Alienware M17 Review
Hi fellas, it’s been a while that I have not post anything on this blog since summer, here’s the first one for this month.
I’m going to do a quick review on my new Alienware M17 laptop which I received 2-3 weeks ago (My first gaming/most expensive laptop), it is a WUXGA 1920×1600 17′ inch laptop. This laptop costs around USD 2k (I’m so broke now) and below are the specs.
This M17 laptop comes with:
- Intel 2.00GHZ Q9000 Quad Core processor
- 2GB PC3-8500 1067MHZ RAM
- Dual ATI Radeon HD4850 Crossfire Enabled
- Seagate 160GB 7200RPM HDD
- Anything else you want to know just drop a comment.
Some pictures on different angle.
I especially like the blue lights that comes out from the keyboard (you can change the lights on the keyboard by just pressing the function key and F10 on the keyboard, there are blue, green and red to choose from) and also at the back of the monitor from the Alienware logo.
I really like the design of this laptop, it’s simple and looks cool. But what really matters is what’s inside this laptop and the performance. I do not really want to pay 2k just for the looks.
This is how the laptop looks like, underneath the laptop.
This is what I really like, you can put two hard drives on this laptop.
After I removed the back panel.
At the backside of this laptop you will find eSata/USB combo port, HDMI, Ethernet port, 1 USB port, DC In, and Coaxial
On the right side, there are 2xUSB port, Optical, Audio(Mic in, headphones)….
And on the left side,
I’m not so sure what’s the reset button do, but I guess it resets the BIOS settings. The huge heat sink on the left side blows out lots of air when playing games or running high demand programs, but when the system is on idle state, you can only feel a little hot air coming out. Which is good, it means that it’s doing it’s job cooling the laptop. Also, I can hardly feel hot underneath the laptop after several hours of operating. I guess Alienware did fix the overheat problem since I heard many people complaining about it few years ago.
After 1 week receiving this laptop, my new Western 320GB and Crucial 4GB finally arrive and I install it on the same day I receive.
The performance of this laptop is not too bad, but not what i expected. It seems that every time I play game, it would lag for few seconds after few minutes of playing, but then it comes back to normal and I can play it smoothly. Maybe the graphic cards are warming up or something, but I did not send this problem back to Alienware as I don’t want to send my laptop to them and wait for another few weeks, it’s just a waste of time. Besides this problem, I think this laptop is still in good condition for now, nothing weird problem occurs. I can play L4D, Street Fighter IV, Buronout and some other modern games in full high settings but for Crysis, I can only set to Gamers mode which is below Enthusiastic. Furthermore, I run all games in 1920×1600 resolution. No more complains about this laptop. I would give this laptop a 7/10.
Finals and Holidays
Just finish up all my assignments today for this semester and now waiting for my finals on next week. I’m planning to finish up two of my finals during the weekends since they are both online and then just study for my other two finals. After my finals, I will be going to New York on Monday after the final week. Then head Las Vegas on Thursday and come back to Stillwater on the next Tuesday. Hopefully the swine flu will be gone soon or become less, I just don’t want to go there and get sick. Well, our plan could be change if it’s too dangerous to go there.
And here’s my new To do list for this summer.
Things that I want to achieve
1. Get a freelance job, either on website or graphic design jobs.
2. Format my Desktop PC.
3. Finish up my Visual Style skin project for WindowsXP.
a. Veritas port
b. Leo Kenzo port
c. Caesar Port
d. Possibly a new Mac Theme based on my own design, or
e. Possibly a new cool-looking (dark and modern look) theme based on my own liking.
f. Umaso Port *NEW
4. Design and create my own personal website that shows all my artworks and programs that I’ve made. *NEW
- using PHP, Flash, and … *no idea yet
Screen Shots that inspired me.
My top 6 list of Screen Shots
After midnight by Roberto Urso
Blabla byRoberto Urso
Details in the Fabric by Yukihatsu
My Interpretation by yukihatsu
Travelogue by yukihatsu
Veritas feat. Neon by NickDC
To do List for this coming summer.
Since I’m kinda bored and free in this 2 weeks before the finals, I’m going to make a list about what am I gonna do during this summer break in Malaysia. I might not be able to do accomplish the things on this list due to matter of time or/and money, but I’ll try.
There are several things that I would like to do and achieve during this (maybe my last) summer in Malaysia.
Things that I want to achieve
1. Get a freelance job, either on website or graphic design jobs.
2. Format my Desktop PC.
3. Finish up my Visual Style skin project for WindowsXP.
a. Veritas port
b. Leo Kenzo port
c. Caesar Port
d. Possibly a new Mac Theme based on my own design, or
e. Possibly a new cool-looking (dark and modern look) theme based on my own liking.
4. …
Things that I want to do.
1. Of course, first thing I really need is to relax and enjoy my summer.
- Travel around. ( Genting? Fraser Hill? or other states in Malaysia or even Singapore or Hong Kong ) Might need
some friends to help me to achieve this.
2. Get a skateboard and practice. ( If I have the money )
3. Get an electric guitar. ( I really wish I have the money to get this one )
4. Make a BBQ house party at my house or rent an apartment to get drunk. Yea, let’s get fuck up all summer long.
5. Visit all my relatives. It depends on my parents thou.
6. Hang out with friends. Can’t wait to sit at the “Mamak” stall for few hours non-stop talking and crapping/bullshitting and possibly “Hookah/Sisha” by just spend half a dollar to get a drink.
7. Play basketball. Yea, I need exercise.
8. …
and the list goes on… will add more later if I could think of something interesting to do.
PHP Sessions.
When creating a website that requires a user to login, PHP sessions is a very useful function that allows you to store the user’s information on the server for later use. However, PHP sessions is only temporary and will be delete once a user leaves the website. For example, you might need the user to login to your website and maintain his identity on your website.
Before you can store user information, you will have to start the PHP session with this syntax : “session_start();”
Remember, the session_start(); MUST always be on top of the <html> section.
For example:
<?php session_start(); ?> <html> <body> </body> </html>
The correct way to store and retrieve session variables is to use the PHP $_SESSION variable:
Example:
<?php session_start(); // store session data $_SESSION['views']=1; ?> <html> <body> <?php //retrieve session data echo "Pageviews=". $_SESSION['views']; ?> </body> </html>
If you want to destroy the session, you can use either the unset() or the session_destroy() function.
<?php unset($_SESSION['views']); ?> Or completely destroy the session. See example below. <?php session_destroy(); ?>
PHP and MySQL cheat sheet?
I’ve been struggling on making a website for my final project, it’s basically about making a website that function like Amazon. Too bad, my partner has no clue about PHP and therefore I have to finish it all by myself. Since I have to do this alone, I could not and don’t have the time to include the Transaction page in my website.
Here’s some useful PHP code that we might need to create a simple online shopping website.
Source : http://www.w3schools.com/
Connect to the MySQL database, the most important step before we can do anything to the MySQL database.
Syntax : “mysql_connect(servername,username,password);” without quotes.
Example :
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
// some code
We can use “mysql_close($con);” to close the connection to the database.
Next, we might want to insert some data to the database’s table.
Syntax : “INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,…) VALUES (value1, value2, value3,…)”
Or, delete data in database.
Syntax : “DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column = some_value”
For more useful and basic commands, please visit “http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_mysql_intro.asp”
Thanks to the above website, I’m able to understand more on PHP and MySQL and it helps me a lot to finish up my website.
Primero Hybrid Visual Style.
After 4 to 5 hours sitting in front of my laptop working with Photoshop and Style builder, I’ve finally created a new Visual Style for WindowsXP. Check it out at “http://nodeffect.deviantart.com/art/Primero-Hybrid-Visual-Style-118405270″.
Click image below for larger version.
For the crazy and enthusiastic desktop modders, hope you guys like it. Feel free to give comment on my deviartart website.
