AW beaten by Lenovo, ROFL

Check out this little $900 notebook that somehow manages to implement the "ultrabay" idea I was pushing at AW.

Review Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

It has the exact SLI 650m setup I was dreaming of! Now we can determine how to use the bay, instead of forfeiting it to optical devices.

True, it lacks a second digital video output, a headphone jack, and an mSATA slot (?), but it seems to have a decent processor, fast ram, etc.. With an i7, this would kill.

Oh, AW. Whatever happened to leading the pack??

Just as my truncated 6 months of warranty expires on my r2 ...

No wonder Dell is failing.

 

"... the UltraBay mentioned in the introduction is unique. In simple words, it is a special drive compartment that can optionally harbor a second graphics card. System fan modules (better cooling for 20 Euros/~$27), a hard disk module (750 GB HDD for 90 Euros/~$121) and a DVD/CD burner module (70 Euros/~$94) are also offered in Lenovo's German shop."

 

Cool look inside

 

its a neat idea but its a pretty specialized feature that no one else puts on their notebooks. i wouldnt fault aw for that, i can see the aftermarket for these ultrabay components being rather scarce. perhaps clevo could pull it off.

 

I just can't believe they beat AW to the dual 650m. It was such an obvious idea. Oh, well. Leave the innovation to others while AW just designs new cases.

 

AW seem too conservative to innovate these days. Not to mention the poor job they do with cooling/fan profiles. I love the m14x concept but the single fan (hairdryer) is just not up to cooling the cpu/gpu well. The second they improve the thermals and offer a decent screen (I am dreaming of a 1080p IPS which they can manage in the xps13) I will pick up another

 

No question other companies are trying now to compete with Dellienware - when I purchased my M17x-R2 four years ago there was no Origin or ASUS offerings that could compete - and the Clevo/Sager lunchboxes I just couldn't stand to look at. Things have changed and it's a good sign that PC gaming is alive and well with folks like Lenovo pushing the envelope. I suspect the reason that only refreshes are going on with Dellienware is that the going private has been in the works for a couple years now, if only internally. That flat out kills investment into new designs for a lineup that quite frankly the XPS guys in Dell wishes would just go away. I still believe AW is going to either become a Dell company-owned entity separate from Dell, or more likely sold off. So, the Lenovo innovation is good, since it shows a market for the PC-gaming community, but is more tell-tale that Dellienware is not really trying. Personally, unless Dell comes out with a statement that an entirely new model is coming out soon I suspect they are not going to keep the brand in-house for very much longer, less than a year give or take a few months. On the other hand, they *might* use the opportunity to really come out swinging and using Alienware as an example of the return to the "Old Dell" move, but I can't see it since Alienware makes regular Dell offerings look less attractive. Expect Alienware to give way to a return of the XPS lineup in full fighting form. Sad for us, but probably necessary. Maybe Sager will pick them up - that might turn out really well but prices will go up along with performance and quality, but support will take a big hit.

 

Even inexperienced users can remove the second GPU :thumbsup:

 

Time for Alienware to step it up on M14x R3. They better have dual cooling for cpu/gpu and options for a much better display with better color gamut and matte option.

 

Yup. I love my r2, but it could certainly use some innovations...