Alienware M17x R4 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

I paid for mine over a month ago... Hidevolution is still waiting to receive them from Dell -.- still got another like 2 weeks to go

It's because they have to ship out all the m17x's with Windows 8 now, as well as the new line of Ivy Bridge processors... 3840qm replaces 3820qm etc

 

Mine is window 7 ~

The m17x R4 with your monster CPU and Graphics card is way out of my budget. They are too expensive

I think i ordered with 3630qm , GTX 657m ,and 8 GB RAM.

I asked the guy working in Dell and he said mine is a m17x R4 too

 

wow ~over 2000 pounds . Mine is abt 1500pounds and it hurts me so much

 

skimped out on mine, just less than £1400 but I got the gtx680m in there too.

 

Hm well that's a bit strange... I ordered mine with Windows 7 and the 3820qm, but the order got delayed and my laptop is in production so it's coming with Win8 and 3840qm now, don't see why your wouldn't if it's in production :S

Are you getting the 3D screen and 680m is out of your budget? If you're not getting 3D why not get the 7970m? I would change the GPU if still possible

 

apparently if you want any changes, you have to cancel the original order and order a new one again. I don't think i can take any longer to wait.

 

Yeap, that is true. I just canceled my order yesterday for the i7 3840qm... went back into production today.

 

If I didn't get mine automatically no way I would delay my order to go from 3820qm to 3840qm why did you do that?

 

Because my new incoming rig is a replacement, so I wanted it maxed out with everything top of the line Meanwhile, I have my current rig that I can use while waiting on the new one.... no big rush for me.

 

Hey guys, need you guys advice on my new order. Should i get a 3840qm or a 3940xm? Thx in advance.

 

No one can help you with that. It is totally up to your pocket book If you have the funds, go with the 3940xm. If not, go with the 3840qm. The xm is far superior and more powerful, though, it is up to you. I would go with the xm if my funds permitted it.

 

Ok, but the 3840qm do have partially unlocked multiplier, right?

 

Yes if it is the same as mine. I also see 3 presets for OC'ing

 

thx Micky, so i see.

 

3840qm all the way! It is the same as the 3920xm... but smaller power draw so it'll have better battery life and less heat I think. The 3940xm is waayyyy too expensive when the 3840qm is pretty much exactly the same but more power efficient.

 

Hey guys, So much to read through! This will be my first gaming pc and I've speced it as such:

M17X
i7-3630QM
12GB DDR3 Ram
AMD 7970M
1TB 5400 RPM
1920x1080 (NOT 3D)
Basic Wireless Card

I intend to buy a Crucial M4 120gb or 256 and install that on my own. Also I don't like 3D so I wasn't interested in that option (and why I chose 7970M NOT 680m). It will ONLY be used for gaming as my Macbook Pro fulfills everything else.

With that in mind do you guys think that the Accidental Damage coverage (4 years) is worth it? Good experiences.. bad ones?

Thanks for your time!

 

Already ordered my M17x, but was looking for an opinion on windows 7 vs 8, as at first i thought i didn't want the tablet rubbish, but it is a newer OS... should i be taking win 8?

 

Try them both out and see which one you like the best. No one can make those kind of decisions for you and nor can you rely on another person's opinion. Why? Because what I may like can be significantly different from what you like. Try them both, and then choose.

 

If your only option is Crucial M4 then feel free to go with it, otherwise, I suggest you take a look at the Samsung 830. They have been lowered to $170 for the 256Gb which I think it's the best deal out there, honestly. 120Gb or 250Gb really depends on your budget. If you just want to spend money, go for 256Gb, you won't regret it. Otherwise, 120Gb is decent enough. You have 2 slots for HDD, so 1 120Gb for Windows and the other HDD for gaming is definitely a good choice.

I've heard good feedback from AW reps, I also heard bad feedback from them. In the end, it's difficult to satisfy every person out there. So to answer your question, I would say it really depends on you. How long do you plan to keep it? How familiar are you with the laptop in general? If you are very familiar with the system and don't really need support, you might not need it. Because this is your first gaming pc, I think you should just hold this off. The warranty can be extended anytime, before it expires.

Have fun and enjoy your 7970M. It's definitely different from the mediocre GPU that Apple puts in their MBP.

 

The one thing I would say about warranty is that it does give some peace of mind with a fairly large purchase such as this. I think there is an improved chance of hardware failure with the high end performance crammed into a (relatively) small package. This is also the time to wheel and deal with a rep as they have more wiggle room with warranty prices. I have heard that it is much more expensive to bump up the warranty later. I went with the 3 year accidental myself. I do also have a nine and a half month old son though.

 

Definitely. The reason why I suggested he holds off his warranty purchase because there is no point in having additional warranty if he thinks the service sucks. Being his first gaming laptop, he will very likely to rely on Dell's Customer Service. I think after 10-11 months owning the laptop, he may have a better idea of how good/bad the CS is. After that, it will be worth considering to buy additional warranty. I don't know about the exact price but I've heard some people were able to haggle off the price quite a lot. Of course, it's entirely depend on the buyer .

I do think your 9 year old son makes quite a lot differences in consideration of purchasing additional warranty though haha.

 

As far as the accidental damage coverage goes, as people say, it depends on your usage/environment. I had 400+ dell laptops to support in my last job and i always went for the accidental damage coverage on them. saved a bunch of money. Sooo many times times drinks get spilled on them (but of course people are somewhat less careful with a machine they didn't pay for!), as just one example of something that happens.

Just reminded me of the funniest call i had to make to dell on a users behalf, 'well, she had her baby on her lap while using the laptop and as babies tend to do .... all over the keyboard!' 'Don't worry sir, I'll warn the tech and they do have gloves!'

 

Thanks guys! So I went with this as my final specs:

i7-3840K
7970M
12GB DDR3
1TB HDD (Will put an 830 Intel or Crucial M4 (128gb either way) in when I get it)
3 Years Accidental Coverage

The CR even dropped the price by quite a bit! Excited!

 

Sounds sweet, enjoy!

 

i just hv a go on the alienware website , if the laptop config is:

3840qm
Gtx680
32GB Ram
750GB Hard drive

It costs abt 3000 pounds......This is just crazy

 

Definitely get rid of all that RAM, you are just padding Dell's bottom line with that config. I would recommend the absolute minimum they offer, then buy yourself. Also talk to the sales reps from the Alienware Sales Thread or get a rep from one of the users on here, I know UK pricing is bad but you can do much better than that I think!

 

Windows 8. You can download Stardock Start8, it puts back the Windows 7 start menu at the bottom left, and you can set it to boot straight into your desktop so you NEVER EVER have to look at the Metro UI ever again

And from my research Windows 8 seems to have a lot of improvements over Windows 7, and has maybe a couple more fps for games.. and its only just been released I'd say get Win8, it's just the next generation of Windows and seems like a good one

 

Hello everyone, I just placed an order for an m17x stealth black. Do you think the price was reasonable?

3rdGen Intel Core i7-3630QM
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
17.3-in WideFHD1920x1080 60Hz WLED
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M
1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB) 7200RPM
DL BD Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Intel 2230 Wireless-N

Price before taxes: $1,725.04

I had the guy throw in the blu ray player. I also wanted him to toss in the 500GB 7200rpm hd + 64gb msata, but he didnt do it, instead agreed to throw in the 1TB Raid 0 for $25. Do you think I got a good deal? What about the color? Did I do the right thing by choosing black over red? I will be joining the military soon and wanted something more 'professionally' colored.

 

Great GPU and RAM .... so wt is the price after taxes?

 

Thanks. I actually just called back and got the 1TB Raid 0 changed to a 500gb 7200rpm hd + 64gb msata ssd boot drive. The price remains the same. After taxes, it comes to $1,949.30 because of stupid HST lol.

 

Hey man , that is still a sweet deal !! if u ordered from UK like me , trust me the laptop with the same config will be like super expensive !!!!

 

Agreed - that seems like an amazing deal for that set-up! You must be quite the smooth talker haha! In the UK this would cost a small fortune.

All the best, enjoy your shiny new rig!

 

With my new coming m17x R4 laptop, it's 500GB FYI.

It will be 499GB of games and 1 GB of work stuff XD

 

i just do a run on the alienware website ( Hong Kong) :

Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM
32GB mSATA SSD + 1TB 7200RPM
2GB DDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM

and covert the price into pounds, it costs around 2700 pounds .
Just don't know why price can vary that much

 

Thanks guys, can't wait till it arrives xD

 

My reseller is getting their shipment of M17x's early November should have it in like 2 weeks aww yeah.... since it'll have taken it 2 months to arrive after I made the payment, maybe I could ask them to throw in an extra pair of 3D glasses for free would that be appropriate?

 

2 months !!!!??? with tat long time needed to wait i will ask for anything

 

Yeah Dell back ordered the first shipment for some reason and it was gonna take a while, was supposed to come by like mid October... But then they held it back again because they started shipping out their Alienwares with Windows 8 and new line of Ivy Bridge so /: but now it's confirmed and my reseller will have them early November. But seriously should I ask for a free pair of 3D glasses or will I seem like a d*ck ? just cba to go through all the payment hassle

 

in my point of view, you should ask for not only a free 3D glass, there should be a discount for the laptop, at least 1 upgrade in the config for free as well. Dell is messing with nice customers like you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i have a m17x R4 memory question. it's got 4 ram slots and i'm considering 4GB X 4 or 8GB X 2. do i get better performance if i go with 4GB X 4 for the quad channel memory? or is the performance between those two identical?

btw, i'm looking at 16GB only as i think 32gb will be unnecessary for my purpose (mainly gaming)

 

16GB is already overkill for that purpose Get 8GB x 2, you're only using 2 DIMM slots then and it's easier for the memory controller. I read that the less DIMM slots you use the better/more stable, but honestly it doesn't matter at all in daily life so get the cheaper one

 

Yes but I'm not buying it directly from Dell because they don't ship world wide so I bought it only from Hidevolution... They fault is not theirs and I already got a better price through my rep than I would've just on the site, but an extra pair of 3D glasses isn't asking for much. i'll ask tonight

 

Even 16gb is overkill for a gaming rig, 8 is more than enough . If you want it go for the 2x8gb, way easier to do, and no performance gain to be had with 4.

 

Hahahahaha

GeForce GTX 680MX | GeForce

Oh well

 

Hey guys, I just ordered the m17x r4 with the following specs:

3rdGen Intel Core i7-3630QM
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
17.3-in WideFHD1920x1080 60Hz WLED
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M
500GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD + 64GB mSATA caching SSD
DL BD Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Killer Wireless-N 1103 MIMO
WIN 8 HOME

It came up to $1762 before taxes. Was this a good deal?

 

Let me put it into perspective. My specs came out to be $4200... and the 7970m performs the same as the 680m, sometimes even better... CPU doesn't matter, you have more than enough RAM, hybrid hard drive, blu ray, and killer wireless..

Basically you got a damn good deal in my opinion

 

$4200? Wow. I guess I got a good deal then

 

Yeah. Your laptop performs the same as mine. For less than half the price. I spent $2500 on an extra couple GB of RAM and etc, unnecessary stuff -.- well which is awesome too tho cuz it's partially a gift so gotta make as much use of the opportunity as possible haha

 

Factually incorrect.

 

Do tell . I would have though that the bandwidth requirement on the backplane would be reduced using less slots