Alienware Area-51 m5550
PROS Attractive design; great application performance from Core 2 Duo mobile chip, nVidia
graphics; bright display; touch pad on/off button
CONS Poor battery life; mediocre gaming performance; slightly cramped keyboard;
glare-prone screen
SPECS 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo T7600; 2GB DDR; 100GB hard drive; double-layer DVD±RW;
15.4-inch TFT; Windows XP Media Center Edition
THE 7-POUND ALIENWARE AREA-51 m5550 has a more subdued look than its otherworldly siblings one that might even blend into the corporate landscape, were it not for the glowing alien head on the lid. Our test unit posted some of the best scores we’ve seen on our application benchmark tests, though its disappointing battery life is likely to keep users tethered to a wall socket.
The glossy (though glare-prone) finish on the m5550’s 15.4-inch wide-screen display enhances the LCD’s rich, deep colors. The screen’s sharp 1,280x800 native resolution also allows for enough room to keep multiple windows open side by side. Although the PC’s keyboard
is slightly less than full-size and required some getting used to, the touch pad is downright spacious. We also appreciated the pad’s separate vertical scroll zone, two large mouse buttons, and on/off button. The laptop’s port selection includes S-Video, DVI, and a headphone jack that
doubles as an S/PDIF connector. You also get Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g wireless, an ExpressCard/54 slot, and a four-format flashmemory-card reader. Our configuration included
a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo T7600 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 7,200rpm 100GB hard drive, and a 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7600 GPU.
CaptNemo 2:10 AM
