Alienware Aurora m7700


Alienware is perhaps, thanks to its extraterrestrial designs and robust gaming systems, the most well-known boutique vendor in the PC business. Continuing the trend is the Aurora m7700 laptop ($4,169 direct) that's built with tons of processing power and 3D prowess, thanks to an AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 desktop processor and the nVidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX graphics card. Aside from the hit the price puts on your wallet, be prepared to handle some serious shoulder strain when lugging around this 12.4-pound monstrosity.

Despite having been acquired by Dell , Alienware continues to crank out its alien-logo PCs. Completely ensconced in blue metallic paint, the m7700 smelled like it just came off the assembly line. The large, hefty, Clevo-designed frame (commonly found on boutique-vendor PCs) and massive, 2.5-pound AC adapter cry out for a travel bag with wheels. The competing Dell XPS M1710 is much more shoulder-friendly, at 8.8 pounds.

An indication of how much sheer horsepower the Aurora m7700 commands is that it houses four fans that must spin continuously to cool the processor. Even so, the left side of the chassis, where the processor resides, gets scorching hot after the notebook has been on for a while. I can't imagine what would happen if one of these fans died. And unless you're at a raucous LAN party, the m7700 is easily loud enough to annoy you and those around you. By contrast, the Dell XPS M1710 runs a lot cooler and quieter during work or play.

My unit came with a 17-inch widescreen that has an antiglare coating and a matte finish. You can opt for a glossier and higher-resolution (1,920-by-1,200) display for $200 more. The keyboard has a number pad, and the front bezel has a small digital display surrounded by DVD-playback controls and volume-control buttons.

The m7700 is bedecked with connections, including four USB ports, two FireWire ports, and both S-Video In and S-Video Out. That's not all. You also get a TV-tuner input and DVD-I, parallel, and serial ports on the back of the unit. The dual-layer DVD burner is handy for backing up data and creating DVD home movies.

Frankly, I'm amazed that anyone can fit a desktop processor into a notebook, let alone the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60. This dual-core powerhouse generated the highest SYSmark 2004 SE scores I've found on a laptop to date. It outperformed the Dell XPS M1710, even with its 2GB of RAM. The m7700's Media Encoder results were also the fastest I've seen on any notebook. Not surprisingly, battery life is abysmal. The system ran for a mere 1 hour and 39 minutes before it shut down to recharge.

The m7700's graphics chip, the nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX, is not the best on the market. That honor belongs to the nVidia GeForce Go 7900GTX, which powers the Dell M1710. Still, I found that the m7700 had better Splinter Cell and 3DMark 2005 scores than the M1710 at its native resolution. Bear in mind, though, that the Aurora's native resolution is only 1,440-by-900, compared with 1,920-by-1,200 for the Dell M1710. There's no denying, however, that gaming rocks on the m7700, and you'll be able to play the most advanced 3D games available.

Both the Dell XPS M1710 and the Alienware Aurora m7700 are very expensive, costing $4,125 and $4,169, respectively. That said, it's hard to recommend the Alienware over the Dell when the latter features a better graphics chipset and far cooler and quieter operation.

See how the Alienware Aurora m7700 measures up to similar systems in our gaming laptop comparison chart.

Company

Alienware Corp

http://www.alienware.com

Spec Data
  • Type: Gaming, Media
  • Operating System: MS Windows XP Home
  • Processor Name: AMD Athlon 64 FX-60
  • Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Weight: 12.4 lb
  • Screen Size: 17 inches
  • Screen Size Type: widescreen
  • Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX
  • Storage Capacity: 80 GB
  • Networking Options: 802.11a/g
  • Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

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