iPhone 3GS from AT&T. Free Shipping
Entered CNET Catalog: 06/28/2007
SKU: CNETAlienwareArea-51m9750
Manufacturer: Alienware Corporation
Manufacturer description
You can't leave anything up to lady luck during your late night dog fighting sessions or when the rival clan throws down a challenge. The blazing blend of powerful processors and a stunning HD display ensures only your skills will determine the outcome. The "my computer bugged out for a second" excuse won't work any longer.Product summary
The good: Massive resolution display; twin SLI video cards offer unparalleled 3D performance for a laptop; DVI and surround sound outputs; matte finish on case repels fingerprints.
The bad: No HDMI; requires Windows XP for optimum performance; reasonable starting price disappears quickly with upgrades; battery life weak, even for a desktop replacement.
The bottom line: Alienware's flagship gaming laptop, the Area-51 m9750, has plenty of appeal for high-end gamers, but the alien head aesthetic seems dated, and newer components are right around the corner.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/26/2007
Alienware has long been the first name in big-budget gaming rigs, straddling the line between the mainstream and enthusiast markets with flashy ads, high-end components, and just enough hand-holding for novices. We first laid eyes on the company's flagship laptop, the Area-51 m9750, at CES 2007 back in January and came away impressed with its array of high-end components. Its huge, high-resolution display, twin SLI video cards, and a Blu-ray drive, along with a promise that its starting price would approach a reasonable $2,000 earned it a Best of CES nod in the gaming category.
Alienware has finally released the system, and its performance in CNET Labs more than lived up to expectations. Our review system included a host of upgrades that more than double the baseline model's price and we can't help but wish that a $4,000-plus laptop would have a slightly more sophisticated look. (Alienware's occasional tweaks to its plastic, alien-head design haven't gone nearly far enough.) Another oddity--Alienware insisted on providing the system with Windows XP, saying Vista video card drivers weren't yet able to provide the optimal experience (although the Alienware Web site recommends Vista Ultimate). Still, this highly configurable system is great for hardcore gamers who want to ditch the desktop, and even better, it only costs about $200 more than the best Dell XPS M1710 we could configure, which lacked the dual video cards and had a lower screen resolution.
| Price as reviewed | $2,099/$4,473 |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 |
| Memory | 2GB, 667MHz DDR2 |
| Hard drive | 2 x 150GB 7,200rpm |
| Chipset | Intel 945PM |
| Graphics | 2 x Nvidia GeForce Go 7950GTX |
| Operating system | Windows XP Professional |
| Dimensions (WDH) | 15.5 x 11.8 x 1.8 inches |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 17.0 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter [pounds] | 9.4/11.8 pounds |
| Category | Desktop Replacement |
The Area-51 m9750 doesn't stray too far from the typical Alienware design aesthetic. The familiar glowing alien head and ridges are on the back of the lid, the rest of the body is squared-off and chunky. A sleek, sophisticated desktop replacement, this is not. Lest you think a larger laptop can't look good, HP has some excellent examples in the 20-inch HDX and 17-inch Pavilion dv9500t.
One design feature we liked was the Area-51 m9750's matte black finish. Glossy laptops are fingerprint magnets, and we've always thought matte finishes looked cleaner and more upscale. Alienware calls the finish Stealth Black and promotes its scratch-resistant properties.
The laptop's body is large enough to fit a full-size keyboard and separate number pad, along with a generous touchpad. The wrist-rest area may be the largest we've ever seen, but it almost pushes the keyboard too far back--there's a full 5.5 inches from the front edge of the laptop to the bottom of the keyboard. It took a little getting used to, and some users may find it uncomfortable. A Webcam sits above the screen, and a series of touch-sensitive media control and quick-launch buttons reside above the keyboard, but the volume control is shunted off to a small wheel on the left side of the system--we'd much prefer a volume control somewhere on the keyboard-tray surface.
The 17-inch wide-screen LCD display offers a 1,920x1,200 native resolution, which is higher than the standard 1,600x1,200 resolution for a screen this size. That means that onscreen text and icons are extremely tiny, but also that you can fire up video games at superhigh resolutions. A lower 1,440x900 display is also available at a discount of $300. The screen looked great, with excellent detail, but lately we've soured on glossy screen coatings, finding the glare from ambient lighting distracting.
| Alienware Area-51 m9750 | Average for category [desktop replacement] | |
| Video | VGA-out, S-video, DVI | VGA-out, S-video, DVI or HDMI |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks, surround sound outputs; TOSlink Optical Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks, S/PDIF |
| Data | 4 USB 2.0, mini-FireWire, multiformat memory card reader | 4 USB 2.0, mini-FireWire, multiformat memory card reader |
| Expansion | ExpressCard slot | PC Card and ExpressCard |
| Networking | modem, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | modem, Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi, optional Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | DVD Burner | HD DVD or Blu-ray |
Including 802.11n Wi-Fi technology is almost a given for all but the cheapest laptops these days, but the system lacks mobile broadband, another feature we've become used to seeing. Still, gamers aren't likely to trust their online matches to a slower EV-DO connection, so we're not overly concerned by its absence, and besides, you'll probably be at home on your local Wi-Fi network most of the time anyway.
As is typical for Alienware systems, the audio and video options are excellent, providing standard three-plug surround sound audio connections, along with an optical audio out. If our review unit included the optional Blu-ray drive, we'd prefer HDMI to DVI, but the DVI still provides for a high-resolution output if needed; you'll just have to use a separate cable for audio. A basic, single-tuner TV tuner is also included, with coax and S-video inputs, but the gradual rollout of CableCard technology just makes standard PC TV tuners look even more archaic, particularly a standard-def NTSC tuner like the one offered on the Area-51 m9750.
A lot of the Area-51 m9750's buzz came from its very reasonable starting price. For $2,099, however, you'll have to keep your expectations in check. Your two grand gets you an Intel Core 2 Duo T5500, 1GB of RAM, a single GeForce Go 7950GTX GPU, and an 80GB hard drive. Not a terrible set of specs, but we can't imagine any gamers being happy with just 1GB of RAM. Our review unit more than doubled that price, without even adding a Blu-ray drive. If you want to go even further, Alienware is jumping on the solid-state drive (SSD) bandwagon, offering a few SSD configurations. A single 32GB SSD drive is $500 (above the default 80GB drive), a combo of a 32GB SSD and 200GB standard hard drive is an extra $800, and a RAID 0 array with two 32GB SSD drives is a whopping $1,100 add-on.
As expected, the Alienware Area-51 m9750 and its dual GeForce Go 7950GTX cards pummeled the competition in our F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 tests, offering up 81.1 frames per second in Quake 4, even at a ridiculously high 1,600x1,200 resolution with anti-aliasing turned on. We looked at the low-end Alienware m5790 earlier this year, and that system's single ATI Radeon x1900 pumped around half the frames in the same Quake 4 test. The twin video cards in SLI mode are clearly the system's highlight, as the m9750's Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU performed on par with other recent systems in more mundane benchmarks, such as CNET Lab's Multitasking, iTunes encoding, and Photoshop CS2 tests (although the Alienware's 7,200rpm drives helped it power ahead in the Photoshop test).
The (nongaming) performance differences between this and other high-end laptops, such as the HP Pavilion HDX or the Apple MacBook Pro, are small enough to have little real-world effect, and all these systems are near the upper end of currently available hardware--although Intel is currently prepping a Core 2 Extreme mobile processor and Nvidia has a new DirectX 10 GPU, the GeForce 8700M GT, both of which will no doubt be included in Alienware systems later this year.
The Area-51 m9750 ran for a mere one hour and 12 minutes on our DVD battery drain test, a short lifespan, even for a massive desktop replacement system. Of course, powering a 1,920x1,200 display and two GPUs isn't easy, and we don't expect laptop gamers to keep their systems unplugged for any length of time.
Alienware backs the system with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor, including onsite service and 24-7 toll-free phone support. You can extend the warranty to up to three years for $300. Support options on Alienware's Web site include live chat, an extensive knowledge database, and a page of drivers. Our review system also included Alienware's typically excellent owner's binder, and a Respawn recovery DVD, a $49 option.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
'F.E.A.R.' 1024x768, SS:on, AA:off, 8X AF | |
'Quake 4' 1024x768, HQ, 4xAA, 8X AF |
N/A
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test laptops.
Alienware Area-51 m9750
Windows XP Media Center Edition; 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 512MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7950GTX; 300GB Seagate 7,200rpm
HP Pavilion HDX
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700; 3,072MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI HD 2600 XT; 100GB Hitachi 7,200rpm
iBuyPower Battalion 101 LX750
Windows Vista Ultimate Edition; 2.21GHz AMD Turion 64 x2 TL-64; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7600; 120GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Dell Inspiron E1705
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7900GS; 120GB Toshiba 5,400rpm SATA/150
Apple MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz)
OS X 10.4.8; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 ; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 User Rating: 
9/10
fantastic!
Pros: Screen Size, Keyboard, exterior style. customer service,
Cons: Price, thats it
User Rating: 
1/10
Constant issues and poor support
Pros: Honestly cannot think of anything at the moment
Cons: Problems right off the bat with wireless connectivity, followed by problems with sound card and mousepad. Customer support solved wireless issue and dumped me off on sound card manufacturer because they only cover 90 days.
User Rating: 9/10
Quick, Upgradeable and Powerful!
Pros: Fast, Runs Games Efficiently, Fairly Reliable, Tech Support Helpful,
Cons: Quite Large and Heavy, Runs Hot Without a cooler
User Rating: 1/10
Horrible Experience
Pros: I have nothing good to say about this laptop.
Cons: This is the worst laptop I have ever owned. About 5 weeks after I received it, it died. No power, nothing. Shipped it back. Then, I had constant overheating issues with it and bad graphics performance. After 4 months, Alienware finally took it back.
User Rating: 
2/10
Worst laptop ever purchased
Pros: Looks nice
Cons: -Runs incredibly hot
-Touchpad is unreliable
- NO replacement parts are available from Alienware or online
User Rating: 1/10
the most disappointing costly mistake ever
Pros: when it did work which was'nt often gaming was excellent
Cons: where to begin, the day it arrived it wasnt working, they repaired and sent back 2 months later still broke, third times a charm it works for 3 months and out again. customer service;non-existant,competent employees the same
it is too expensive a mistake for some folks to make considering their over priced and defective equipment
User Rating: 1/10
WORST SERVICE EVER:(
Pros: NONE....WELL I LIKED THE DESIGN ON IT
Cons: ALIENWARE HAS THE WORST SERVICE EVER, THE OS WAS NOT INSTALLED SO I WAS STUCK WITH A COMPUTER THAT COULD NOT DO ANYTHING. I SEND IT IN FOR REPAIR, AND 5 WEEKS LATER I HAVE NOT YET RECIVED MY LAPTOP THAT I PAID 1500$ FOR.
User Rating: 9/10
Great right out of the box
Pros: Ready to go out of the box. Fast and looks cool to. Open the top and away you go.All my soetware was easy and super fast to load.
Cons: Its a little heavy for a lap top.
User Rating: 
4/10
Very Mediocre AT BEST!!!
Pros: Two SLI video cards
Cons: VERY HOT, outdated for price, error infested
For one, it got extremely hot! On some cases when playing Halo 3, it got so hot to the point of shutting down. Without the absolute perfect ventilation, this laptop will burn the flesh right off of your legs, so don't put it on your lap!
When the graphics cards got too hot, Windows Aero shut down I am assuming to put less strain on the two cards.
Great for people who can take modest advantages from the graphics cards, but not for the hardcore gamer who wants to use the full potential of the graphics cards. Besides, the alien on the back of the screen is hideous.
A laptop I am proud to have off of my hands!
User Rating: 4/10
Support sucks bad - don't BUY
Pros: Good for 3,000 bucks
Cons: support sucksand unconfortable
User Rating: 9/10
Good bang for buck
Pros: A lot of potential to upgrade and pleasing look. Matte finish helps keep off smudges!
Cons: Definitely a desktop replacement, very heavy.
User Rating: 2/10
Low Quality, Get Screwed on Return
Pros: Looks Good
Cons: All kinds of thing wrong with it, poor qulaity, jip
User Rating: 9/10
Quality gaming laptop
Pros: Fast, quality paint job/unique look
Cons: Odd volume placement. Lack of media buttons
User Rating: 1/10
Don't buy Alienware
Pros: Looks like a cool machine
Cons: Terrible customer service. We had to change, cooling system, keyboard, video card in 1 year and now the machine is dead. Desktop pieces in laptops.
3 month later the keyboard and the video card died.
After 15 hours on the phone with tech support (I counted them!) we were able to send it back. 3 weeks later they sent back the machine saying it was perfect.
Now, just 18 month after my son got this computer, the motherboard died. It's not under guaranty so: "too bad for him". He needs over $400 to get it fixed.
When I asked why he had those problems the answer was THE COMPONENTS ARE TOO POWERFULL FOR A LAPTOP, THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR DESKTOPS.
Why do they sell it? I don't know!!!
DO NOT BUY IT.
User Rating: 
8/10
Nice Machine
Pros: Fast / Eyepoping / Fullsize Keyboard
Cons: Alienware Employes. No HDMI
User Rating: 2/10
Awful customer service
Pros: It looked nice.
Cons: Many shipping errors
They sent me the wrong computer, twice (it was a non-stop error festival, too long to get into, all of which in lousy english), I constantly had to call them back to get appropriate follow-up, and they refused to compensate me. All of this taking into consideration that they dropped the price of that computer by 400$ since the time I had bought it.
So I got my money back, and I hope this'll make you at least think before you buy this computer.
User Rating: 9/10
Excellent Performance
Pros: graphics are awesom
Cons: DVD player seems flimsy and cheap
User Rating: 4/10
Way overblown!!!
Pros: nice screen
Cons: disappointing performance
User Rating: 9/10
Love it so far!
Pros: Great video, nice sound, shiny screen and all around great!
Cons: Battery life is lacking, AC adapter is big
This laptop is NOT for someone who is wanting an on the go system. Though I tote it around with me a couple times a week, it is a little cumbersome and heavy. That's why it's a portable 'desktop' system. The 'brick' (AKA the AC adapter) is huge for the system. I've seen smaller adapters for systems this powerful.
I've not had to deal with the support team, and I hope I don't have to. I've heard several bad comments on the support. I hope that I can support myself if I have any issues.
User Rating: 2/10
Where do I start...
Pros: Worked great when it did work
Cons: Everything. Customer support, System reliability, Technical support
After I had the computer for 24 days I lost power to the machine completely in the middle of use. I called Alienware tech support and spent a couple hours unplugging cables inside the computer. Eventually the tech rep. (horrible English) conceded that something was wrong and he said it sounded like the motherboard had shorted out. I sent the computer to Alienware; they paid for shipping and everything and had the machine back to me in a week and a half.
They had replaced the motherboard and hard drive, so all the information I had stored on my computer was lost completely. I didn't mind so much however because I supposedly had a functioning machine.
When I started the laptop I immediately noticed I wasn't getting a wireless connection so I called tech support again and spent several more hours detaching and re-connecting more cables inside the laptop. Nothing worked and they offered to send me a new wireless card. I was very under whelmed with the laptop I'd been dealt so I pushed to get a new machine altogether. After being talked in circles for an hour and a half they said there was no way they would replace my machine. So they agreed to send the wireless card via overnight mail. They sent the wrong wireless card for my machine, so they tried a second time. The card did not work. So they are now sending a third card, and will supposedly ask me to send the machine in for repairs next if that card is not working.
After receiving it back from Alienware for the motherboard repairs, the graphics driver on my computer would crash every few minutes exiting any games or other applications open at the time. I called tech support and downloaded the drivers, which didn't help the situation, they kept crashing. The problem hasn't been resolved so I can't use the computer at all.
I have had this computer for two months now and have been able to use it for less than half that time. Customer service is less than helpful and not willing to change their position to please the customer. I do not recommend this computer at all, if something goes wrong it seems impossible to fix.
User Rating: 2/10
This laptop is Hot! Really Hot!
Pros: Most powerful gaming laptop money can by as far as I know.
Cons: Overheating problems. Tech support went downhill after Dell bought them out.
They also do not officially support dual boot systems or non-Windows systems in general.
This laptop is perhaps simply too powerful. and maybe this computer can't be built with todays technology because of overheating problems, but that didn't stop them from trying.
They were very generous in promptly replacing my graphics card and heat sink, but I still have overheating problems when playing World of Warcraft. WOW is fine if I turn down my graphics settings enough, but then why did I buy all this extra hardware if I can't really use it?
User Rating: 1/10
Broken out of the box...
Pros: Nice display and speakers
Cons: Would not power on out of the box
User Rating: 
3/10
Don't get the baseline model
Pros: Seems stable
Cons: Mediocre display & poor speaker
I do understand that sub $2k is a bargain for gaming laptop but I still expected to be better than other laptop at the price.
My recommendation is - if you are still intersted in getting it at the minimum you need to upgrade the display & the speaker unless you want to plug it into a monitor & a decent speaker system.
User Rating: 2/10
Paid $550 to talk to Alienware support for a month
Pros: Large screen, very nice keyboard
Cons: System shipped defective, low usefulness/time ratio when contacting Alienware
Unfortunately, from the start I had problems with it hanging during the boot sequence and in-game crashes to desktop.
AW Tech and Customer service reps were uniformly nice and polite during numerous calls...but unable to provide any constructive help.
After twice rebuilding the system (software) according to AW instructions, I thought it prudent to return the machine while I could.
An AW rep convinced me to ship the machine to AW for repair. Nearly four weeks later, I'd been told it had a short in the motherboard and that the hard drive would be replaced. But there was no solid date when this would be complete. Frustrated and disappointed, I initiated the return process. Unfortunately, I now have to wait for the repair to finish before the return can be completed. So I'll (optimistically) have a 6-week period where I have neither a gaming rig nor my money.
I'll wind up out the restocking fee (over $500) and have spent more time on the phone with AW over the last 1.5 months than actually using the system.
The AW rep stated that my experience was a rare one. Perhaps, but I won't risk repeating it with AW.
User Rating: 3/10
Dissapointed: system and customer support
Pros: Nice screen resolution...
Cons: Very slow and crashed while playing a game
User Rating: 2/10
Obsolete out of box
Pros: Cool cover \
Cons: Video cards are outdated - won't run today's games - 15% Restocking Fee and Return shipping is outrageous
Customer service obviously outsources as rep had difficulty speaking english. Just returned laptop back to company since they said it couldn't be upgraded. They gave me the run around and charged me $500 for return shipping and 15% return stocking fee. I will never buy from them again!
User Rating: 
6/10
Lost mémory
Pros: performance
Cons: problème with Mémory
The engineering department of Alienware is informed of a problem on the bios of this series of portable what does not prevent the Alienware company from continuing to propose this useless option on its site of sale.
The sales department of Alienware Europe wants to offer to my son a mouse well to compensate it for this bug and in waiting for new a bios which does not lose the memory
What to start Alien War
Hello
My son has just bought this portable with the option 4 Giga of memory.
But as incredible as that appears the bios of this portable more 2559GB of memory does not recognize. The engineering department of Alienware is informed of the problem, but on the commercial site this useless option is always proposed with the sale.
In its great kindness the sales department of Alienware Europe wants to offer to my son a mouse well to compensate it for this bug.
Here what to start a news Alien War
User Rating: 
10/10
I spent the extra money to upgrade my alienware and I'm glad I did!
Pros: Fast, Fast, and did I say Fast.
Cons: It does cost a little more than its closes competitor, however its options refect this increase in price.
1. Replace the single 80 GB, 5400 rpm hard drive with 2 - 120 GB, 7200 rpm hard drives.
2. Replace the 1 GB (2x 512MB), and use 2 GB (2x 1GB) min.
3. Choose the higher resolution screen 1920x1200 to make the graphics pop out clearer and brighter.
4. If you still have any money left the Geforce go 7950GTX 512MB in SLI mode will burn through any game without dropping frames and without creating excessive heat for a desktop replacement.
Dell may cost less but there is no Dual graphics. HP may have the graphics but not the hard drive options. And yes the alien head may be dated but what would an Alienware computer be without an alien somewere.
User Rating: 8/10
Alienware does it again, at a price.
Pros: Intel Core 2 Duo processors / Graphics / Memory
Cons: Price / Customer service
I do not personally own one of these notebooks, but have had the honor of taking it for a test drive. The most notable difference are the Intel-based processor(s). They are significantly faster than their AMD counterpart m-series processors. Most individuals will notice a difference when multi-tasking and tearing through applications as well as gaming. The single AMD counterpart had a greater ability to dedicate itself to one process(i.e. games), where as the core 2 duo(can) multi-task more successfully as well as give itself entirely to a game.
Another notable difference is the memory. It comes stocked with 1GB of ram; ram that operates much faster than it's predecessor's. It is running DDR2 memory at 667MHz. Previous Alienware notebook's ran DDR memory at 400MHz. This lends another contributing hand to expediating the notebook all around.
All in all, this seems to be another very solid system. If you currently own an M9700 or equivalent, I wouldn't suggest going out and upgrading to this notebook however. For starters, it has a 2k starting price tag, and can be configured all the way up to 5k. That's a lot of money to shell out for the newest technology. If you already own a great system, hold on to it. The difference between the 9750 and 9700 is not that drastic.
On the other hand, if you crave the latest technology in a gaming notebook and can afford it, then I highly recommend adding this one to your list.
