Alienware 17 i7-4700MQ 780M

I think it's time to update my son's rig before he goes off to college. I was waiting for a refurb Alienware 17 with a 780M to be available, and one is.

I know that there are performance gains with the 4800, but he's not going to be doing any video editing. He is going to want to play Star Citizen.

Anything I should be aware of on the 4700/780M combo?

Any thoughts on the anti-glare screen?

Is it tricky to switch between the discrete and integrated graphics, or is it just like on his M11xR3?

How are the heat issues?

Anything else I need to know, like why it's likely to be a refurb?

Thanks as always for the help!

 

You don't have to worry about anything when it comes to performance issues with the 4700MQ. It's a great CPU and should be more than enough for the 780M.

 

1.Refurbs can range from a replaced MOBO, to just a customer return within the grace period, meaning no damage. Roll the dice and hope you get lucky is all i can say. Grabbing a warranty will be the best bet with a refurb imo.
2.Its not tricky to switch between graphics, a simple FN+F7.
3.Anti-Glare will prevent that annoying reflection while gaming under bright lights or ourdoors, but you will lose some color depth, richness, and clarity.
4.The machine runs fairly cool by all standards, even more so compared to other top models on the market.
5.The combo is solid, no real issues, i would also make sure it has a SSD, or simply purchase one and slip it in later.

 

Thanks! That's very encouraging. I'm currently browsing good deals on SSD's right now.

I just built my first desktop rig in 8 years (with a GTX780 Unclassified on a Gryphon Z87 mb and an i4770k), so the prices are pretty fresh in my head.

 

Nice build!

I just upgraded my wifes 2009 M17X (R1) by adding a Crucial M4. As for my personnel favorite SSD that would have to be the Samsung 800/830/840/etc series.

 

Funny you should mention that. I was just looking at this Samsung 840

 

the 840 evo is one of the best drives you can get right now. You could also look at the crucial m500 as that is also a very good drive.

 

I have 2samsung 840pro ssd's, both are 256gb and running raid 0.. 512gb ssd storage makes the whole laptop feel so much faster..

I also tried 1 normal 840 wich isnt really noticeable slower..

840 evo should outperform my 840pro, so yeah i would defintely go for an ssd

 

Im currently running my AW17 with the 4700 and a 780m and found no issues with the either. I do a lot of photo editing and usually have Lightroom and Photoshop running at the same time as well as google chrome, iTunes etc and it still runs perfectly fine, with little or no slow down issues. As for gaming; BF4 currently seems to be the one that pushes the cpu most out of the games I have but again this isnt an issue and doesn't affect game play at all, Im still running it on ultra and get between 48 - 61 fps average with no overclock on the gpu.

 

Steve - Is that at 1080p? If so, that's outstanding!

I pulled the trigger on it, and it will be here next week. I think he will be over the moon. I'll sit down this weekend and download all of the drivers and utilities for a clean install, since that is part of the fun !

Now I have to resist the urge to get one for myself...