Alienware M17x R1 Product Replacement?

Eyo guys,

I've got an older R1 M17x, and luckily, I happen to have the 4 year full in house, next day, whatever product plan. The machine as most of you R1 owner's know, can be a serious pain.

I've had the machine for just under 2 years, and Dell finally caved and is building a new system for me to replace this defective one (I've had the video cards replaced 4 times in the last week due to overheating problems, and that's just the beginning of the hardware replacements Dell has done over the years on this machine).

Any ideas as to what kind of replacement unit these guys will be building me? I know they're going to talk me through it, but I'm looking for a bit of other product replacer's advice. Anything I should be watching out for as Dell may try to screw me because they don't want to dish out the big bucks to build an equivalent to my formerly $4000 Alienware?

I'm looking for advice as to how I can:
1. Ensure I get the same quality machine I paid for.
2. Possibly get them to seriously upgrade the system as the computer has been a literal pain, fraught with hundreds of issues over these past 2 years.

Here is the computer's specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 (4 x 2.01 Ghz)
4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz RAM
Full 1920 x 1200 LCD Display
Dual 1 GB nVidia GTX 280m SLI'd Video Cards
250 GB 7200 RPM HD

Dell has made this machine a nightmare for me, and you guys here on this site have been the only place for answers during the troubling times dealing with this machine. Figured someone might know how to milk a bit of compensation out of Dell for giving me such a problematic machine.

Any advice is welcome, thanks.

 

I'd say they're going to stick you with an R2, 720 or 740QM, CF 5870, hopefully a 1920x1200 LCD, and same RAM, same HDD.

That being said, I HOPE they stick you with an R3 with a 6970M. That card is pretty amazing. The R2 seems like its becoming extinct. You have to keep on them though, and don't let them take an inch. Good luck to you.

 

Thanks for the info. That sounds about right, atleast I'll have an i7. All the same, I have recently bought a couple of R3's for the family members as well being a loyal 12 year Dell customer (have a total of 8 Dell machines in the house currently). I might be able to convince him to upgrade to make it worth my while to keep me as a loyal customer.

I really hope he doesn't try to give me a less than 1200p screen. Anything not up to par with my current laptop is unacceptable. I'm not going to give them any leeway on that factor.

 

R2 seems with Xfire seems fair compared to R3 with 6970m.
Try to push for R2.

 

Push for R2? Not going to lie, it's been the SLI that's been a serious pain over the last while. Not sure if Crossfire is going to be any better. I'll see what options I can get.

Despite the fact that the 460m in my brother's R3 is weaker than the 6970, the 460m still runs Starcraft II better than my current Alienware's 280m's in SLI (well back when it still booted up).

Are the 5870's in Crossfire really that incredible?

 

I've never used an SLI system, so I can't really compare them, but Crossfire generally works like it should, though sometimes with brand new games, there might be issues that take a couple of months to get ironed out. ATI seems to stay on top of updating drivers and crossfire profiles for the most part.

 

Interestingly enough, called Alienware last night after I recieved my service number and reference number for the replacement machine. The Alienware representative said it was impossible for me to be able to find out what hardware I was getting before they shipped it. Strange?