Alienware Sentia m3450 14-inch Notebook

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
Alienware
Dec. 5, 2006

Specifications

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Introduction

Alienware has been around for 10 years now, delivering high performance computers for customers worldwide. One of the perks of buying an Alienware computer is their stylish desktop and laptop case designs which are sure to turn heads. In case you weren't already aware of the fact, Alienware was recently acquired by Dell. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the long-term, but so far they don't seem to have changed much.

We received for review one of Alienware's top Sentia models. The Sentia m3450 is a 14" wide-screen laptop equipped with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR2 667MHz, 100GB 7200RPM HD and a dual layer DVD writer. It's a pretty impressive package - the integrated graphics aren't for the hardcore gamer, but let's say I was a college student (or businessman) who wanted to get a laptop with a little extra kick. Of course, it would also need to be ready to handle Windows Vista. This laptop could be a good candidate for Mr. Fictitious.

So how does the Alienware Sentia m3450 hold up? Read on to find out.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Taking a Closer Look
Page 4: Bundled Software
Page 5: Testing: Hardware & Software
Page 6: Testing: Temperature
Page 7: Testing: Performance
Page 8: Testing: Battery Life
Page 9: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on December 6, 2006 - 1:43 am

pretty sweet notebook. the only problem i have with the sentia is it's keyboard. it just looks...i dunno...ugly? i can't put my finger on it.

anyways, any idea if y'all will be getting a thinkpad x60 for review? that'd be a pretty cool comparison. :)

2 - Posted by Nick on December 6, 2006 - 12:30 pm

No way would i get a notebook that shuts off under full load due to thermal throttling. That just screams poor design. Im really surprised such a problem could make it through testing unnoticed. They make test chambers specifically for rooting out these types of failures and it would surprise me greatly if alienware didnt employ them during design, testing and production.

3 - Posted by Kurtis on December 6, 2006 - 4:47 pm

I was quite surprised myself... Oddly enough, it doesn't crash under loops of 3DMark, which is what they use for stability testing. But it does crash under the heavy CPU load of Orthos (and HL2, coincidentally).

4 - Posted by Anthony on December 6, 2006 - 4:50 pm

Indeed, and its not like my room is that hot (76-78F). But two laptops later I could provoke both into shutting down while running Orthos.

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