Alienware Aurora m9700 17-inch Notebook

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Max Slowik
Kurtis
Alienware
Jul. 25, 2007

Specifications

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Introduction

"There once was a man from Nantucket. He didn't... he didn't need an Alienware laptop." - Oscar Wilde on the Alienware Aurora m9700

So the conversation goes like this:

Kurtis calls me and asks me if I want a laptop. Sure, I say. He follows up with It's an Alienware. It cost four grand.

Gears spin. I can take this laptop, this $4,000 laptop, hock it on eBay, buy a real laptop, and a car.

What? What do you mean they want it back? I'm supposed to review it? Damn.

...When I think laptop, I think portable computing. I want to be able to check some mail, sync some music, and basically, go a long time out of the house without worrying about where I'm going to find a free outlet. I'm also the sort who uses a laptop for work, not games, and would rather spend my gaming budget on a capable desktop. But I understand wanting a laptop that can game, I've done the LAN party deal for posterity. I also understand the appeal of the desktop replacement: a quiet computer that takes up almost no space is something most everyone agrees with.

But this is a beast from a different kingdom. You take a 24" resolution, shrunk to fit a 17" display. You run it off not one, but two gaming video cards. You stuff it to the gills with RAM, stripe two high-speed hard drives into a massive RAID, connect all of it to a top-fuel processor, hide it under a keyboard--granted, a full-size keyboard with a numpad--and attempt to classify it as a laptop? No sir, this is a semi-portable desktop. The power supply should identify the difference in order alone.

I thought I might take the power brick and throw it through a window, or try and get a few more and build college-grade shelving with them, as much as it resembled its moniker.

I have to assume that cost is not an issue, right? I mean, anyone who wants this kind of extravagance is going to walk away with it no matter what. Price/performance analysis goes right out the window. So I have to find new and interesting ways to criticize this cobalt metal-flake show of force. Because of my perception of the function of laptops, I partly expect to hate it.

I kind of changed my mind...

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Page 1 of 12

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Test Setup
Page 4: Testing - HL2 Episode 1
Page 5: Testing - F.E.A.R.
Page 6: Testing - Company of Heroes
Page 7: Testing - Prey
Page 8: Testing - Need for Speed Most Wanted
Page 9: Testing - 3DMark 06
Page 10: Performance Summary
Page 11: Performance Summary, Continued...
Page 12: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by mjsmom on July 27, 2007 - 10:07 pm

My non-tech comments. . .just browsing your articles today. . .would love to have a laptop, any laptop. . .keep writing. . .I'm loving it. gm

2 - Posted by Kurtis on July 28, 2007 - 2:09 am

Thanks for the kind words, mjsmom. :)

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