new games on it (remmeber they were new when I bought it). It seemed to hold it's own, but it was mired in issues over it's life span (at least more than I am used to), and I am pretty content on retiring it for good.

Anyone want a used, barely working Alienware?

fumunda

@Kaiser-Machead: I don't think they sell the Sentia anymore.

vertibraker

There's no point in getting a laptop that size. They will just overheat, drain battery and it's not even practical to carry around. Add a case to it, and it will be close to 20lbs.

vertibraker

It looks like a ton of bricks

.tox

I too owned an Alienware a few years back and had a number of issues aside from the heat/weight. I now own a macbook pro and wouldn't go back. Ever. Period (imagine I'm dotting my 'i's with apple logos).

WesTheYeti

This thing has what, 10, 15 minutes of battery life?

defn

why is it going into his eye? strange design choice.

rudeadly

@.tox: For a laptop it does weigh one metric shit-ton. For a desktop replacement, it's still pretty heavy. Specs say it weighs 10.5 pounds with the battery. Yeek.

MacBastard

That is a desktop replacement. You get a hernia just from carrying that thing around.

I guess that is why they cater to a very specific market.

A semi-portable with tons of power is great if you are into going from one LAN party to another!

LindsayJoy

heh over $5000 for best config. worth more than my car hah no thanks, i'll stick to my xps m1530.

Klowning_inc

Does anyone know where I can find that wallpaper...?

tangledweb16

@tangledweb16:
Right click, Save Image As...

daftrok

@LindsayJoy: Any real LAN gamer would solder a handle onto a case and bear with it... this is just a mockery of a laptop. I'm so glad I can play Crysis mobile for 5 minutes until I have to go socket seeking again for power. What a joke.

Metkis

they should stop calling these things notebooks and classify them as textbooks. or tomes. or oxford unabridged english dictionaries.

willyolio

@vertibraker: @.tox: @MacBastard: @LindsayJoy:

Don't forget the no-lighter-than-2-pound power brick. And I mean that literally. It will be made with sand fired to over 1000° in an oven and be able to support 10x it's weight.

madog

That thing is gonna heat up like hell !!....everybody knows that once it heats up too much,too often it starts dying....the optical drives are the first to go...this has place for 2,sounds like fun!....

nikeplr

If I put my macbook and my ibook on top of each other, the AW notebook would still be bigger.

smackswell

Sorry, roughly...sheesh

macorange

Hmmm, roghly the same size as the Playstation 3 laptop...

macorange

That laptop looks like it eats babies in its spare time. Badass.

... Not that I'm saying that eating babies makes you badass. I'm gonna stop now so I don't get in any more trouble...

SomeoneUKno

It looks ugly and is fat as pig

SatanicBoomBoomHead