Alienware M9750 $1499 with dual Go7950GTX 512MB SLI

Alienware has been lowering the price on its 17-inch Area-51 M9750 gaming notebook lately. Right now it starts at $1,299 with the following:
-Single Go7950GTX 512MB
-17-inch WXGA+
-C2D T5500 1.66GHz
-1GB RAM
-Vista Home Premium or XP Media Center
-80GB 7200RPM
-8X DVD Burner
-Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG WLAN

You can upgrade to dual Go7950GTX 512MB in SLI for an additional $200, which is a great deal. Upgrade the processor to a T7200 2.0GHz for $175 and you have one kick-ass gaming notebook for $1,674. Upgrade the RAM yourself.

Product Link (Alienware.com)
NotebookReview.com review of the Alienware Area-51 M9750

 

but for that price i can get gateway fx with 8800gts!

 

Alienware build quality > Gateway.

Also, dual Go7950s will outperform an 8800M-GTS if the game supports SLI.

 

are you sure?

 

I've seen the Gateway in person several times and I wrote the M9750 review I listed above, so yes about the build quality.

Also sure about the Go7950s beating the single 8800M-GTS. They come very close to 8800M-GTX performance if the game supports SLI.

 

thx,then it is a great deal!

 

shame its not on the UK site

 

Chaz! Can you please give me some advice with this deal?

1. How much do this nb wheigh?
2. Is it a big difference about the quality between WideXGA and WideUXGA? I occasionally watch movies on it and multitabling poker (max 4 tables though). But im not willing to throw away money if its not that big difference on 17".
3. Issue about choosing HD. Ive heard so much about 7200rpm vs 5400rpm and i cannot really decide which one to go with. I think i need more than 80 gb though. What, in your opinion, is the best deal here?
4. Im pretty sure that Xp suites me best. But should i go with Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 [+$0] or Genuine Windows® XP Professional [+$50 or $2/mo.]? I have no need for media center. At least i dont think so.
5. Do you think ill be unhappy, in a couple of years, with a videocard that dont support dx10?

It seems like an awesome deal, very thankful that you posted it. Excuse my english, please.

 

1. How much do this nb wheigh? -Around 9 pounds.
2. Is it a big difference about the quality between WideXGA and WideUXGA? I occasionally watch movies on it and multitabling poker (max 4 tables though). But im not willing to throw away money if its not that big difference on 17".
-Typically, 24"-27" screens have WUXGA resolution, so WXGA is a great size for a 17" screen. Most newer games won't be able to play at WUXGA's native resolution, so WXGA will also look better for most games, too.
3. Issue about choosing HD. Ive heard so much about 7200rpm vs 5400rpm and i cannot really decide which one to go with. I think i need more than 80 gb though. What, in your opinion, is the best deal here? -I'd say buy a 160GB or 200GB 7200rpm drive from a place like NewEgg. 5400rpm is too slow for today's standards.
4. Im pretty sure that Xp suites me best. But should i go with Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 [+$0] or Genuine Windows® XP Professional [+$50 or $2/mo.]? I have no need for media center. At least i dont think so. XP Professional doesn't really include anything worthwhile, so
-I think you'll be happy with XP MCE, though Professional has a sleeker look, so I'd go with that.
5. Do you think ill be unhappy, in a couple of years, with a videocard that dont support dx10?
-If anything, you'll be unhappy with the card's overall performance in a couple years, not that it doesn't support DX10. Current 8800 cards can only run a few tiny DX10 effects here and there, we won't see a game using all DX10 effects until the 10 or 11 series cards come out. A few Alienware reps confirmed that the M9750 will be upgradable to the 8800M GTX cards. It'd be a good bargain to upgrade to dual 8800M GTXs in a year or a year and half when the 7950M GTX starts to show its' age, and when 8800M GTXs price are less than half what they are now.

You should be really happy with this notebook. You might want to act quick, the m9750 is going to be replaced with the m17x soon, so get this at a bargain while you can.

 

1. About 9 pounds as noted, more specifically 8.5 for the notebook according to Alienware.com.

2. In quality yes, the WUXGA has ClearView treatment which adds contrast and clarity. Higher resolutions equate to more screen space and are a better choice in my opinion.

3. 5400RPM is fine, I disagree; if you get one of the higher capacity drives like the 250 or 320GB, it will perform similar to a lower-capacity 160GB or 200GB 7200RPM drive because of the platter density.

4. I'd stick with XP but it is up to you. You can read some of the comments on Vista in our software forum.

That's not true . . . both have the same basic look, XP MCE is shinier but you can put that theme on any XP OS:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/Royale-Theme-for-WinXP.shtml
Unless you need to join a domain or work in a business environment you don't need Pro.

5. Impossible to say. It is reasonable to say that since the vast majority of mainstream gamers have DX9 cards that DX9 will be supported for a long time. The Go7950GTX is still a beast of a card and more powerful than all Nvidia DX10 cards save for the 8800M-GTX and 8800M-GTS.

 

3. Ok, newegg`s best price for a 320gb 5400rpm is 160$ and I have to add 200$ to customize it here. The time and effort it will take for me to install a "newegg" drive s probably worth more than 40$ = im leaning on customizing it to 320. Please, tell me its a good choice.

 

It's a good choice to install it yourself, it isn't hard at all. I'm disagreeing with Chaz, get a 200GB 7200rpm HD, 5400rpm will be noticably slower, especially during load times in games and application boot-ups (and Windows boot-up, too).

 

I disagree with you, a 320 gb 5400 rpm hd will be faster in many things and larger in all things.

If the price is comparable i would definitely get the 320 gb.

installing a laptop hard drive is normally about as difficult as installing a vhs tape.

 

This is a great price, IMO.

 

I acutally very interested in m9750 right now, but I got 2 questions tho, how is 2.0Ghz compare to 2.33Ghz? is the speed noticeable? also will it be able to upgrade to 8800m GTX later? I knew Clevo had to replaced the entire mobo in order to do so. I mostly do gaming like colin: dirt, BF2142 and Flight Sim, sometimes autocad and solidwork for school.

 

I'm not sure 'bout the CPU's speed. However, the m9750 can't be upgraded with 8800M GTX IMO,since it will hurt sales of the m17x when it came out and if it's possible they couldn't have to sell the m9750 cheap right now.
(sry for my bad Eng)

 

does anyone know what socket type the m9750 has and whether the cpu can be upgraded to something a little more recent?

 

Socket M, and no, none of the santa rosa/penryn processors are compatible with this socket (they are socket p) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_M

 

maybe i can pull out the 2.33ghz from my macbook pro, i guess its socket M

 

waht the heck...m9750 is not running on the santa rosa platform!??....then whats the highest cpu it can support..?

 

2.33GHz Memrom.

 

It's interesting how alienware can charge you $725 to get the T7600 on the m9750, which is not even the most current generation of intel mobile cpus. But the base config w/the sli 7950gtx is a run for the money though.

 

its not SLI..its a single 7950 gtx

 

just out of curiosity, how good a deal is the m9750...i dont game so i would nt go sli, i am just curious, as i have always wanted an alienware, but they always came to 3gs and a waste for me, but considering i could pick up a decent system for 1500 or so, to play around with at home, as a home desk system... do you think its a good deal?
i was thinking
-single 7950
-t7200
-1gb ram-selfupgrade
-vista home
-abgn wifi
-xga+ should do i think
-120gb 7200rpm

comes too 1620 or so.
is it a good system for the price?
thanks

 

I don't think it is worth it to get an Alienware if you are not a gamer. You can get a better general usage notebook. Take a look at the HP 8710p.

 

It's definitely a great deal if you are a gamer, I agree. Having a Go7950GTX if you don't play games is pointless though.