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Alienware Area-51 m5550 review

Alienware backs the Area-51 m5550 with an industry-standard one-year warranty that includes 24/7 phone support, but unlike some other manufacturers', the Alienware warranty also includes onsite service. Upgrading to a three-year warranty costs $275, and the company's AlienAutopsy self-diagnosis software is available for an additional $49. The deep Alienware support Web site includes the expected knowledge database, driver downloads, and FAQs, plus some additional helpful features, such as up-to-date virus information with free virus scans, customer forums, and the option to view your support history.

Application performance
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Multitasking suite (in seconds)  
iTunes 6.0.4.2 AAC-to-MP3 conversion (in seconds)  
Photoshop CS2 performance (in seconds)  
Alienware Area-51 m5550
160 
173 
209 
Dell XPS M1710
191 
174 
224 
PC Club Enpower ENP680
198 
224 
250 
HP Pavilion dv6000
272 
183 
355 


BAPCo MobileMark 2005 performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
BAPCo MobileMark 2005 performance  


BAPCo MobileMark 2005 battery life in minutes
(Longer bars indicate better battery life)
BAPCo MobileMark 2005 battery life in minutes  


Doom 3 High Quality, 10x7, 4xAA
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Id Software/Activision's Doom 3  


Monolith's/VU Games' F.E.A.R.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Monolith's/VU Games' F.E.A.R.  

Find out more about how we test Windows laptops.

System configurations:
Alienware Area-51 m5550
Windows XP Media Center; 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC2-5300 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce GO 7600 256MB; Seagate Momentus 7200.1 100GB 7,200rpm

Dell XPS M1710
Windows XP Media Center; 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC5300 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB; Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 100GB 7,200rpm

HP Pavilion dv6000
Windows XP Pro; 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo T7400; 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 256MB; Fujitsu MHV2100BH PL 100GB 5,400rpm

PC Club Enpower ENP680
Windows XP Home; 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC2-5300 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce GO 7600 GS 256MB; Seagate Momentus 7200.1 80GB 7,200rpm

Toshiba Satellite P105-S921
Windows XP Pro; 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM PC5300 666MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB; Fujitsu MHV2160BT 160GB 4,200rpm



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Quick Specifications

  • Release date08/15/06
  • Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 1.66 GHz
  • Memory 1024.0 MB
  • Hard Drive 80.0 GB
  • Display Type 15.4 in TFT active matrix
  • Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP 2
  • Optical Drive CD-RW/DVD-ROM
  • Graphics Processor NVidia GeForce Go 7600
  • Video Memory 256.0 MB

Michelle Thatcher has been reviewing technology products for nearly a decade. Her current focus is laptop reviews, with some kitchen gadgetry and Web 2.0 thrown in for good measure.

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