Reviews
Alienware
Area 51 MJ-12m 7700
Most powerful Windows-based mobile computer we've ever seen
You
won't see many laptop computer reviews in this magazine, but when
you do, it'll be something extraordinary. We requested a review
sample of the Alienware Area 51 MJ-12m 7700 mobile workstation
because of its impressive specs, making it suitable for professional
creative production work in video, audio, and serious still photographic
work.
Don't
be turned off by the garish, science fiction graphic treatment.
This machine may be marketed to gaming fanatics but underneath
it's all business. I'll let the specs below speak for themselves,
but taken together in actual use, this machine delivers devastating
performance, on par with the best desktop machines.
Not
surprisingly, this beast is freakin' enormous. I have end tables
at home that are smaller across, and the thing weighs almost 13
pounds. Under your arm, it feels like you're carrying an attachŽ
packed full of stuff. The power brick is the first I've ever seen
that is actually about the size of a real brick and weighs almost
as much.
But,
oh! what you get in return. Blistering desktop-class Pentium 4
speed, a gorgeously bright 17" widescreen (1680x1050 pixel) display
with a built-in VGA camera, dual hard drives (up to 200GB's worth)
configured in either RAID 0 or RAID 1 striping, up to 2GB of RAM,
state-of-the-art NVIDIA graphics subsystem with DDR3 vRAM, dual
optical drives, and a full-size keyboard.
Our
tests were, predictably, flat-out amazing. We ran a full array
of pro-grade photo and video editing applications with stunning
results. Just for laughs we installed Half-Life II and the thing
ran so well one of our editors actually got dizzy and had to stop
playing. It's almost ridiculous how fast this thing is.
Other
nice features include the ability to play CDs and MP3 disk while
the computer is turned off. There are controls of the front within
easy reach ÷ even an LCD panel for track info. Watching a DVD
on this unit was completely immersive. Between the huge display
and the four speakers + subwoofer underneath the case, it was
easy to kick back in our office chairs and just watch the show.
I'm
a Mac guy who relies on a 17" Power Book G4 for everything. If
I was a PC guy, this Alienware would be my computer.
Specifications
ð 3.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 microprocessor
ð 800MHz frontside bus, 1MB cache
ð NVIDIA Quadro FX Go 1400, 256MB DDR3
ð Up to 2GB of PC2-4200 SO-DIMM RAM
ð Up to 2 100GB SATA hard drives, RAID 0/1
ð 17" 1680x1050 widescreen display
ð 4 USB 2.0 & 2 FireWire ports
ð DVI, serial, parallel, and PS2 ports
ð S-Video, Video-in, 5.1 audio (SPDIF) ports
ð Gigabit ethernet, 802.11a/b/g wireless
ð PCMCIA Type II ACPI CardBus slot
ð Flash card slots: CF, SD, MMC, MS , MS Pro
Dimensions
& Weight
ð 15.6ä x 11.7ä x 2.1ä
ð 12.75 lbs. (sans power brick)
Contact:
www.alienware.com
Price
as tested: $3142
(1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, DVD-R, 1680x1050 display with camera,
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 graphics card)
öDavid MacNeill
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