The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
It doesn't matter how much power the HQ processors have.
The CPU is locked! Never forget. So, performance won't increase that much. The Graphics Amplifier is a joke and so is most of the Alienware lineup. Man, I hope their production overhead is much less than before to keep them above water.
And pretty much all those reasons have to do with BGA (well, most of them, there's also a PSU that is insufficient if you want to overclock, but fine for regular usage). In other words, a joke compared to previous Alienware offerings.
I shall as such repeat myself: compared to the competition, the new AW lineup is just fine (although a bit pricey - you do need to haggle the price down).
It would therefore probably be appropriate, in the future, to qualify a statement such as "this lineup is a joke". Because I'm sure that to a lot of people, it isn't a joke. For those who don't care about extreme amounts of overclocking, or upgrading their CPU/GPU, this is a perfectly fine (though slightly pricey) alternative.
The new Alienware 17r2 is the new high end of the laptop in new Alienware models. It is perverse ..It comes with a power supply that is intended for a tablet.
While I understand some are upset about the changes, this over-exaggerating is a bit...ridiculous. It does nothing to further any discussion being had.
We all know a 180w PSU is overkill for a tablet. And 180w is just fine for any stock 970M <s>(maybe even a stock 980M)</s>.
And BGA processors are not "garbage". They may not suit your needs, but they're perfectly fine for...what, 95% of the people who buy laptops? Just because a product doesn't meet your requirements or specific needs does not make it garbage.
That would be like me saying that 13" laptops are garbage because the screen is too small. Sure, 13" is no good for me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people for whom 13" is just the right size.
Not really, there were some posts earlier proving that
at stock an A17 R2 with 980M got a lower Physics and lower Combined Score on 3DMark11 than the same machine with a 240W power supply. 180W is not enough even at stock, and that difference would just get bigger with even mild overclocking.
Im agreeing with Ramzay here, I know alot of you love to overclock, swap out cpu and gpu parts to upgrade. But the fact is that most people dont want to, dont know how to, or simply dont care enough to.
I have a 780m, im happy with it, would I like to put a 980m in there? sure I would. But for the cost of a 980m, I could sell my current 17 and buy a new 17 with a 980m and a full warranty.
That being said. I think the current line up is perfectly in line with the needs of most current consumers. The last person I met with a m17x didnt even know what model he had, what cpu, or what gpu he had... all he knew was it could play games and looked pretty (he has a r3 with a 580m, I looked for him)
Now, as for the 180w psu, yes I do think that is a bit on the low side. But, when you make the computer thinner and lighter, people assume they wont have to drag around a 4 pound brick just to power it. So, they needed to slim down the psu to fit the new style.
Alienware 17r2 should not be the chief laptop in the Alienware series of models. It should be something much better that attracts genuine Alienware perfomance enthusiasts. :thumbsup:
What's interesting is that I currently have the Clevo P650SE (GTX 970M) and the power supply seems about as heavy as the laptop. It's funny seeing such a slim, light and sleek machine and look at the huge, chunky power brick next to it.
I bet they could of made the 240w psu thinner if they designed it better, possibly by adding a small fan to it for cooling.
I remember when I got my m11xr1, it had a 65w psu and I thought it was way too big. Turned out they did infact make a thinner version that also had a 12v car plug aswell as the 120v wall outlet.
I really hope that the 980M driver improves the scores, becuase thats what my 7970M crossfire setup got with the 3720qm. Is it a limitation of the 980M, or the stupid 180W brick Dell supplies?
Just some advice for anyone that is an owner and wants to log a call.
Problem: 'I have not been impressed with the gaming capability of my new machine. I had to drop some settings in (insert your fav AAA title here) when other people on different machines (same GPU) are not. Then I read that a bigger wattage PSU would allow the machine to perform better. I plugged in a 240w PSU and immediately the machine runs my games at max settings.Why?'
Now link them to the post with just the 3D mark comparisons. Avoid getting bogged down in benchmark stats, it's a gaming laptop and it's not gaming!
Based on my experience so far with my 17 R2, I think it's possible that the ROG also has better thermals, allowing the CPU to stay turbo. This, along with the PSU issues of the 17, may be contributing to the ROG's higher score.
Which model was it that scored higher? I've been toying with canceling my AW order and grabbing one of the g751jy.... I wish I could find the 72 model with the upgraded processor for cheaper than $2800.
UPDATE: Dell called to ask me how satisfied I was now that they were shipping me a replacement R2. I told the representative that I was not satisfied, and I was going to return the replacement because of throttling as a result of the underpowered PSU. The rep. folded instantly, agreeing to send a 240W PSU.
Once I get the replacement system and the 240W PSU, I will be able to judge the system on its merits.
One note: some people have mentioned the MSI GT72 as an alternative. For me, the MSI GT72 was not attractive because it lacks optimus, so its battery life is very short. While optimus can indeed be a pain, I routinely do non-gaming tasks while disconnected from a power supply.
Glad to hear it. So earlier I reported that Far Cry 4 was playing better with the new driver, I was wrong. I swapped it back to the 180 and it is unplayable. Not even close to the performance I get with the 240 from my 17xR3. Will be contacting them tomorrow and putting up with the hassle of getting to a rep.
I wonder if there's a way to convince them to send the 240 watt PSU before receiving the laptop? It just sounds aggravating knowing the laptop is a coming and then having to call in, complain, and wait another week or three on an appropriate size PSU lol.
Dellienware have not understood anything... One need not be a Prof. (highly educated) to understand that a 180w power supply is undersized. I am also sure that the power setting in bios is also crippled for ever. Dellienware delivers more and more garbage in terms of both hardware and software
(bios / ec). Where does
all this end? Last time Dellienware launched Alienware 17 and came with a laptop
that gave lower performance than any other laptop manufacturers due CRIPPLED TDP of GPU (corrupted bios). This just gets worse and worse ..
Why choose new Alienware when others can produce an equally good, if not better laptop? And at a better price. It's time to escape Dellienware when they deliver rubbish. Rather come back when they have realized that they need to deliver something better than the upgraded Alienware Laptop, that provides lower performance than with competitor gaming laptop's ..
Here's what a single 980M is capable of if you can get a decent AC adapter. (Ignore the physics score because that's an XM CPU in the comparison and it obliterates the 4710HQ.)
Result
Hey 17R2 owners, let's check to see how the vRAM performance looks with the BGA 980M compared to the MXM version. That could be interesting since you cannot swap the GPU. Hopefully, it is as good or close. See testing tool linked below and and my own results in the spoiler below.
If there is a wide variance between systems, some folks may want to ask for a system exchange if theirs is not working right. Hopefully, that will not prove to be the case, but it's good there is a tool available to check it out. Please post the results. Right click inside of the DOS window, choose "Select All" and hit enter to copy the results to clipboard, then you can paste the text in the forum post.
You have to be careful with the G751s from ASUS. Three months in nearly and they still haven't corrected the subwoofer and balance issue. There are multiple threads about it. But besides that, the machine rocks IMHO.
That's a great result. You must have been talking to a senior for him to be able to approve that. Unless of course they already know about the issue and have decided to uprate anyone that asks.
Hopefully they will stop shipping these units with the 180w PSU before mine gets built. I have ordered the higher CPU so I expect it to be even worse than the stats so far...
Honestly, the biggest thing is the warranty. My AW 17r2 is coming with the 3 year because I value that in home next day service that much. I just don't want to find myself in a situation where I'm shipping my laptop off for warranty work and going to be without it for 1,2,3 weeks.
Next, it was a choice of who offered an IPS panel. That left AW, Asus, and MSI. I couldn't get the MSI anywhere close to the price point I wanted, and would have to ship it away for warranty work. The Asus is sort of the same boat. I don't want to pay $3200+ for the model with the upgraded processor. Best buy would be my choice for purchasing as I have geek squad friends that could take care of the warranty work in a reasonable time frame... But Best Buy isn't currently selling the upgraded model, nor would it be anywhere close to $2500-2600 where I would feel comfortable buying it at.
It sounds terrible when you look at how much money is on the table, but for me it came down to choosing the lesser evil and not spending $3500 on a laptop that I'll be ready to replace in 2-3 years. Given the performance of the AW, I still might ditch it for the Asus if I find a coupon or a better price on it.
Currently, it seems that the ASUS provides superior performance mostly because of the bigger PSU. Although, at equal specs, the list price of the ASUS is also $300-$400 cheaper.
What's funny is that I have an older ROG G75VX at home that has a 19.5v, 240w power supply. I wonder if it would work with the AW17?
That's what I've been struggling with - warranty. I actually had the G751 for a week, but returned it because of wifi and sound issues. Besides that, it was a fantastic machine. But I'm also weary, because if anything at all goes wrong and you need warranty work, you gotta ship it off and wait. And wait.
Now I could purchase premium in-store warranty from wherever I buy the laptop, but that gets expensive - easily $100 per year.
I would even settle for purchasing a $100 per year in store warranty if there were any decent options...pretty sure that's cheaper than the AW extended warranty lol. I just don't know of any in-house warranty options at any place that sells a good competitor other than Best Buy. And I can't bring myself to get the dh71 Asus b/c the dh 72 exists, and the dh72 is just too much for what you get IMO. The AW is much cheaper with the in home repair...but dang that sub-par performance it is throwing out.
Seems like anyway you look at it, we're either going to get a poor build quality, bent over on price, poor performance, or a trash warranty no matter which direction we go.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
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