Alienware Sentia m3450 14-inch Notebook

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
Alienware
Dec. 5, 2006

Specifications

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Bundled Software

Alienware knows that the people who buy their laptops are power users with no interest in 900 hours of free AOL or other similar offers. That's why when I started the laptop I was satisfied to see that there were really no extra programs loaded other than the necessary utilities that furnish some of the laptop's features. Bundled software includes Nero for CD and DVD authoring, PowerDVD to watch movies, and finally a small program called BisonCam which is a simple app to show off the integrated camera.

The only add-on that Alienware installed on the laptop was Object Desktop. If you haven't heard of it, it's a program made by Stardock, a company best know for their Window Blinds software which is a Windows shell replacement (replacing the task bar, start menu, etc). I'm not such a big fan of Object Desktop, personally. If I really wanted an interface like they show; I'd just use my Mac.

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Page 4 of 9

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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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