Alienware 17 Pre-order Configuration Questions and Order Status Discussion - Part 5

Anyone have issues when waking the computer? (I think that's the right term) I've noticed it at least twice since I've gotten it. If I close the lid and come back later, or the next day, when I open the computer it doesn't power back up right away. I push the power button and it starts to resume Windows and then just goes to either a black screen or a black screen with t blinking cursor in the corner. Anyone else experienced this?

 

Same happens on my 17 and 18. I Denver brother Fox mentioning that the boot deal is something to do with Alienware's latest implementation in order to prevent (us) the consumers from flashing an unlocked BIOS.

 

Thanks Dex, makes me feel a little better. Is there a fix or work around? Doesn't seem healthy for the computer to have to be manually shut down repeatedly. If there isn't a fix, how do you deal with it Dex?

 

I am considering buying an Alienware 17 for work. I work remotely and I do a LOT of screen sharing with other developers. My current laptop, a 2007 macbook pro, just gets way too hot. Personally, I think the Alienware is quite ugly and really huge, but I'm considering it because it's the only laptop I've found that gets universal praise for all the important things: specs, keyboard, display and graphics card. I'm not thrilled with the fact that the keyboard is offset due to the number pad, but I just hate the keyboards of most modern laptops.

Two questions:
1) Which would be better for my needs: the Nvidia GTX 880M or AMD Radeon™ R9 M290X ? I won't be doing much gaming on this machine. But I don't want the machine to melt when I do video streaming/screen sharing all day. At first I thought, get the 880M because I don't upgrade my machines very often, but then I read the 880 gets hot...

2) I really want an SSD, but I want at least 500GB storage. I'm a little out of date with my hardware knowledge here and I'm totally confused as to what the best option is: Should I get the basic HDD and clone it to a 500GB SSD? Should I get the 1TB drive with 80GB SSD cache? If I got the one with the cache could I upgrade it to a bigger cache? Is that hard to do? Or should I just get the 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD combo? Does that last combo work as a cache or do I have to manually move programs I want to open faster onto the SSD drive?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

 

Read this, Zgeist. The M290x is a 7970M. Not worth it. Just wait.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...17-owner-s-lounge-thread-407.html#post9763676

Also, you are almost always going to be better off upgrading to an SSD aftermarket. It's really easy. Just get the cheapest option.

 

Oh! I didn't realize that. I'm not in a particular hurry. Thanks for telling me that.

Of course, who knows if the next gen GPU will have heat issues, too?

 

Unlikely. The new generation GPU's are on a completely new architecture. It will consume much less power and run much cooler by default.

On the long shot that this issue wasn't fixed, it's unlikely for it to be an issue in the new generation because of the design.

 

Hey all, got a quick question for those in the know regarding Dell's ordering or support. I bought my system last Black Friday and it has been a beast, but I was wondering if Dell does trade in's? Don't get me wrong, I love my setup but if I were able to trade it in, I would like to upgrade from the 4GB GTX780M video card to the newest 8GB and change the wireless from the Broadcom (not sure what one) to the newest one with wifi. The rest of my stats I like to keep such as the i7-4800MQ and the 3D screen and other basic stuff. I would like to figure this out before Black Friay arrives again as that is best time of year to get discounts etc.

Thnx

 

You don't want the 880M.. its a piece of junk.. also doing a trade in with Dell is a bad bad idea... They will undercut you by a lot.. Thee is no need to upgrade your GPU but for the wifi card, you can use a 7260ac I think but honestly, is the Broadcom card bad?

 

Argg,

Again I look at the dell UK site to see what configs they are offering and it just gets worse and worse . This time you cannot select the 120hz display on either the top two models. On the only one you do get an option it errors.

I'm simply wanting to see retail before I try calling in but I can't even get a price, oh and the 'choose OS' is now win 8.1 only. How hard can they try to dissuade me as a customer?

This has been going on for months, I simply cannot configure a 3D model and it's P'ing me off /rant_off

 

No there nothing wrong with Broadcom card, I just want to be able to wirelessly transfer what im seeing on my laptop to my tv without using the HDMI cord

 

Not a bad deal at all ... In the future you can upgrade the GPU as well to a 980m which is much better than get one of the soldered CPU/GPU 2-3k R2 machines.

 

With the dell warranty that sounds like a good deal BUT research that 880m. It was a troublesome card with overheating and throttling problems. The dell outlet is where returns end up and I don't know if dell ever fixed the 880m, it was a short lived card that never even made it to the desktop market.

Good luck.

 

Bro - nothing EVER changes with regards to the UK site, does it? - still sucks big time.

 

Hi there Steve, long time!

I haven't even been there for ages. If they ever decide to produce an enthusiast machine again I'll probably give them a try just based on the support I have got in the past.

First there was the DTR, and now these mongrels (much more accurate description than 'hybrid' haha). These kiddie out-of-the-box console/PC attempts are not my demographic. Loving the X8 and am ready for a real DTR next. As soon as NV release their next 'Desktop-for-notebook' GPU I'm upgrading .

 

Yeah, I know what you mean mate - I don't frequent it much either, what with BGA stuff and the lack of a real enthusiast machine. Like you, Eurocom's offerings look very tasty - I quite like the look and power of the X9 with its ability to take a desktop GPU and CPU........still, I've no major plans to change right now as I'm not using the 18 to its full potential right now.

 

I'm trying to find out if it's worth waiting to get a better deal on Alienware 17r3 (or 4 whatever the newest model is?). I'm currently looking at 256 SSD, 16 MB ram, 970m. I've been watching prices for last 3 months and the lowest I've seen is 1550 on Amazon, Dell, and Best buy. Should I expect this price to drop significantly if I want till memorial day or black Friday? I'm not in a super big hurry - but no point in waiting if the deal isn't going to change.

Ive been trying to find historical prices,but there doens't seem to be any tracking of deals for the laptops. camelcamelcamel only tracks specifics items on amazon rather than models in general.

 

If you want performance and upgradeability with flexibility go for Clevo check out the 7K series of them in the subforum..A much better hassle free machine with more choices.

 

We don't have info about that at the moment. But I've seen some good deals in the Dell Outlet in case you're interested