Alienware laptops now sporting 640GB of storage

We've seen a couple monster laptops with internal RAID arrays before, but Alienware is the first manufacturer we've seen to load its machines up with two 2.5-inch 320GB drives -- letting you lug around over half a terabyte of data. "Lug" is definitely the operative word, of course -- only the 17-inch Area 51 m9750 and Aurora m9700 offer the option, and each weighs 8.5 pounds -- but that's still some serious capacity for a portable.

[Via TG Daily]

[scott @ Sep 20th 2007 6:06PM]

Remind me again why you can't just use a 3.5 inch in one of these? Thickness?

[Zorque @ Sep 20th 2007 7:31PM]

That and battery life. It takes more energy to move the arm in the drive farther, so smaller saves energy.

[nizzy1115 @ Sep 20th 2007 6:09PM]

what! 320gbs are for sale now??! i dont see them on newegg or tiger direct but i want one. can anyone point me a place to make the purchase?

[tenzintsewang @ Sep 20th 2007 6:31PM]

big hdds first come out only through oem...i think biggest 2.5 hdd is 200 gb right now.

[noisia @ Sep 20th 2007 6:55PM]

the biggest 2.5 hdd i've seen on sale and widely available is 250gbb:
SAMSUNG SpinPoint M5S (HM250JI)

[nizzy1115 @ Sep 20th 2007 6:58PM]

yeah the biggest i can find to buy is 250. i need at least 320 to get away from externals.

[Naris @ Sep 20th 2007 6:11PM]

I think that 3.5 drives use too much power and space. In this kind of computer though I do wonder the same thing.

Couldn't care less about Alienware and their overpriced laptops. I just really want one of those 320GB 2.5 HDD...

[Richard @ Sep 20th 2007 6:14PM]

But still no Santa Rosa or Directx 10, right? At least that's how it was last time I checked their site.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Sep 20th 2007 6:14PM]

Back in summer of 03/04, I really wanted one of these. But not so much anymore as I've come to realize that they're just overpriced. :(

[Vincent @ Sep 20th 2007 6:36PM]

Still, I rather have a 15 inch-80GB Flash Based Laptop and a 1TB desktop. Hopefully it will come out soon.

[Vincent @ Sep 20th 2007 6:37PM]

Still, I rather have a 15 inch-80GB Flash Based Laptop and a 1TB desktop. Hopefully it will come out soon.

[01 @ Sep 20th 2007 6:59PM]

Good thing they're maintaining the "under 45 min of battery life" Alienware standard :-)

[frank @ Sep 20th 2007 8:10PM]

I never though I'd have a use for such a machine since I'm not an engineer or a gamer. Then one day I found my way into the world of software-based DJing and my life has never been the same. Computing power and immense storage capacity are now my top priorities and overpriced, monstrous laptops have become the subjects of my dreams.

[Cal @ Sep 20th 2007 9:47PM]

Hmm if all of alienware's laptops are overpriced, can somebody please point to a manufacturer who makes laptops with the same (about) performance as alienware's?

I'm not being sarcastic, I was just about to buy a 3 grand laptop with SLI 7950GTX's.

[MARSHAK @ Sep 20th 2007 10:52PM]

Theres a good reason they're priced like that; you aren't going to be asking for your money back. You can check Dell's XPS line but the performance won't be the same. Compare what VooDoo sells and you'll be happy to pay $3000. Check HP too i guess. sometimes their stuff gets pretty crazy.

[Cal @ Sep 20th 2007 9:50PM]

Hmm if all of alienware's laptops are overpriced, can somebody please point me to a manufacturer who makes laptops with the same (relatively) performance as alienware's?

I'm not being sarcastic, I was just about to buy a 3 grand laptop with SLI 7950GTX's.

[supaneko @ Sep 20th 2007 10:24PM]

frank, if you are looking for monstrous hard drive capacity, I would highly advise against relying on the laptops inside the hard drive. An external, 3.5" hard drive works perfectly fine. The small size of the music files makes them transfer at what seems like an instant speed. Even better, you can purchase the same hard drive and create mirrored backups just in case the unfortunate ever happens. It's a little difficult to make speedy backups of super spacious hard drives that are trapped inside an over-sized box.

I've always had bad luck with laptop hard drives. It's like their too sensitive.

[Drakin030 @ Sep 20th 2007 10:57PM]

Uhh you know Falcon Northwest can store 600 GB of storage. I know it's not more but they have been at this for awhile.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/config/build.asp

Check it. It would be meaner than anything Alienware dished out...Looks better to.

Yeah I know the price tag is high.

[flyerc @ Sep 20th 2007 11:08PM]

The thread is about laptops and you go throwing a falcon desktop into the comments? How about an apples to apples comparison for cryin out loud?

Bottom line is it looks like for mobile 640GB it's the only option right now... I'm thinking the DJ guy wanted portability I'm guessin'

[John Doe @ Sep 20th 2007 10:58PM]

Heh. 8.5 lbs huh. It about the same weight as my 15" Tosh Satellite from a few years back.

[kombizz @ Sep 21st 2007 3:04AM]

an interesting machine !
http://home.fotocommunity.com/kombzz

[CheckThisOut @ Sep 21st 2007 6:25AM]

[1] Area-51® m9750

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7600 2.33GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 2048MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Media Center upgrade options are not available with Windows XP Professional.
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 200GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner w/ LightScribe Technology - View Demo
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card : Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio - Available only for Windows XP
Mobile Essentials: Belkin® AC Anywhere 300W Vehicle Outlet Adapter
Mobile Essentials: Razer Copperhead™ High Precision Gaming Mouse - Chaos Green Edition
Mobile Essentials: Alienware® Odyssey Backpack
Mobile Essentials: Alienware® Ozma 5™ Headphones
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: AlienRespawn v1.0 Recovery Kit – Windows XP Edition
Benchmark and Utility Software: 3DMark®06
Benchmark and Utility Software: System Mechanic® 7
Mouse: Logitech® V270 Bluetooth™ Optical Mouse - Silver
Power: Additional AC Adapter - Alienware® Area-51 m9750 180 Watt Auto-switch AC Adapter
Power: Vehicle AC Adapter - Belkin® AC Anywhere 300W Vehicle Outlet Adapter
External Storage: 500GB Seagate Pushbutton Backup External Hard Drive
Wireless Routers: Netgear WPN824 RangeMaxTM Wireless MIMO Router
Flash Memory: Kingston USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 15-in-1 Reader
Flash Memory: 2GB Alienware® USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Flash Memory: 4GB Alienware® USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Odyssey Backpack
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Odyssey Briefcase
Mobile Bags: Alienware® AlienArmor 17" Silver Aluminum Notebook Case
Headphones: Alienware® Ozma 7™ Headphones with S-Logic™ Technology
Speakers: Logitech® V20 Notebook Speakers
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card


SubTotal: $6,078.00
Shipping: --
Discount: $0.00
Tax: --
Order Total: --

[David Ross @ Sep 21st 2007 8:39AM]

640 GB?! *Gibber* *woof* BA HAHAHAHAH!

Sorry, I just went a little crazy for a minute.

Right now it is too expensive and heavy. But remember Moore's Law: this is going to be cheaper and lighter within the year. And when it gets to $1500 or so you're all going to want one.

(Personally, I can't see why you'd want more than 80 GB on a *laptop*. On a desktop, if you keep a lot of games and don't clean out your pr0n folder every now and then - sure, head for the triple digits. But my laptop is for documents and web-surfing at the coffee house.)

[Aaron @ Sep 21st 2007 9:05AM]

640GB is enough for anybody.

[Brent Buckner @ Sep 21st 2007 9:08AM]

"640GB ought to be enough for anybody"

[nick g @ Sep 21st 2007 10:12AM]

Rock have a new laptop out that packs 3x 250gb drives so thats 750gb! in a laptop with SLI graphics ;-)

[Mel @ Sep 21st 2007 12:53PM]

Psh, 640GB? Is that it?

http://discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=configurator®ular_model_id=1436&model_id=1441

This lappy offers a higher resolution screen, faster intel processors and *drum roll please* 750GB of HD space. Alienwares are the most overpriced pieces of crap on the market, second to VooDoo