Alienware M17x R3, What spec should i get?

ive been saving for awhile now to get a Alienware m17x, about 1 and a half years.

my budget is around £2500-£2800, im not a hard core computer gamer, but i do game on computers a far amount.

annoyingly i dont know much about Ghz in the processers etc

basicly i just want the best specs i can get in my budget, plus 3D.

what do you guys suggest?

also is it worth waiting for a new model of alienware? or should i just get what i can now?

 

I ordered mine last week and the specs I found to be reasonable are below
I heard there is a 30% discount coupon for the UK store or something, do look into that

 

let me know how it is. im probably going to be ordering mine early jan.

i will look into the discount, i know theres a discount on some things but only £10 or so

 

Get the best CPU and video card you can afford. Don't worry about the ram and hdd as it is cheaper to upgrade them your self later on.

 

Does adding RAM/HDD make warranty etc invalid?

 

I am writing this in caps so maybe it may put some urgency in it

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WAIT FOR ANOTHER 2-3 MONTHS!!!

the computer you are going to buy 3 months from now will be at least %20-30 percent faster in any (no kidding) any specs except for SSD (you will get that aftermarket anyways)

 

First thing first.. Hello World! This is my first post

I have been following this forum for almost 2 years but never thought of registering. I guess it's time to do my part in contributing to others.

Now let's go back to the topic. Although I agree with graz`zt, I don't think that a new model will be released in 2 to 3 months. I read through the forum nearly everyday and so far I haven't heard anything regarding a new model.

I suggest that if you think you can wait a little longer (about an other 4 or 5 so months) do wait for a new model. Or els you could look into a refurb! Either way it all depends on how much you really want the baby I personally waited 1 year for a new model, then realised that if I didn't invest now, I would never will. It's all up to you


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.529951,-0.185971
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Any thing we buy will be outdated within a year. Its the way technology is, all we can do is have fun in the mean time and upgrade when we have the chance.

 

I personally need my laptop now so there is no point in delaying it
In a couple of years I can sell mine and buy a new one but I guess in a couple of years things will change

 

dude, clearly you are not following the news, 28nm is about to be released, right now buying anything will be outdated in 2 months, not within a year... anyway it is upto you to take my advice or not, amd 7970 will be released 17th of Jan (not the mobile version yet, that will be released late Feb)

 

I'd say 4-5 months really...

 

and after that Nvidia will release their cards and the ATI will be outdated and the cycle will continue ..

 

i see what graz'zt is saying and I agree with him.

 

No it doesn't. Dell will let u upgrade those components with out invalidating ur warranty.


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I don't know about that. Graphics cards aside, Ivy Bridge is going to show, at most, 10% improvements over Sandy Bridge, and you can bet the majority of that won't be in games.

OP: I'd go for a 2670QM (I think that's the one - middle option, basically), and a 6970M. If you really want more power, bump it up to the 6990 or 580.

The others are right though that adding RAM and hard drives after market is much cheaper. The answer to your question is, yes, the warranty is voided upon adding these parts but only on the parts replaced. The rest of your laptop is still covered.

 

Geo, that was my original guess, but 7970 coming in less than 20 days, and mobile cards already being released makes me feel like we will see new hardware (maybe not 7970m) sooner, that's why I bought the laptop 2 months ago, I thought it would be Q2-Q3 but some news say it maybe late Q1

guys, definitely anybody can buy any laptop at anytime, also I can understand if waiting is an issue (happens with me all the time ), but what I am saying is, there maybe a deep regret to this purchase with high probability...

 

You can always just upgrade for the difference when the card does come out, why wait to buy the whole thing?

 

Sounds like a good idea TBH, what do u do when you want to upgrade, just phone support or something?

 

Pretty much, yeah. They'll want the difference of the two parts, and they'll charge for installing it too (unless you want to do it yourself).

 

should be ordering tomorrow or early jan, with these specs.

Alienware M17x Stealth Black
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2760QM (2.40Ghz, 6MB, 4C)
English Genuine Windows® 7 Professional (64 BIT)
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M
16GB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel (4X4GB)
750GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
17.3” (44cm) 120Hz WideFHD (1920x1080) WLED LCD + NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses Bundle
Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read and write) Drive
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - EUR
Primary 9 cell Li-Ion Default Base Battery

any changes etc you guys recommend?

 

Ditch the terrible RAM. You can upgrade them yourself to some nice HyperX or Vengeance 1600/1866 for cheaper

 

You can drop the RAM alright, but I wouldn't bother with the expensive stuff; doesn't make any difference. RAM is RAM is RAM, simple as. Just get whatever capacity you want (though you won't ever need more than 8GB, unless you're doing some crazy 3D modeling or video editing)

 

cheers, im probably going to go for the 4x2gb 1600MHz, shouldnt make any diffrence from 16gb 1333MHz would it? im going to order it tomorrow hopefully.

 

Is the ram really that bad? I got the 16gb because right now they are offering 16gb as a free upgrade from 8gb

 

The HyperX with dem smexy heatshields = best part of my system, easily. Hands down, without a doubt. Wouldn't change them for the world

 

Better off with 2x4GB vs. 4x2GB. Less stress on the memory controller that way = less heat, and higher overclocks (usually, though the latter doesn't really apply in a laptop). It'll also be cheaper. Less DIMMs - even if they are higher density - will be cheaper to manufacture, and so will cost less for the end-user.

If it's free, go for it! I'm only saying that there's no point wasting money on it - especially at Dell's prices - when you can throw the money into an SSD or warranty or something instead.

Do you open your laptop to stare at your RAM a lot or something? I'm genuinely confused here.

 

Huh? You mad?

I bought 2 pairs. I framed the other set & it sits on my desk reminding of the pair that's already in my laptop. Pretty damn awesome I tell ya

 

ive had a look around and now thinking of getting the standard ram which comes with the computer.

Then upgradeing it to Crucial ram (4gbx2) and buy 2 for a 16gb set up, which works out cheaper, would it work without installing anything, just plug and play?

8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 upgrades for Alienware M17xR3 Laptop/Notebook, CT2336302 from Crucial.com

and what hardrive is the 750GB 7200RPM for the alienware, because if it works out cheaper ill buy another to make 1.5tb? and would this be plug and play without software etc?

 

You should be able to just drop new RAM - or a new hard drive - in, yeah.

What's your budget like for hard drives though? You might be better off with something like a 128GB SSD + 750GB HDD.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm ordering one of these tonight but not sure what gpu to get

It will have a high res screen (1920 x ????) and I have the choce of a GTX 560 card or GTX 580 card. The cheaper option should come to around £1054 (with discounts applied) and the deerer option will be £1169.

Can someone tell me if its worth spending the extra on the GX 580 and what difference this would make to gaming?

Thanks in advance

 

If its between one 560 or one 580, I'd go with the 580. The 580 does use more power, that's a gimme. 2-560 vs one 580 might be different.

Final line, the 580 would be a big improvement, IMO. And if you want to upgrade to 580 SLI in the future But I'm not real familiar with the M17X so..

I wish I could give more info but I'm out the door. Good luck.

 

Same here. When 16 is the same as 8 that's an easy decision

 

I'm thinking the same but I'm purely going on the fact that the upgrade price is quitereasonable and also because the laptop is fit to handle this calibre of graphics card which means I would be making the most of the laptops capabilities which is also a plus.

Then again, from a practical viewpoint, will it make that much difference to gaming?

Also just noticed I can get a 2760Q or a 2670Q for only £35-£40. Is it worth getting the 2760Q for the wider fsb. Amazon are selling 2x4 cosaire vengeance ram (1600mhz) for £37 so the price is about the same as 1333mhz ram. What difference would this have on gaming over the 1333mhz ram?

 

im ordering the spec which i posted earlier, as a 10% discount came up, then i managed to get more discount,

£2700.99
-10%
£2,438.09
then got it down to £2250, buy emailing a mate who works for dell.

so i probably have a budget of £150-£200 for another hard drive, any you recommend?

 

Wrong thread.

 

I keep posting in one thread but it posts in this one, lol. Is that because it was moved? Or another reason. Very odd.

 

You should probably get a SSD. That will make the biggest difference on your computer...and i can fully recommend the Crucial M4