About to buy one - N00b here - some uniquely n00b questions to clear..

Hi all,
As the disclaimer on top points out, I'm a complete n00b with these things, However, I'm not getting this beautiful machine for myself. Its for my little brother who is good with these things for his birthday(so being a surprise thing, I cant ask him ).

Ok, here's what he might use it for
1. Gaming obviously, However, I know that he's not into FPSs or world of warcraft. He seems to play a space game called "solar empire"(I think) and other RTS type games quite a bit. I know he's excited about Diablo 3 (since he's been talking about it for years now) So yeah, he should be able to play those well

2. Web Development. He works as a developer with dot net, c# etc. He's got an MSDN developer lisence, so he can get any software from MS for free. - Which brings me to my first question

Q1 - Is the above possible? I mean, can he(or anyone) upgrade the stock os to lets say windows 7 ultimate as soon as he gets the laptop? is the warranty void if he does that? is the OS the system comes with customized in anyway by alienware?

Configuration I intend to Order- in short
processor - I7 720qm 1.6 ghz
Memory - 8 GB DDR3 (since he'll be using visual studio 2010 and things like that which are known memory hogs)
Graphics - the single 1gb ATI card (I'll upgrade it to the duel cards later for him in case he wants to play FPSs on it- he normally does that on his xbox 360 now)
Hard drive - 320 GB sata2
WiFi card - The Intel one
Display - the second one on the list the rLed one with 200 euros more

brings me to my next question
Q2 - what's the difference between the displays? I read here that the expensive one is the better one - however, I couldnt find why.. is it simply a bigger resolution display? or is it s deal breaker to get the cheaper one?
I also read that the expensive display has a glare problem as well.. does the cheaper display fix that?

My biggest reason for choosing alienware m17x is that I read, its upgradable as we go.. so I can ugrade the processor, graphics card, etc .. Brings me to my next question

q3 - To what point can you upgrade the processor? I mean, the Mother board has some kind of a limit right?

 

Sorry for double post - If you guys have any suggestions or inputs for the configurations, I'll be very happy to hear them.. would help me quite a bit

 

Get the RGB LED screen very clear bright colors and no backlight so it can same some Power. LED stands for Light emiting Diodes. I had no lighting issues.

The gpus So far you can upgrade to ati 5870 gpus.

cpus you can go from a i5 up to i7 920 q chip

For the windows 7 Ultima the only thing that will change is the boot up screen. I know becuse I had them send me a new windows 7 cd and it a dell cd not alienware cd. The boot up screen was a light blue. You can change the bootup screen with www.julien.manici.com

For the warrintee I am unsure if it would void it but what you can do is always install the old verson of windows 7 if you have issue or buy another 320gb hard disk so you can install windows 7 ultima.

 

Thanks a lot pal, That gave me some clarity..

One more question though - what is the deal with the warranty types? I've currently configured the 1 year warranty - stock one. The other options are the 2 year next business day and the 3 year next business day warranties. Are these worth it?
i mean, is it better to take the 1 year warranty now and extend it when it expires or directly take the 2 year next business day warranty now? is there a good reason that i should do the later? what do members here do?

 

That one would be depending on the country you live in. Please read fine print. Most time you have the issue in the frist few Months. Like my laptop had 2 bad hard drives. But I blamed that on shipping company.

 

You're one HECK of a brother, mate!

The MDSN license is limited to internal usage for your own learning usages. Yes, he could upgrade (by removing the data then reinstalling it) the OS from the crappiest version to the best using that, but I would suggest upgrade to Professional or Ultimate so he would not need to waste his time formatting (deleting all the data) and then reinstalling it all.

The OS version that comes with the system has some slight differences such as wallpapers, some Alienware programs, and all of the drivers for the laptop pre-setup (which for a computer-savvy person is a small difference as drivers are easy to get access to with a secondary computer).

I haven't had a chance to see the W-LED display, but my boss's RGB-LED display's colors were so vibrant, at full brightness, that I had trouble looking away. The colors stay proper even as you lower the brightness, too.

I'd say it's a great upgrade.

The glare is from the glass put on the front of the display, so it isn't fixed with the cheaper one. If it truly drives him nuts, he can put a non-glare screen cover/protector, but I doubt he'll mind too much.

It'll support (confirmed, at least) the 920XM and it'll most likely support the 940XM. Either way, the 720QM is a pretty great processor and should be all that he needs for a while. If, later in the life of this system he needs more power, he will most certainly be able to find a 940XM for a decent price.

Normally I try and get the longest warranty I can on the spot. I've found that the cost to extend the warranty for a system is pretty high, but it's always been for servers or for extensions for systems that are older than four years. The best thing you could do is haggle with the sales person, saying that you'd REALLY like to get a longer warranty, but you don't have all of the extra cash you'd need to do it. See if you can get it all on the spot for a good bit off. From what I've seen, this is one of the biggest places that they can cut.

~~~

In all honest, as a computer savvy person, AND a brother myself, I would seriously suggest that you consider getting his input on the build of the system. There are a lot of small little things that are really good to have input on, such as getting dual cards right now as it's usually considered a lot easier to order them right from Dell as opposed to try and get them elsewhere, or if he'd want a larger hard drive, or the like.

You can still have a surprise of it all, but it'd just be coming earlier and his satisfaction would be guaranteed (on the configuration front, let's just hope the fates are in order for shipping/etc). It's in his best interest to have input on the build so he wouldn't need to send it back later to get a different loadout, or, worse, harboring ill will against you for not bringing him on the configuration process.

Hopefully, either way, he'll love the system and be a very thankful brother. Now, I just need to get my brothers to buy me one, bahah! Good luck!

 

As a note you can change pretty much ANYTHING you want on the laptop without voiding the warranty. The only way you'll void the warranty by changing internal components is if you damage the motherboard in the process, and you will have to swap back to the original parts if the new parts you buy aren't from Dell themselves (and obviously, the part you change if it isn't from Dell isn't covered by Dell warranty).

So yes, you can change the OS without a problem.

The one thing I WOULD advise is if you do plan on having the two graphics cards in there at ANY point...get both graphics cards at the start. While you CAN upgrade the GPUs, it's extremely expensive to get the cards aftermarket from Dell, and hard to find elsewhere. It's cheaper and easier to get them with the system in the first place.

The CPU is upgradable to any CPU that fits the same socket, with motherboard support. Basically, any of the current mobile i5/i7 processors should be able to fit. However, when the next generation CPUs come out next year then they most likely won't fit.

As for the difference in screens, I can't really say as I've only ever used LCD screens. I find my screen to be sufficient in quality, but I'm not sure of the quality of the LCD you get in the M17x. Plus, a lot of people say that the RGBLED screen is well worth it, and should be a priority upgrade.

 

Yes get the crossfire from start, the LED screen is beautifull and is bright enough to counter any glare is most areas.

Best thing i can advise is to buy it with 4GB RAM and upgrade the RAM on later date instead of crossfire because:
1. its easyer to upgrade.
2. Dell RAM is expensive and can be bought almost everywhere cheaper and better.
3. you save money so you can get crossfire from start.

Now for the processor: The core i7 720 seems the best choice, it will be very stabil and your computer wont be overpowered which can shorten the lifespan of laptop, it will be very unlikely for him to ever need an upgrade so no need to worry about the whole warranty thing.

The Intel wireless is also a must since the dell wireless is really crappy.

Good luck and happy b-day to your brother.

 

Thanks a Lot people, I did exactly as you guys advised. I spilled the beans and let the happy guy choose the configuration

Mostly he's gone for the same configurations listed by many threads here. with the two ATI cards, I7 720qm, 4 gb memory and the led screen

I have a question though regarding the last post.. Its regarding the 8gb ram vs the 2 ati cards.
why is it easier to add on ram than add another graphics card? and why is it cheaper? Because from what I've read in other threads, this laptop has two Ram slots and both would be filled with 2 gb each(If you order 4 gb ram). Now, if you want to someday upgrade it to 8gb, you'll have to throw away the 4 gb you have and buy two new 4 gb rams each! wont that work out a lot more expensive?
with the graphics card, isn't all you need to do is to add one more of the same card ? no?
Besides, wont upgrading the ram this way void the warranty?

Once again, thank you all for replying..

 

You can sell your old RAM and buy new one's @ Newegg. Its cheaper and there is better out there. The RAM can be accessed by removing the battery and removing two srews on the bottom, if you want to add a card you have to remove the mediabar and keyboard, then alot of wires and a protective plate. Not to mention dell charges alot for the cards and crossfire cable. You will not void your warranty when you change RAM

 

WHICH two ATi cards are you going to be getting? It's best to go for the 5870s for the latest power and directx11, however the 4870s won't disappoint if you can't stretch far enough for 5870s.

RAM is cheaper aftermarket from sites like Newegg. Plus, you can sell your old RAM. The 2GB sticks are very cheap nowadays, so it's not really more costly. It's likely cheaper as 4GB sticks are cheaper elsewhere, as I've said before. Check up on that first though-make sure you can find two 4GB sticks for cheaper than the 8GB upgrade. You need to look for 1066MHz or 1333MHz 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM sticks.

The problem with the graphics card upgrade is, they're a lot more expensive to buy AFTER buying the laptop itself. Dell charges extortionate prices for a second graphics card (far more expensive than buying the second card to start with) and you can't simply buy the extra card and stick it in; you need a Crossfire cable as well.

Outside of Dell, it would be VERY hard to find either a mobile 4870 or mobile 5870 card as well as a CrossfireX cable.

As I said in my last post...you can swap out ANY internal components on the laptop (RAM, CPU, hard drives, GPUs) and it will NOT void the warranty provided you don't damage the motherboard in the process of upgrading. Plus, obviously, whatever part you put in yourself is not covered by warranty unless you bought it from Dell.

 

There is obviously a difference between the 4870s and the 5870s, because they are newer tech. But if you'll look in the benchmarking thread, you'll see that the in-game gains are not that impressive.

 

Here's a Big Thank-you to EviLCorsaiR, AtolSammeek, Guswut, the3vilGenius and TurbodTalon.
I placed the order yesterday and I hope he'll receive it just in time for his birthday.
The Final config he chose is
-Red colour laptop(here in the Netherlands its at no extra price.. however, I still found the silver one better looking, well, I'm more of a finance guy and I guess gamers do have a different taste )
-Intel I7 720qm processor,
-4 GB DDR 3 Ram 1333,
-The RLed full HD display,
-Crossfile ATI 5870, dual Graphics cards,
-2 year warranty- next business day,
-Windows 7 Home premium (surprisingly, he felt no need for an ultimate version)
-The intel wifi option,
-500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive (he keeps his data organized in multiple portable hard drives.. so he says this would serve his needs more than enough)
- Their gamer mouse(the squarish looking mouse)

well, that was the main bits I guess well, its done now, and to be honest, I feel quite relieved. The first time I opened the dell site to check out the configurations by myself, it made my head spin quite a bit.. Now I feel I've learnt quite a few things about the latest computer hardware and next time someone at Office wants to configure a laptop or a PC, I'll give them advice. Thats sure to get their heads spinning!