S-4 m5550 and Sentia m3450 - Alienware-Notebooks with Intel Core 2 Duo Processors

Within a few days several manufacturers present several notebooks with the new Core 2 Duo processor - also now Alienware.

top m5550, bottom m3450

The S-4 m5550 just existed up to now, but with another processor.

Features Alienware S-4 m5550

• processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (free configurable)
• RAM: from 512 MB up to 2 GB
• video card: Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 with 256 MB or ATI Mobility Radeon X1400-video card with 128 MB
• hard disk: 5400 U/Min. - up to 120GB SATA or 7200 U/Min. - up to 100GB SATA
• display: 15.4” WUXGA LCD-display with Clearview (1920 x 1200) or 15.4” WXGA+ LCD-display with Clearview (1280 x 800)
• optical drive: 24x CD-RW / 8x DVD Combo or 8x Dual Layer DVD±RW / 24x CD-RW
• interfaces: 3 Hi-Speed USB, Express cardreader slot / 54mm, 4-in-1 Media-cardreader
• dimensions (H x B x T): 3,45 cm* x 36,20 cm x 27,31 cm
• weight: 2.72 kg

Features Alienware Sentia m3450

• processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (configurable)
• RAM: from 512 MB up to 2 GB
• video card: integrated Intel Graphics-Media-Accelerator 950
• hard disk: 5400 U/Min. - up to 80GB SATA or 7200 U/Min. - up tp 100GB SATA
• display: 14.0” WXGA LCD-display with webcam (1280 x 768)
• optical drive: 24x CD-RW / 8x DVD Combo or 8x Dual Layer DVD±RW / 24x CD-RW
• interfaces: 3 Hi-Speed USB, Express cardreader socket / 54mm, 4-in-1 Media-cardreader
• dimension (H x B x T): 1,9 cm* x 33,17 cm x 24,13 cm
• weight: 2.49 kg

Comment:

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 is part of the most powerful third of mobile video cards. It can represent newest games well and no doubt is apt for office applications and surfing.

ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 is the successor of the ATI Mobility Radeon X600. The specifications are equal like with X1300, but probably it is faster clocked. It is a mobile video card with a performance above average and can represent newest games fluently, but not with all details. For office applications and for surfing it is no doubt sufficient.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 is an onboard integrated video chip and can be called a faster clocked GMA 900 (on Mobile Intel 945GM Express chipset, which is available only starting with Core Duo/Solo). 2006 it is the most often used graphics solution and is classified in the weakest third of mobile graphics solutions. So it can only be used for elder games. For office applications and surfing it is without any doubt sufficient.

The Core 2 Duo is a successor of Core Duo and Core Solo with a longer pipeline and up to 20% speed increase without to spend more current. 64-Bit EM64T command upgrade and 2 or 4 MB L2 cache characterize this processor with its 291 millions transistors, which are finished in 65 nm.

15 inch display-variants are the standard and are used for more than the half of all notebooks. The reason why so many people like displays with medium size is, that this size is not exhausting for the eyes, does not need too much current and the laptops can be kept quite compact.

The weight is about average for this display size.

Alienware is a rather small international manufacturer with a small market share and few reviewed models. Reviews often mention the extraordinary performance, but also the high price.