A couple of differences I noticed b/w the ZX7 and the Alienware's M51.  

1.  M51 comes with a 129MB Radeon card, whereas the ZX7 only has a 64MB card.  
    Is 128MB an option?
2.  The wireless NIC (Integrated Realtek RTL8139C Fast Ethernet Controller &
    802.11b Wireless LAN) is 802.11b, whereas the M51 has 802.11g (I believe).  
    Is an 802.11g card possible?
3.  Is the default DVD (8X DVD / 24X-10X-24 CD-R/W Combo Drive w/ Nero 
    Recording Software) a DVD Writer?  If not, I'm guessing the Toshiba option 
    is a DVD/RW?  The M51 seems to have a faster DVD Writer.
4.  I don't need a floppy drive - can this be removed/replaced with something 
else?

I definitely like the display and sound system better on the ZX7, but I did 
notice that the memory was kind of pricy.  I found that I could get 1 GB of the 
same memory you offer for $300 on www.crucial.com.  I believe it's an option to 
get no memory, right?  

Also, it appears to take a pretty long time (2 weeks) to get the laptop, and 
folks on resellerratings.com indicate that it's taken even longer than that.  
If I decide to purchase this machine, I'd like it within in a week.  I'm 
assuming there's no way to get it under "guaranteed shipment in 10 days?"