Alienware Area-51 m5550 user reviews

4.0 stars

"Surprising buy" on October 22, 2006 by audiose

Pros: Pricing, performance

Cons: Dead pixel and heat

Summary: Alienware m5550i –R3 Review

Pre-purchase Thoughts

When I was looking for a laptop computer, I was replacing a “lemon” Toshiba notebook from November of 2005. It had been repaired by the manufacturer 4 times, and is still unreliable. So the first thing I was looking for was a stable performer. Alienware was highly recommended, and their customer service has been fine so far, despite some of the bad support reviews I have read. I ordered my computer on 09/13/06, and it arrived on 10/05/06. When I ordered, they said that manufacture status would be updated online daily, and an email would be provided as well – they said. While that didn’t exactly occur, I emailed a status request to them in the middle of September. They responded in 24 hours, and gave me a detailed update, and estimated dates for the next phases. The estimates were highly accurate, and the system was only 2 days later than original estimate provided by the sales representative.

And then it arrived…

System Specifications

I ordered with a budget in mind, not a typical Alienware offering. I was looking for high speed, moderate power performance. It was configured as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (T5500) at 1.66 GHz
• 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz (2 DIMMS)
• 256 MB nVidia Geforce Go 7600
• 80 GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive
• WUXGA 15.4” display with a 1920x1200 resolution
• Windows XP Professional
• 802.11a/b/g internal WiFi adapter
• Built in 4-1 card reader (SD / MS / MSPRO / MMC)
• 8x Dual Layer DVD±RW / 24x CD-RW

I figured that the low processor clock speed would be fine, considering the reviews I had read regarding possible heating issues. The configuration I got would cost around $2000 right now because of pricing changes, but my total ended up at a little over $1700.00. That is the same price I paid for the “lemon” Toshiba that I bought in ’05.

Out of the Box

I took the day off from work to pick up my computer, since Alienware said I had to sign for the package. It came a right before 4:00 pm, and I got right to work. The box was large, and Alienware threw in a beautiful leather bound quick start guide, that included recovery software and support instructions. That was beyond my expectation – it was nice.

The laptop itself was quite a bit smaller in width than my old 15.4” Toshiba. It also came out at about 1.5 pounds less in weight as well. The computer was shiny to the point I was almost afraid to touch it. The packaging was secure, but I had no problems trying to get the notebook out of the box.


Performance

I was very impressed with the performance of the computer right out of the box. I had to change the resolution from 1024x768 to 1920x1200, but beyond that the computer was easy to configure, and had very little “extra” software on it – a plus. I downloaded and ran 3DMark 05 on the computer and got a score of 2100. Frame rates were slow, and I was not impressed with the quality of the display. I did a little digging, and found a hotfix from Microsoft that enables dual core support form Windows XP. I installed it and ran 3D Mark 05 again. I got a new score of 3201. After that, I looked at display settings and found that I could run a preset display setting optimized for 3D Mark 05. After changing to that, the benchmark score went up to 3433. I tried running PC Mark 05, and it did not produce a score.

The computer runs on the warm side. I knew that when I bought it, and purchased a cooling pad that arrived on 10/06. I use it every time I try and run a demanding project or game. The warmest section of the computer is in the right-hand palm rest area. The computer runs really fast on standard install tasks and even photorealistic landscape generation (I use a program called Terragen [http://planetside.co.uk/] for that). The audio quality is far better than I expected, but lacks low range definition. High end and mid range sounds are great. Not much for having a “subwoofer” as part of the advertisement… 

I like web browsing on this computer – I can view just about any website without having to scroll to the side. I use Firefox 1.5.0.7. My biggest impression of this computer is that it is the best multi-tasking I have ever seen from a laptop. I installed two games simultaneously at the same time as running a download of Vista RC1, and a conversation via Windows Live Messenger. There was NO system lag at all in the process. The only noticeable difference was that the actual install processes for the games went a lot slower due to the load on the CPU.

When I began using the system, I thought I would try the demo for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The game auto detected my video card. When I tried to play though, it was impossible because it was so jerky. I went into the game settings and tried to lower them, but the gameplay was still so “sticky” as to be unplayable.

Battery life is disgusting. I unplug it from the wall for less than a minute to move the computer, and the battery indicator goes from full to 97%. The battery seems to have been used while on standby as well, for when I got back from work on 10/11, the battery was at 41%! The computer had NOT been used, and there was nothing attached. It is a 6 cell battery (not manufactured by Sony) and there are no upgrade options.

Final Observations

I would say that the Alienware m5550i is a great buy, but if I were to do it again, I would change to a higher processor speed. The biggest downside is the dead pixel in the lower left of the screen that Alienware will not replace. The dead pixel according to the email I received from them is not in the center of the screen and therefore not repairable. See below:

Response (Alien 4) 10/11/2006 03:42 PM
Dear Mr. DeJarnette,

Thank you for contacting Alienware.

After checking our dead pixel policy, unfortunately, we need to inform you that we cannot replace your LCD screen. As per our dead pixel policy, there should be a bright or dark spot in the center of the screen (quadrant # 5), or a bright or dark spot in the red line surrounding the center quadrant (it counts as being part of the center quadrant).

For further assistance regarding this matter, please contact our 24/7 Technical Support Department at 1-866-287-6727, option 2.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for corresponding with us.

Other than that, this is the best performance/dollar buy I could find anywhere and I am not sorry I went with Alienware. I like the fact that most of the components can be upgraded. I can switch to an 802.11/n standard when that becomes available on a miniPci card for notebooks. I can change my hard drive, and can also upgrade memory from 1GB to 2 GB. The computer’s card reader also makes something like a PDA seem a lot more attractive, because I can move files to and from a device very easily.