Since I’m speaking at a couple of conferences next year, as well as doing more travelling in a single year than I’ve ever done before, I thought it might be good to look at a laptop. Main reason being that if I don’t have one, I have to take time off, which means less income. So, this means that on months where I travel (which is shaping up to be about half of them next year) the laptop will end up paying for itself.
But what, pray tell, does an aspiring author, vaguely prominent blogger and learning writer get himself? Has to be a PC, no Mac’s. Has to be powerful enough to replace my current desktop (2.0GHz, 1GB RAM, etc). Has to look very, very good (conferences, but also for potential client meetings).
Oh, and it has to be available in financing, preferrably not a lease (so that we can make extra payments if we’d like).
While I’d normally like Dell, they don’t qualify from a financing perspective. Mac’s are sexy. Toshiba has some sexy models. I always said I wanted a Tablet, but is a tablet really ideal for doing book writing?
These are all thoughts that were running through my mind.
Until I remembered Alienware.
There are few laptops that will make anyone, especially Mac users, drool. Alienware makes one. Toshiba makes one (designed by Ferrari).
Plus, Alienware has arguably the best service in the business, some very cool extras and they have financing which is effectively a loan, and thus something that can be paid off early – saving me and my wife loads of cash.
So, what’m I looking at?
3.4GHz P4. 2GB RAM. 128MB Video card. 20GB internal and 200GB external storage.
Mmmm…
Here’s the full specs:
Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service Bundled with AlienAutopsy and Respawn
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Case: Area-51m 5500 Case with 15.4″ WideSXGA+ 1680×1050 LCD Display – Saucer Silver
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 800MHz FSB w/ 512KB Cache
Motherboard: SiS648FX + SiS963L AGP8X Chipset
Memory: 2GB DDR PC-3200 at 400MHz – 2×1024 SO-DIMMs
Video Card: Area-51m 5500 NVIDIA GeForce™ FX Go5700 Module with 128MB DDR
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA
Hard Drive: Seagate Momentus 20GB 5400 RPM – Nearly Silent
Smart Bay One: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Ethernet NIC: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Wireless Network: External Wireless 802.11a/b/g PCMCIA Card
Bluetooth: Belkin® Bluetooth™ PCMCIA Type II Adapter
Modem: 56K Modem with V.92 Technology
Security Software: Norton™ AntiVirus™ 2005
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Office 2003 Small Business Edition
Mobile Transport : AlienArmor 17″ Silver Aluminum Notebook Case
External Storage: IOGear® 200GB Combo ION™ Drive
Free Alienware T-Shirt: Free Alienware® T-Shirt – Black
Area-51m Multi-function Infrared Remote control : Free Area-51m Multi-function Infrared Remote control (a $39.95 value)
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
And the price comes out to a cool $125/month, which is just what we were hoping to pay (between 100-125 anyways).
I have to get financing approved, and I’ll need to pay duty on it. And it’ll take a month to get here.
But then I can fly out to Northern Voice and feel like I’m compensating for something 
December 14th, 2004 at 9:13 am
I would strongly consider the Toshiba. I have been using a Satellite Pro for over a year with no problems. This laptop replaced my desktop.
You can get some great deals on Toshiba’s through Amazon and finance with an Amazon credit card.
If you are concerned about image as well an Alienware might look too “Gamer-ish”.
Go for the Pentium M vs. Pentium 4. Your battery life will probably be close to double. You will be glad when you need to get loads of work done and you are sitting in the airport (or on a plane) with a flight that is delayed for hours.
December 14th, 2004 at 9:27 am
That Toshiba is a pretty penny more. I’ll try spec’ing out an M-based system now, see how it looks
December 14th, 2004 at 9:30 am
Okay, it only specs in at a 2.0GHz processor. Is this going to be enough power? I’ve heard that the M processors are, in effect, much more efficient than P4’s…
Any hints from hardware experts?
December 14th, 2004 at 9:37 am
Processing speeds are much faster for P-M vs. P-4. My 1.6 M is as fast as a 2.4.
You’ll also want Centrino
December 14th, 2004 at 9:41 am
Well my Dell 9200 is a dream, but you already knew that
The thing to remember about the Dell financing is that you can pay it out any time you like. While this is not as good as just making an extra payment, it works well if you anticipate a big payoff in the near future.
Otherwise look at VoodooPC:
http://www.voodoopc.com/systems/notebook.aspx
Based in Calgary, very nice systems. These guys are a strong alienware competitor with no duty.
December 14th, 2004 at 9:51 am
Matt, so a 2.0GHz M-based system will be similarly classed to my 3.4GHz P4?
Mike: Looking at Voodoo right now.
December 14th, 2004 at 10:16 am
PC Financial’s loans are at 5.25%, and meet your pay off early needs. I had my car loan through them a few years ago, and could make extra payments whenever I wanted through my regular banking interface.
Sean
December 14th, 2004 at 10:22 am
Just called them (I have an account with them) and they said no. I might just buy this thing cash. Might be easier than worrying about credit.
December 14th, 2004 at 10:28 am
Then get the Dell 9200
Even with a 17″ screen and a 2ghz Pentium M I can get 5 hours+ battery life from this thing!
December 14th, 2004 at 11:04 am
I just bought a laptop.
Much different from that one though.
December 14th, 2004 at 11:43 am
Alienware is famous for their terrible customer support… avoid!
December 14th, 2004 at 1:59 pm
[gasp!] Such blasphemy! Mac users would do no such thing. Lalalalalalala! I can’t hear you.
Oh wait. I’m a PC user. Carry on.
December 14th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
What about those Free iBook ads? Anyone ever try those?
December 14th, 2004 at 3:25 pm
Jeremy, I was watching Smallville the other day, and I happened to notice that Lex Luthor was using an Alienware laptop.
If it’s good enough for Lex, then it’s good enough for you my friend.
Bottom line is, you’re a jerk. I want an Alienware laptop. Booo…
December 14th, 2004 at 7:00 pm
“Bottom line is, you’re a jerk.”
LOL
December 14th, 2004 at 7:33 pm
haha
For a laptop… I’d advise against taking credit with the company. Eh, not as good a move from a “credit report” standpoint…
For an actual laptop… well, people have said alot about that
Nice idea on making Mac users cry: that’d be awesome to see.
Thanks;
Michael Griffiths
tardisinc@msn.com
P.S. I’ve had MSN Desktop Search up the entire time – almost an entire day – and it hasn’t finished indexing. You may have been right to uninstall it…. even though yours finished
December 14th, 2004 at 9:16 pm
How about Voodoo PC? http://www.voodoopc.com/systems/notebook.aspx
The M860 is nice, AMD Athlon 64 up to 3400+, ATI™ Mobility™ Radeon 9700 – 128MB Video Card, 15.4″ wide-aspect WXGA+ 1680×1050
They do have credit.. and you have to fill out a application.
* A minimum monthly payment of 1/6th of the total purchase price (less down payment, if any) is required. No finance charges occur when each 1/6th payment is paid each month before the due date. If a payment is not received, finance charges (18% A.P.R.) will be assessed on the 1/6th from the date it was billed. This no interest offer is for a limited time only. Minimum qualifying amount is U.S. $1000.00. Offer subject to credit approval.
Or thiers Falcon NW
http://www.falcon-nw.com/fragbook.asp
December 14th, 2004 at 9:18 pm
http://www.falcon-nw.com/fragbook.asp
how bout a Fragbook?
December 14th, 2004 at 9:42 pm
Yeah, I’ve looked at Voodoo and Falcon too. We’ll have to see how it goes. We can pay cash, but it just feels like 4K on a machine i sa hell of a lot of money, and that 125-150$/month is more “stomachable”…
December 14th, 2004 at 9:56 pm
Which Toshiba was designed by Ferrari?
December 14th, 2004 at 10:10 pm
I’ve never seen a Ferrari Toshiba. I know Acer has one though. http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/fr3400.htm
December 14th, 2004 at 10:14 pm
That’s the one! Thanks Matt!
December 15th, 2004 at 2:17 am
Jeremy, I would recommend against the 20GB internal drive. I presume it’s the Momentus drive that attracts you.
I wish I had a nearly silent drive too, because my HD is placed just next to the internal microphone… or so it sounds, when I’m using it!
Programs are seriously getting huge and I doubt you would want to spend too much time, optimizing your programs and files to make space for it. Get 40GB instead… or even 30GB if it’s possible, 20GB is just enough for now but I’m sure that will soon be too little for you too.
I don’t even know your computer usage and yet I’m sitting here trying to convince you that 40GB is better without being more space that you will ever need for the rest of the decade.
December 15th, 2004 at 6:41 am
Isaack, the only way I’d go with a 20GB internal is if I had a 200GB external to go with it. I’ve also got a fileserver at home with another TB of data.
You’re definitely right, 20GB is NOT enough!
December 15th, 2004 at 8:21 am
But it is an external drive, as in one you need to carry with you in a box with an additional powersource, right? So you could possible end up not being able to show any presentations without having it with you..
I did notice the 200GB external, so it wasn’t because I worried about you not having enough space in total. Just, that I wonder when 20GB isn’t enough any longer for anything but programs and OS. And with 2GB of RAM, you start using HD for additional things, Windows might want to allocate 3GB of Virtual Memory, though you can control it yourself.
And if you enable hibernation, that’s another 2GB file on your HD all the time. Windows will most likely start to use 2-3GB after a short while. So that’s a potential 7GB just for Windows…
December 15th, 2004 at 9:17 am
I’ve got a 60gb 7200 RPM drive in mine, and I highly recommend it. It’s quiet enough and the performance is great with 7200 rpm and an 8mb cache.
December 20th, 2004 at 11:52 pm
Could this catch on?
If you follow Jeremy Wright’s Ensight.org you might have caught a couple posts about him wanting a laptop and taking …