Few questions about new Alienware notebook

[ric0chet06]

Just SCORED a Alienware Area 51 M laptop for $200. 3.2 ghz, 1680x1050 screen, 2x512 ddr, 37 gb hd. Original owner said it had overheating issues, I haven't had any yet. 99% functional, extremely happy with it. Internal wireless was said to be broken. I have a few questions though.

1. Is this slot here:http://i61.photobucket.com/alb.../r1c0ch3t/100_0856.jpg allow for wireless cards like this?:http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833314009

2. Is this memory compatable with this laptop? The laptop was sold in 2005, so i can't really find too much on it. All i know aside from taking it apart is that it has 2x 512 ddr sticks.http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820161010

3. Anyone recommend a good laptop cooler? I want to try to prevent any overheating, and have been leaning towards the Zalman ZM-NC1000 since I can get a refurbed for pretty cheap.

4. Does anyone have the same model? Wondering what my gaming limits are, most likely just Starcraft, CnC Generals, and movies. Everything else is played on my desktop.

5. Is the hard drive SATA? I'm expecting so, just want to make sure so I can purchase a new one.

Thank you!

 

[Brainonska511]

1. If it is a PCMCIA slot, then yes, it is compatible with PCMCIA wireless cards.

2. Not sure, you can try the memory configurator through Newegg or Crucial to find out exactly what type of RAM you need.

3. Haven't really heard good things about any of them. In most cases, an external cooling pad lowered temps by less than 5C. Your wallet would probably be better off if you just raise the back of the laptop a little to allow more airflow underneath. You can also try adding some Arctic Silver between the heatsink and the processor and the heatsink and the video processor.

4. No.

5. No. It looks like it uses a Pentium 4 derivative processor, meaning that it would have an IDE hard drive (since the Pentium 4 style mobile processors were phased out of use before SATA notebook drives hit the market). There is a Western Digital 200GB IDE drive available, but you may need to upgrade the BIOS on the laptop, and even with that, it still might not be compatible. There might be a limit of ~130GB on drive size.

 

[ric0chet06]

Is the hard drive type ATA-6?, and thank you for the answers.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: ric0chet06
Is the hard drive type ATA-6?, and thank you for the answers.

Yep. IDE = ATA-6

 

[bharatwaja]

Have you tried asking the Alienware Customer support forums?

 

[ric0chet06]

haha, sorry. I'll go over there and lurk.

 

[Tarrant64]

I hate alienware customer support.

I had this laptop my freshmen year of college(before it died on me, I miss it....A LOT).

It will do starcraft, and most older games just fine. I used it for starcraft most of the time, however movies, etc. run just fine as well. Upgrade the ram to 2GB and you should be set. I used to use a Linksys Wireless PCMIA card to get my wireless.

I also had overheating issues with it.

 

[ric0chet06]

yea, played about 15 min. of CnC generals until it froze up. Was planning to upgrade to 2gb, but damn the 1 stick is $70 and there's only 2 slots, so I'd have 1.5 gb since i have to take out 1x 512. Thinking about selling it on fleabay since It'll go for 2x what i bought it for, and maybe just buy one of those really cheap after rebate laptops that WONT have overheating issues.