Test: Alienware Aurora m9700 UK

Case contents

The black box with the Alienware logo tempts you to rip open the box and find out what's inside.



Feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, I momentarily forget that this is actually not my laptop to keep. Seconds later I flip open the box and take a look inside.



With increasing excitement I continue examining the contents. First the laptop itself is studied in detail, next the box of accessories is examined. The list of accessories is actually pretty substantial





Windows XP professional SP2
Respawn Recovery DVD/CD Kit
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Professional
Alienware® T-Shirt
Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Nero OEM v6.6.0.13
M9700-R1 support-CD
2 NVIDIA stickers
Ethernet-cable 2m
Telephone cable for MODEM
SVHS to composite adaptor cable
Power supply
Alienware backpack
Logitech MX518
One 12 cell Battery pack


The backpack can be purchased with a 50% discount when ordering the laptop. It carries the unique Alienware logo. The bagpack is rather spacious, and apart from the laptop itself, there is adequate room for CD's, cables, books etc. It is somewhat larger than your average size school backpack. Of course, this is to be expected from a laptop backpack. It features a plethora of minor pockets situated various places on the bag, as well as one designed for a cellular phone. On the inside of the bag there are 12 pockets for CD's as well as a protective pocket for the laptop.

The Alienware respawn recovery kit, is a DVD-image for failure recovery, reverting the installed operating system back to factory settings. It features two discs, one being a boot-disc, and a DVD containing the actual image.

The Logitech mouse comes with a 50% discount as well. It deserves a review of it's own, so I will not be going into details on this one. The colouring scheme matches nicely with the Aurora 'Sauser Silver' laptop though.

Never before have I experienced a power supply of this size. The weight in itself is surprising. The unit weighs a massive 1017 grams. The wattage of the unit is not disclosed. One can assume that two 7900gs graphic cards can consume vast amounts of energy though, thus giving an explanation for the weight of the unit.


Specifications:

Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Saucer Silver
Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Professional UK with SP2 - English
Warranty: AlienCare Free Phone 1-Year 24/7 Warranty
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Processor: AMD TurionT 64 Mobile ML44 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Memory: 2GB DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2x1024MB
Video Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForceT Go 700 GS - SLI Enabled
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 100GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical Drive: DVD-Burner: 8x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24x CD-RW Combo w/Software
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Keypad: Mobile Keypad - English
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Wireless Network Card: Internal Wireless 802.11b/g miniPCI Card
Primary battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Ultimate Holiday Mobility Bundle: Ultimate Mobility Bundle Includes Alienware Odyssey
Backpack and Logitech MX 518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse. Get 50% off!!
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Security Software: Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Professional - Included!
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Alienware® T-Shirt - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Custom Alienware® fUnc Mousepad - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager - FREE

At first sight everything looks really promising, but one single specification does stand out a bit. A 2.4GHz AMD Turion has been chosen as the processor unit. For an otherwise powerful laptop such as this, the choice of processor seems rather odd. Perhaps chosen as most games do not support multi-threading, but the solution does not appear very future proof.