- High Speed Pentium 4 CPU with Hyper Threading Support
- Excellent Graphics Processor
- User Upgradable Graphics Module
- Expensive
- Wireless Not Standard
- Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Desktop Processor with Hyper Threading Support
- 512MB PC3200 DDR Memory
- 20GB 5,400rpm Hard Drive
- 24x CD-RW Combo Optical Drive
- 15.4" WXGA+ (1600x1050) Wide Screen LCD and ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro with 128MB
- AC'97 Audio
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, 10/100 Ethernet and Optional 802.11a/b/g Wireless
- Three USB 2.0 Ports, One FireWire Port, One Type II PC Card Slot
- 13.8" x 11.4" x 1.6" @ 7.5 lbs. (w/o battery)
- Windows XP Home Operating System
1/19/04 - Alienware's Area-51m is an ever evolving product. The latest incarnation offers a lot of great improvements to what was already a very good product. On the visible side of things, the system now features a wide-screen LCD panel which stretches the dimensions and weight of the unit. But it is the interals of the system that have really improved.
Powering the system is a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz desktop CPU. As an added bonus, the laptop now supports Hyper Threading for added performance. Matched up to this is 512MB of high-speed PC3200 memory. Most manufacturers are still using either PC2100 or PC2700 memory.
Storage on the system has also been upgraded somewhat. The system still ships with a 20GB 5,400rpm hard drive standard, but an option for a 7,200 drive is available. The optical drive has been upgraded to a much needed 24x CD-RW Combo drive.
Graphics have seen a huge improvement. The Area-51m now features a user upgradable graphics module. With the ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro 128MB standard, most users won't have a need to upgrade. This GPU provides desktop level performance with DirectX 9 support at the portable level. The new 15.4" wide screen LCD display features a high resolution 1680x1050 resolution.
There are a few drawbacks to this otherwise excellent system. Most notable is the price. This is easily one of the more expensive notebooks available. Also, it would be nice to have wireless networking included instead of optional.
