Thisexactmodelisn't quitethegreatestofthebunch, featuringthethirdbestprocesseravailablefromAlien, whereatthetime, butitstillwouldhaveBean, a veryspecialpieceofkits 14 yearsagoonitsoriginalownerwouldhavebeenveryhappywithit, I'm sure, atleastfor a whilethesedaysit's looking a littleworseforwearasyou'd expect, butithasseenfurtherupgradesintheformof a 120 gigabytesSSTon a 500 gigabyteharddrive.
Solet's talkaboutwhat's insidenow.
The M 9700 actuallyholdsthetitleofthefirstever 17 inchSLRlaptop.
Itwassomewhatof a technicalmarvel, squeezingtoGPusingto a chassislessthan 19 inches.
Impossible, butnotforalien, Wherewith 2 256 megabarinvideo, 7900 goGSisor G O.
I thinkthismayhavealsoBeanAlienwearslastsinglecorelaptop, butdon't quotemeonthat.
I'm notcertainitdoesseemverylikely, though.
Asidefromtheseinitialspecs, wealsohavetwogigsof 400 megahertzDDRmemory, thefomention, 120 gigSSDand a 500 gigharddrive, a delightful 14 40 by 900 resolutionmirror.
I meanscreenonalltheportsanyonecouldeverneed.
A decadeand 1/2 ago, WiFiandBluetootharealsoincludedasstandard.
Asfar, softwareisconcerned, thisbadboyisrunningWindows X p, thegreatestoperatingsystemevertoexist.
Sorry, mybiasisshowingitsbeanlongunsupportivenow, so I think I'llsteerclearofgoingonline, andyouprobablyshouldaswell.
ItdoessupportVistaandseven, butas a hugefanof X P, I'llbekeepingitasitisfornow, onthisalienwhereitrunsblisteringlyfastandusingitbringsback a wholelotofchildhoodmemories.
Window's moviemakercertainlygotmeallnostalgic.
I usedtocreateshortfilmsallthetime, thinkingoneday I'd bethenextTarantinoMendezor, mostofall, thenextSirDavidAttenborough.
Naturedocumentariesarewhereit's at, and I usedtomessaroundfilmingintheGardenallthetime.
I haven't beenabletomakeuseofcapturesoftwaretodayduetohardwarelimitationsofthemachineaswellasmymoderncapturecard, whichfailstorecognizeanythingasoldasthis.
I tookto a fewoldforumsandfoundthatthisbe a lotofotherusersscoresatleastonespostedin 2005.
Butbylate 2006 and 07 theAlienwarefell a littlebehind a few $1000 for a machinethatbecameobsoletesoquickly.
A singlecoreCPUreallywasn't a fantasticchoiceonthecompany's part.
But, hey, I guesstheydidn't forceanyonetobuyit.
Asfarasgamingisconcerned, I have a fewtitles, buttherewasonesmallissueregardingtheMSCafterburnerssoftware.
Nomattertheversion I instored, itdidn't wanttodetecttheusagefiguresforbothGPUoneandtwo.
Maybethecardsaretooold, I'm notsure, but I havetakencomparativefiguresofthegameswithSL I enabledanddisabledwhereapplicable, theCPUusageismoreinteresting, though, because, as I saidbefore, itisthelimitingfactor.
I don't believethisutilizessl i, butitdoesn't reallymatterinthiscaseanyway.
Butif I paidthissortofmoney, I'd expect a solidframerateinthreeyearoldgames.
Nextup, it's 2006.
Isoblivionreleasedthesameyear?
Isthislaptop?
ThisisWhere s Allymakesallthedifference.
It's funnythatthesedays s allyinCrossfireisprettymuchobsolete.
Whenbackinthedaysofthismachine, a lotofcompaniesandconsumerswerecertainitwouldbethewayforward.
I guessitwasfor a while, butthecurrenttrendissqueezingasmuchpowerinto a certainsinglecard.
A lotofhighend, prebuiltcomefixthesedayswillonlyhave a singleGPU.
Granted, itmightbe a 28 e T I, but a singleGPUnonetheless, with a singlegraphicscardinoblivion, areframeratehalfsfrom 40 to 28 900 p withthelargetexturesettings.
Thisis a casewherethat 2nd 7900 reallymattersforanyonewantingtomaximizethegraphicaloptions.
I dolovetheoriginalbioshock, andthereissomethingmoremagicalaboutplayingitonolderhardware.
Eveniftheexperienceisn't thegreatest.
Andofcourse, canitruncrisis?
Well, yes, thatmediumsettings 34 F P s wastheaverage 900 p withthehightexturesettingsonbackin 2007 Ifyougot 30 f B s oncrisis, youwouldhavebeenveryhappytrust.
May I remembergettingabout 11 ormygrandparent's Pentiumfourand 6600 basedmachinewith a singleGPU, youcanexpectcloserto 16.
Andmaybeyou'rethinking, Wouldn't thatdoanybetteronwhilstitmayhavedoneinsynthetictestsorsomegames a coupleofyearsdowntheline, itprobablywouldn't havemade a differencewhatprocess?