With the advent of NVIDIA's SLI technology in 2004, gaming performance on the desktop was dramatically increased which allowed users to run games at higher resolutions with more image quality enhancements. Unfortunately for mobile users, the notebook platform was left behind with no immediate solution made available beyond a single flagship GPU. Fast forward two years and we find ourselves looking at a brand new mobile platform that features NVIDIA's proven nForce4 SLI chipset as well as two discrete graphics cards. The Alienware Aurora m9700 is the world's first 17" SLI capable notebook to hit the market and it promises to provide unrivaled levels of performance in the latest and greatest games.

Alienware Aurora m9700 Specifications

Armed with a glossy 17" UWUXGA LCD with a native resolution of 1920x1200, the Aurora m9700 is able to fully take advantage of the ability to run higher resolutions in today's latest games. Although still managing to weigh less than 10lbs in the most standard configurations, the system is far from being considered compact or easily portable. Then again, when one considers the fact that this desktop replacement houses and effectively cools two graphics cards as well as two hard drives the weight and size seem surprisingly small.

Unlike our typical review situation where we are evaluating a readily available product that is polished and finalized, we find ourselves evaluating a stable Engineering Sample of the Aurora m9700. At first glance, the system easily passes for a production quality notebook as it features the unique aesthetic Alienware notebooks are famous for. However, upon closer inspection, we find some blatant clues that this notebook is not quite as refined as a system you'd be purchasing yourself.

Referencing the images above, we can clearly see that the Alienware ID is alive and well on this Engineering Sample. Here, the rubberized grips and distinctive Alienware badge complete with illuminated eyes give us the first clue that we aren't dealing with final retail product. Unlike Alienware's typical final product, the Aurora m9700 sample you see here featured some very rough edges around the rubber grips and a alien head badge complete with eyes that were anything but symmetric. Turning the system over, we find a blatant disclaimer in the way of a label signifying the fact that this is in fact an Engineering Sample and not a unit destined for retail.

Opening the system, we are presented with a clean overall layout and aesthetic. Here, the silver metallic finish of the exterior is also found on the base panel surrounding the keyboard. The touchpad for the system is oversized and is accompanied by a single button which has two distinct switches beneath it. Although somewhat unique, the fact that the touchpad features the same finish, color, and texture as the chassis makes blindly finding the touchpad somewhat difficult to say the least as there is only a slight relief which can be felt around the touchpad's edges. Directly above the keyboard, we find an array of multimedia controls as well as a series of blue LED indicators. 

Closing the lid and looking at the system as a whole, we soon realize that this notebook is loaded with an impressive collection of ports and inputs. Starting on the right side of the system, we find a vast array of audio connections including the standard set of analog inputs and outputs as well as an SPDIF optical output and a single USB port. Moving to the front of the system, we find two stereo speakers as well as the optical drive. Carrying our attention towards the left side of the notebook, we find no less than two USB ports, a Firewire port, an Ethernet port, and a 4-in-1 memory card reader.

Taking a glimpse at the back of the system, we are further impressed by the collection of ports. Here, we have audio in, digital coax, S-Video out, a modem port, power port, USB port, S-Video input, and both DVI and VGA outputs. Specifically, we were pleased to have the power connector on the backside of the system as those notebooks which typically have the power cable attached to either the left or right side often have issues with the power cable being in the way as there is no easy way to orient or route the cable in some situations.

Turning the system over, we find a relatively barren landscape below. Somewhat surprisingly, there is far less ventilation than we expected, especially given the fact that there are two high end graphics cards needing to be cooled. Regardless, heat did not prove to be an issue throughout testing so it appears as though there is ample ventilation. Removing the battery from the bay, we see it is a lithium-ion model rated for 6450mAh. In terms of the provided power supply, we find a rather robust unit rated for 150W.

One of the more unique aspects of the Aurora m9700's aesthetic is the implementation of a 1.3MP camera above the LCD panel. Featuring the same black finish as the panel's bezel, the camera's presence is subtle and does not stick out like a sore thumb. Those who are keen on videoconferencing now have the added convenience of having a built-in camera and do not require the use of an external discrete model.

So what do you do when you have one of the only Engineering Samples of a brand new notebook platform at your disposal? Within minutes of receiving the system, we had the appropriate panels removed and were taking a closer look under the hood to see what surprises Alienware had in store with this new notebook. Armed with a trusty digital camera, we've documented the disassembly process for your viewing pleasure.

Looking at the bottom of the unit, we see one main panel that covers a large portion of the base. Removing this panel unveils a dense collection of heatsinks and components. Upon first glance, we see two graphics cards, two memory modules, the processor, and a seemingly endless loop of heatpipes and heatsink assemblies. Despite such a concentrated grouping of components, the layout is surprisingly clean and efficient.

After removing the heatsink assemblies, we are able to truly see the overall layout of the board and the orientation of the components. Here, the heatsink assembly used to cool the GPU's serves double duty as it also cools the nForce4 SLI chipset. Although found in a mobile system, this is actually the same chipset used in desktop SLI motherboards. Moving our attention to the right, we find the AMD Turion64 ML-44 processor in all its glory.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Aurora m9700 system's internals would be the use of an SLI bridge card to tell the system whether it is using single or dual GPU's. Common on all first generation desktop SLI boards, these bridge cards have since been replaced by logic that is able to sense the presence of a GPU and configure the system accordingly. We are told that although the 17" Aurora m9700 features a bridge card, the 19" ALX system (made by a different notebook ODM) will not use a bridge card and will instead do everything in logic like nearly all current desktop nForce 4 SLI motherboards.  nForce 4 SLIX16 and new nForce 590 SLI based motherboards don't need the bridge because they can feed 16 PCI Express lanes to each PEG slot.

In terms of supporting SLI, there are a number of required components. Looking at the images above, we see that beyond the obvious need for two discrete graphics cards we also need the previously mentioned bridge card as well as a flexible SLI connector. The SLI connectors themselves are surprisingly small as evidenced by the provided image using a finger for scale.

The crown jewels of the Aurora m9700 would certainly be the dual GeForce Go 7900 GS graphics card modules. Based on an MXM3 format, these modules each feature 256MB of memory to accompany the G71 GPU. Specifically, the modules we tested used Infineon memory modules that are rated for 500MHz which is the target operating frequency for this GPU as we will see below.

Referencing the appropriate slide from NVIDIA's presentation, we can clearly see the differences between the GeForce Go 7900 GS and the flagship GeForce Go 7900 GTX. Essentially, the GeForce Go 7900 GS has 8 fewer Shader ALU's with a slight disadvantage in terms of Geometry processing. The 125MHz decrease in core frequency and 100MHz lower memory frequency allow the GeForce Go 7900 GS to have a 25W lower power consumption than NVIDIA's flagship mobile part.

General Field Testing How does it perform in daily tasks?

With such a ridiculous amount horsepower at its disposal for a notebook, it is no surprise to see that the Aurora m9700 had no trouble handling general usage applications with ease. Thanks to its Turion64 processor and to the graphics ability of SLI, nearly any application was a breeze for this system. Overall, the actual components were more than up to the task of testing. However, somewhat ironically the Achilles' heel of the system was actually a feature which initially received great praise by all those who saw the system. Here, the glossy finish on the system's WUXGA LCD panel acted more as a mirror than a monitor. This is unfortunate as the glossy finish gives the unit a very rich feel and seems to enhance contrast significantly. Regardless, using the high resolution 17" panel was a pleasure as there was always ample real estate to manage multiple windows at once without sacrificing one or the other. The combination of a solid widescreen LCD with a 1920x1200 resolution was ideal and maximized productivity.

In terms of gaming, we quickly see why the Alienware Aurora m9700 was created. In every respect, this system is the ideal gaming notebook. Beyond the benefits of having a potent Turion64 processor, 2GB of memory, and 200GB worth of a RAID array it is the sheer presence of two discrete graphics cards that makes the Aurora m9700 such a gaming monstrosity. With two GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU's each with 256MB of memory, we were able to play games at resolutions up to 1920x1200 with relative ease. With the GPU's supporting both DX9 and Shader Model 3.0, there is little worry that upcoming games will be anything but smooth at high resolutions. Thankfully, the rest of the system was up to par for gaming as well with no ghosting or trails seen with the LCD and no immediate bottlenecks anywhere in the system.

Armed with such a strong hardware foundation and a gorgeous 17" LCD, viewing DVD's and movies on the Aurora m9700 was an absolute pleasure. The combination of High Definition audio with the system's surprisingly competent speaker system (complete with "subwoofer") made for an unusually good experience for a notebook. With regards to options, consumers have a great deal of flexibility in terms of working with multimedia as the system fully support both Windows Media Center and the upcoming Vista operating systems. In addition, the fact that the Aurora m9700 uses NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU's means that the system also fully supports NVIDIA's PureVideo technology giving users yet another option. 

Field Testing Continued Life with the Aurora m9700

As is the case with any desktop replacement notebook, traveling with the system can be troublesome at best. As one can imagine, walking around with a 10lb weight strapped to their back is anything but desirable making many wonder whether the word "portable" should be banned from any and all marketing materials for notebooks of this size. Regardless, the Aurora m9700 more than makes up for its size and weight with performance and is a tradeoff we foresee many making with relative ease.

Bringing the system to work and back as well as having it accompany our group on our daily coffee runs, we quickly realized that the system is relatively easy to live with on the road. The system boots quickly, is always blistering fast, and is able to access wireless networks with ease thanks to the Realtek 802.11b/g wireless NIC. Performance and functionality aside, one of the biggest reasons to bring the Aurora m9700 along with you is to amuse yourself with the Sheer amount of attention the system receives. With such an aggressive aesthetic, it is nearly impossible to go unnoticed in public and you should be prepared to field at least a few inquiries on the system every time you take it with you.

Battery life on this system certainly won't be breaking any records anytime soon, however, thanks to the power saving features of both the AMD Turion64 processor and GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU's the Aurora m9700 is able to hold its own for the vast majority of occasions. If you need to operate off of batteries for longer than an hour, you would be wise to purchase an additional battery or direct your attention towards a smaller system that has been designed around maximizing battery life with less emphasis on raw performance. 

HotHardware's Mobile Test Systems A Sampling of Notebooks...

General Performance: The Winstones "Real World" Application Performance

Business Winstone 2004 from Veritest uses scripts to test the performance level of a computer in business related applications:

• Microsoft Access 2002
• Microsoft Excel 2002
• Microsoft FrontPage 2002
• Microsoft Outlook 2002
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
• Microsoft Project 2002
• Microsoft Word 2002
• Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
• WinZip 8.1

Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 from Veritest uses scripts to test the performance level of a computer in multimedia rich environments:

• Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1
• Adobe Premiere 6.5
• Macromedia Director MX 9.0
• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 6.1
• Microsoft Windows Media^TM Encoder 9 Version 9.00.00.2980
• NewTek LightWave 3D 7.5b
• Steinberg^TM WaveLab^TM 4.0f

Thanks largely to the potent AMD Turion64 processor and healthy 2GB of memory, the Aurora m9700 is able to walk away with a victory in this first performance test. Surely, the 2.4Hz of the efficient AMD processor is more than up to the task of battling Intel's single core mobile processors as evidenced by the results. However, how this CPU will fare against the upcoming Intel Merom products remains to be seen.

As we previously saw, the Aurora m9700 once again walks away with a decisive victory over the rest of the field. Again, looking at the specifications this should hardly be a surprise as there is a distinct advantage for the Alienware system in terms of raw operating frequency.

Performance Comparisons with 3DMark05 v1.2.0 Details: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark05/

3DMark05

3DMark05 is the part of a long line of synthetic 3D graphics benchmarks, dating back to late 1998. 3DMark05 is a synthetic benchmark that requires a DirectX 9.0 compliant video card, with support for Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher, to render all of the various modules that comprise the suite. To generate its final "score", 3DMark05 runs three different simulated game tests and uses each test's framerate in the final tabulation. Fillrate, Memory bandwidth, and compute performance especially all have a measurable impact on performance in this benchmark. We ran 3DMark05's default test (1,024 x 768) on all of the cards and configurations we tested, and have the overall results posted for you below.

After one glimpse of the scores for the Aurora m9700, it is difficult to imagine settling for anything else in terms of overall performance. The system is more than impressive when using a single GeForce Go 7900 GS as evidence by a score well beyond 6,000. However, enabling SLI mode with two GPU's brings performance painfully close to the 10,000 point barrier. Allowing the driver to detect "optimal" frequencies brought the GPU up to 440MHz and the memory frequency to 640MHz. At these speeds, the Alienware system was 4 points away from breaking the 10,000 point barrier and would likely have easily broken it with a bit more tweaking and optimizing.

Performance Comparisons with 3DMark06 v1.0.2 Details: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark06/

3DMark06

Futuremark recently launched a brand-new version of their popular benchmark, 3DMark06. The new version of the benchmark is updated in a number of ways, and now includes not only Shader Model 2.0 tests, but Shader Model 3.0 and HDR tests as well. Some of the assets from 3DMark05 have been re-used, but the scenes are now rendered with much more geometric detail and the shader complexity is vastly increased as well. Max shader length in 3DMark05 was 96 instructions, while 3DMark06 ups the number of instructions to 512. 3DMark06 also employs much more lighting, and there is extensive use of soft shadows. With 3DMark06, Futuremark has also updated how the final score is tabulated. In this latest version of the benchmark, SM 2.0 and HDR / SM3.0 tests are weighted and the CPU score is factored into the final tally as well.

Being infamous for brining even the most advanced systems to their knees at times, 3DMark06 is typically a nightmare for most notebooks. With the GeForce Go 7900 GS fully supporting Shader Model 3.0, the benchmark was able to run in its entirety and the Aurora m9700 returned a very respectable score of 3178 using a single GPU. Enabling SLI brings a healthy increase to the overall score of the system and the 4863 result makes it on par with some fast desktop systems. Running the same overclocked frequencies as before, the score jumped to nearly 5300 and easily makes this one of the fastest notebooks on the planet.

Performance Comparisons with Quake 4 Details: http://www.quake4game.com/

Quake 4

id Software, in conjunction with developer Raven, recently released the latest addition to the wildly popular Quake franchise, Quake 4. Quake 4 is based upon an updated and slightly modified version of the Doom 3 engine, and as such performance characteristics between the two titles are very similar.  Like Doom 3, Quake 4 is also an OpenGL game that uses extremely high-detailed textures and a ton of dynamic lighting and shadows, but unlike Doom3, Quake 4 features some outdoor environments as well. We ran this these Quake 4 benchmarks using a custom demo with the game set to its "High-Quality" mode, at resolutions of 1024x768 and 1920x1200 with and without anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering enabled and the aspect ratio set to "Widescreen".

Using the Doom3 engine, it is no surprise to see the NVIDIA-based system handle Quake4 with ease at this resolution. Compared to the 128MB GeForce Go 6600 found on the previously reviewed Alienware notebook, the Aurora m9700's 256MB GeForce Go 7900 is dominant. With no image quality enhancements, the single GPU Aurora m9700 holds an obscene 40fps advantage over the Area51 m5500. Somewhat surprisingly, enabling SLI actually decreases performance ever so slightly here and is likely due to the driver overhead of managing the two cards. This is somewhat of a null issue as the single GPU is more than up to the task of handling the game at these settings.

Keeping the resolution at 1024x768, we began experimenting with various levels of FSAA to determine the benefits SLI has on this title at these settings. As you can see in the plot above, we saw very limited benefits at this resolution with the largest performance differential being roughly 5fps. Surely, we would have to punish the system with an obscene resolution of 1920x1200 to clearly illustrate what we were dealing with.

At a resolution that would make most systems tremble, the Aurora m9700 performed admirably. Here, average framerates remained above 40fps even with 4xFSAA and 8xAF when using SLI. For those wishing to use a single GPU, the highest settings that remained above 40fps were 2xFSAA and 8xAF. In each case, the game looks absolutely stunning and is nothing short of amazing to see it run on a notebook at these speeds. However, in terms of overall performance and the benefits of adding the second GPU we are slightly disappointed. Given the information above, it seems almost criminal to complain about performance as this level of speed was unheard of only a short time ago for notebooks. Regardless, we cannot help but feel that this platform is still a bit early in development and we are confident we will see performance increase dramatically once more mature drivers are written.

Battery Info & Performance How Long Does She Last?

We are using the standard benchmark settings from Bapco, along with a few other minor system tweaks. The screensaver was disabled and the volume was set at approximately 20%.

MobileMark 2002 utilizes the following applications:

• Microsoft Word 2002
• Microsoft Excel 2002
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
• Microsoft Outlook 2002
• Netscape Communicator 6.0
• McAfee VirusScan 5.13
• Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1
• Macromedia Flash 5
• WinZip 8.0

Thankfully, Alienware equips the Aurora m9700 with a 12-cell lithium battery as we see the hardware it uses can be a bit demanding to say the least. Regardless, what could conceivably be considered one of the fastest notebooks on the planet still manages to obtain a very respectable score for a DTR. The vast majority of Aurora m9700 customers will likely have the system plugged in for most use though it is assuring to see that the notebook can function away from a wall outlet for a solid amount of time if necessary.

Thanks to the power saving tricks of both the AMD processor and NVIDIA GPU's, the Aurora m9700 is able to somehow get more than 120minutes out of its large battery. Again, if you are looking for a system that will be running off battery power for extended periods of time you would be wise to look elsewhere. However, the Alienware SLI system certainly is able to be used on the occasion where you find yourself without a wall outlet handy.

Startup Performance Powering Up...

The times listed below reflect the time it took for the system to power up until the cursor appeared with no busy indicator on the desktop background.

To be fair, we have to make it known that the Aurora m9700 system we tested was a bare Engineering Sample and was not loaded with the normal array of pre-loaded garbage most retail systems show up with out of the box. As a result, the system was able to have excellent boot times and was actually the third fastest system in the group. Unfortunately, it is doubtful the production version of the system will retain this speed as it will likely come with a number of applications that start with windows resulting in some less than stellar boot times.

As was the case with the previous Alienware notebook we tested, the Aurora m9700 was one of the fastest in the group to recover from Standby mode. Again, the system we tested was not a production model so we cannot guarantee that the performance seen here will illustrate how final units will perform. However, based off of the Area-51 m5500 experiences, the Aurora m9700 should remain a solid performer in this respect.

In similar fashion to the results coming out of standby mode, the Alienware Aurora m9700 exhibits excellent results and is narrowly edged out for top honors by the Dell 6000 coming out of hibernation. Hopefully, the retail version of this notebook will retain the same stellar performance we see here.

Overall, it is hard to be anything but impressed by Alienware's latest gaming notebook. The Aurora m9700 is the world's first 17" SLI capable notebook and offers an unprecedented level of performance. Until Intel's Conroe comes out, AMD is the gaming platform of choice and Alienware has done well to select the components it did for this gaming notebook. The Turion64 ML-44 processor is a potent CPU which runs cool and has some excellent power management features. Pairing this CPU to the proven NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset results in a stable and powerful foundation. Adding two GeForce Go 7900 GPU's to the mix is the critical ingredient to have an exceptional gaming notebook.

As you can obviously infer by having read the review thus far, we are certainly pleased with the Aurora m9700. However, like all good things in life there are ways in which it could be better. One aspect of the system which grew to be annoying was the finish on the touchpad and the use of a single hard button. Often times, notebook users have their hands on the keyboard and blindly feel for the touchpad when they need to scroll. On other systems, there is a distinct change in texture and feel to help users find the touchpad. However, the Aurora m9700 uses the same finish and texture on the touchpad as it features on the chassis itself making finding the touchpad an endeavor to say the least. In terms of the single button, we prefer the tactile feel of two discrete buttons rather than the vague feel of a single button with two switches underneath. In addition, we would prefer to forego the glossy finish on the LCD panel entirely. Although aesthetically it is gorgeous and enhances contrast, the mirror-like finish causes far more problems and distractions than it is worth. Lastly, we would have liked to have seen a 512MB variant of the GeForce Go 7900 GS as new titles and high resolutions will increasingly demand more memory. Hopefully, we will see this as an option sometime down the road.

With production systems not slated to ship until the end of June currently, there are still a number of logistic issues up in the air which remain to be decided. For consumers who choose a single GeForce Go 7900 GS, it remains to be seen whether they will be able to purchase a second GPU from Alienware's Gear Shop sometime down the road. In addition, there is no firm decision on whether a 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX will be made an option for the system. What we have heard thus far is that the GeForce Go 7900 GTX would be offered only as a single card if at all and not offered in pairs for SLI. With each of the flagship GPU's consuming 45W versus the 20W of the GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU's, we are likely looking at issues of available power and thermal dissipation. The last remaining question regarding the system is whether the new AMD Turion64 X2 would be made available as an option. In our opinion, this is a critical option that must be made available as we are now beginning to see some legitimate and substantial benefits to dual-core CPU's in various applications and games. Hopefully, the support of this new CPU could be added through a BIOS revision though no firm details are known at this time. We will keep you posted regarding the status of these issues and notify you of any final decisions made by Alienware.

Another "issue" which remains to be seen is how much more potential the mobile SLI platform has in store. Working with early drivers and Engineering Sample hardware, we were somewhat surprised to see a lack of any obscene performance increases. Don't get us wrong, the performance we witnessed with this system was phenomenal in every respect. However, based off of the gains we witness on the desktop platform, we expect performance to see healthy gains over the next few months as both the platform and drivers mature. Unfortunately, we only had 48hrs to test the system and post this review so there was not much room to investigate this issue further.Time will certainly tell in this case as we wait for new drivers, though you can be assured of excellent performance in the meantime regardless.

In its most basic form, the Alienware Aurora m9700 can be pre-ordered for $1999. For a configuration similar to what we tested in this review though, you would be looking at roughly $3600. Although this seems a bit expensive, this is one of the first occasions where the high price of a flagship notebook seems almost justified. For that price, you get flagship level components in every respect along with the unique ability to run two GPU's in SLI on a notebook. If you are serious about gaming, are a LAN enthusiast, or just want the ability to say you own one of the fastest notebooks on the planet, you would be wise to spend your money on the Alienware Aurora m9700.

In the end, Alienware has once again raised the bar for gaming notebooks with the launch of the Aurora m9700. If the system we tested had 512MB GPU's and a dual-core CPU, we would have rated the Aurora m9700 higher on the Heat Meter. Until we are able to confirm whether these options will be made available, we will give the Aurora m9700 a score of 8.5 on Hot Hardware's Heat Meter.

._Gaming Performance With SLI ._Unique Alienware aesthetics ._Surprisingly good battery life ._MXM upgrade path for discrete GPU ._Potent AMD Turion64 processor ._17" WUXGA 1920x1200 Display	._No dual-core CPU options currently ._No 512MB GPU options currently ._Glossy LCD acts as mirror ._Potentially no way to purchase 2nd GPU if not bought with system up front

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