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

You wouldn't have to fly there, lol. You could just have them pay, you wire them the money, and they ship it to you for like $30. But, oh well. Must be nice to be rich, eh?

 

Heyyy, you missed my point !! i'm paying much more extra doesn't mean i'm rich =_="
What i'm saying is if i bought it the way you told me, when there's a defective part i'll be in trouble to claim a refund etc etc. Why're you having such a negative view ? be more positive man

 

I just can't believe someone would spend that excess! To each their own, I guess.

 

It happens a lot more often than you would think. It is what it is... Let the man enjoy his beast of a laptop - what's done is done.

Definitely take care of it OP! And upgrade components, that is one of the best things about Alienware systems - they're easy to upgrade!

 

Let me explain why i don't buy the alienware the way you ppl told me to.
If i buy it from dell directly, and ship it to my house @Indonesia, yes, it's going to be much cheaper, but what if there's a defective part ? i'm only going to be @Jakarta for 10-days or less, coz i need to go back to cambodia to works, if there's a defect how do i claim the refund ? is 10-days or less enough to go through the process of refund ? shipping back to dell is much more trouble than receiving it from them. i choose to buy it directly @Local store is not because i'm rich, it's coz the situation demand me to do so.

Understand what i mean ? The point is, i can't choose the cheaper method because of the lack of time & work stuff. if you understand me, think more positively.
No Offense

 

guys actually i bought one, my sister bought it from Costco the last week. now only i came to notice that they didnt take a name for engraving on the name plate of the m17x. now what does that mean?? i strongly suspect they are gonna do the default "m17x" on that( God please no Costco on the nameplate!!) it is supposed to get to her in a week or so, after that i'll have to go get it. what can i do to get my name on the nameplate??(please dont tell me there is no way!! ) it sucks to not get your name on the "All powerfull" after you spent a fortune on it, right?? would Dell be kind enough to replace the nameplate on a Costco Alienware??

somebody got an idea??

 

To get the customized one you would have had to order the system through the website, Dell doesn't sell or provide additional nameplates.

 

Does Dell sell the default nameplate btw?

 

I was wondering about this nameplate business. Dell only offer custom nameplates in the US and Canada. Both mine just had 4 of those alienware typeface characters on it. I wondered if it is done after they are shipped. Everywhere else gets their machine shipped direct from the factory (and gets to track it across the globe). US machines appear to arrive in a central depot before onward shipping - when you get the notification of 'shipped'. Dell also offer expedited shipping for US orders which I think only speeds up the second leg of the journey

 

but what if i get my nameplate "spoiled" in the warranty period?? wouldn't dell provide a new one??

 

I posted a few days ago in this thread about being okay with spending extra for the GTX 680M. However, now that some common sense has returned to me, it's a ridiculous $350 more than the AMD.

Now, I currently have an AMD card and have had the absolute worst experience. In fact, it's so bad that I wiped catalyst and am using the generic Windows drivers included with my system. That being said, I have had much better experience with Nvidia support in other systems. But $350? I've looked at all the benchmarks, etc. and found little difference in the two cards.

Basically the question I have is this - is there something (besides my current disposition) that makes the GTX 680M a superior card?

 

The GTX 680m overclocks much better. If you overclocked it by 40%, it might still be stabler than the 7970m at stock... It has better frame latency.

I don't know why Dell priced the 680m so much more than the 7970m and provided a 2gb version (not a major problem but competitors offer 4gb) with throttling issues. That almost drove me to Clevo/Sager or MSI. I have the 7970m now; it's a decent card and the m17x can bypass most Enduro problems, but I'm lamenting how little the card overclocks.

 

I thought as much with the overclock. This Enduro thing, I assume it's AMD's answer to Optimus? (Which of course means profiling/disabling will be in order)

 

suggest a good cooling pad for the m17x, below 50$ ??

a gaming headset which does not compromise on quality, at the same margin, would also be appreciated.

 

Notepal U2/U3 are good coolers.

 

I like the Targus chillpad, the Alienware Headset is pretty good quality also but it exceeds that amount.

 

I got both the alienware headset and the corsair vengeance 1500. No comparison, the corsair is in a different league both in sound quality and features. Best price I saw was $80 though...

Vengeance® 1500 Dolby 7.1 USB Gaming Headset

You tend to get what you pay for on headsets IMO

 

Hey guys the following spec is what i was thinking of ordering what do you reckon? Also it is priced at £2500 do you reckon if i was to phone up i could get the price nearer to £2000?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Alienware M17x Stealth Black – 3D Compatible
PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 8 Pro 64bit, English
GRAPHICS CARD 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M
MEMORY 16384MB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
HARD DRIVE 256GB Dell Mobility Solid State Drive 6Gb/s

LCD 17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
OPTICAL DRIVE DVD+/-RW (Read/Write)
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO with Bluetooth 4.0
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 9 cell Li-Ion Default Base Battery
OFFICE SOFTWARE MUI Microsoft® Office Home & Student 2013, EMEA
SECURITY SOFTWARE Anti Virus Not Included
SERVICES AND SUPPORT 1 yr Next Day In-Home Hardware & Premium Software Phone Support
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE PROTECTION 1 year Accidental Damage Protection

 

Hi there, good choice IMO

You should be able to get some discount by calling in. I got 10% back when I got mine. The closer it gets to the R5 (nothing as of yet!) you should find dell are keen to keep sales flowing by offering better discounts.

BTW, you could save a few quid by only getting 8Mb of memory - if it's primarily for gaming then you won't be needing any more than that.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

 

i bought the $1699 configuration in cotsco on 5/5, and checking today see that they jack up to $2699, where i can check the order status.

 

Hey guys. I am in need of a new computer for college so I NEED YOUR HELP!

1. MOST IMPORTANT: I am a little low on cash because I just brought a car and need money for college expenses so I need to spend as little $$$ as possible on this. Both my parents work at a Dell EPP company (I'm pretty sure). I am also going to be a college freshman in August. What discount should i expect? Since the R5 should be coming out soon i expect Dell to be more lenient with the discounts. I want to shoot for a 15-20% or more discount. Is this realistic or am I just fooling myself?

2. I want to keep this m17x for a while so I need your opinion on my configuration (Might do a lot of gaming, computer science major, need to keep for 5 years+):

PROCESSOR: i7-3740QM

MEMORY: 6GB (planning on upgrading to 16gb on newegg for less $$$)

HARD DRIVE: 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s (Might upgrade later with SSD)

VIDEO CARD: AMD Radeon HD 7970M ( on the fence between that and the GTX 680M, PLEASE HELP)

LCD PANEL: 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED

WIRELESS CARD: Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0 (Thought about Killer but i decided it isn't worth it)

OPTICAL DRIVE: Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (Do I need bluray for any games? I don't buy movies on DVDs)

COLOR: Nebula Red (Doesnt show up on the configurator as of now? Not available anymore?)


TOTAL PRICE: $1,999 (after $50 off coupon). Hoping to call dell and get 15-20% off. Also planning on purchasing through the Dell Preferred Account.

 

I have been looking at buying a new gaming laptop and have been pricing it out on the sager website. One of my friends recommended alienware to me as an alternative and directed me here to talk to you as sales reps. When building the exact same computer as Alienware the price is substantially higher.

The specs I am looking for is the following or better

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM Processor ( 8MB L3 Cache, 2.80GHz) (also pending release I may wait for the new haswell chips)
Dual AMD Radeon HD 7970M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory in CrossFireX mode
16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB
Raid 0 2x 750gb 7200rpm SATA HD
Intel 180GB 525 Series mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C)
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Win 8

Current Price ***** ill leave blank as I am not sure if talking on the forums is the right place to be doing price comparrisons however once contacted I would like to see if you can match of better the price they have given me I don't mind switching from them to you as long as the price is similar

You can PM me as I will check regularly on this site for updates from you

 

I'm going to be headed off to college soon and I've been thinking of the M17X R4 as my laptop.

The bolded price is what I was able to get it down to from $1688 with tax it will be $1485

Alienware M17X R4 with Soft Touch - Direct $1,390.52 $1,390.52
319-1472
1 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
317-9739
1 6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
331-6912
1 English Keyboard, 101 Key, M17X R4
320-3273
1 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED
320-9499
1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M
342-4414
1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
331-6859
1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-7439
1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-5789
1 Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
318-2314
1 Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
410-0548
1 Adobe Acrobat Reader
318-2005
1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
318-0424
1 Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
430-4710
1 Intel 2230 Wireless-N
331-7193
1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
331-6865
1 Alienware Documentation
331-6868
1 Placement, M17X R4
331-6867
1 Shipping Material, M17X R4 - Black
461-8389
1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
331-6909
1 Resource DVD, M17X R4
331-8045
1 Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks
420-9691
1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956
1 PC Restore
421-0092
1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
421-3874
1 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
421-4289
1 Dell Support Center Software 3.0
421-7440
1 Quickset, M17X R4
421-4047
1 Dell Digital Delivery Client
421-9378
1 Windows 7 Browser Search for Alienware
312-1334
1 90WHr 9-Cell Primary Battery
421-8801
1 Microsoft Office Trial
995-6083
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
995-6103
1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
950-3337
1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1723
1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
469-0500 1 No Wireless HD Selected
331-1349 1 Standard Nameplate
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL


Will it be something I can carry around in my backpack and take into class if needed or is it too heavy, loud?

Also should I try to get more discounts such as a bag or warranty?

 

Get it with a 1080p screen. It is almost a must for this laptop. Dell usually gives pretty good bundle deals, if you chat to them. I have one with a Targus backpack and it is about 5kg altogether. I think it is perfectly acceptable. I think it should be ok to take it to school

 

It's heavier than most systems- but I don't mind carrying twice the weight but then getting triple the power of a small laptop

 

I would also recommend the 1080p screen. My wife has the 900p screen on her r3 and she regrets it every day. Well worth the money IMO.

 

I agree with the above comments. Get the 1080p screen. Everything else looks good. You can always upgrade your ram yourself. Super easy on this laptop.

 

I agree with what everyone else has said. But remember the computer and power pack will weigh about 5 Kgs. If you want to know what that feels like on a daily basis put 5 x 1 litre bottles of water into a back pack and carry it around for a while and then decide if the weight is not an issue for you.

I found I quickly got used to it and I love my R4

 

I was able to convince them to give me a free Alienware Orion backpack, I think I should be fine getting this. Although it isnt designed to be super portable I wont have to take it to class all the time, plus I have Toshiba netbook if I ever need it

 

I will repeat what the above posts already told you. YOU WILL REGRET IT SO BAD for not getting the 1080P screen. Please do not ignore this now, it is a must point. The GPU, CPU and the screen is a must.

 

Seriously, if you get the 900p screen the laptop will feel like a pile of . They have worse color, worse viewing angles, and all-around lower quality before you even take the resolution into account.

As for portability, I carry my m17x r3 almost everywhere, and that's on a fairly large campus. (UofM Ann Arbor) It's definitely doable, but you will need a good backpack. (And you will quickly learn the location of every outlet in your lecture halls!) Of course, most of my classwork is done through ssh, so I /could/ get by with an ultrabook. But where's the fun in that?

Oh, and the r5 should be announced in about two weeks, but it will be more expensive. Just FYI.

 

In response to the 1080p upgrade, when I asked the sales rep about it he says that they don't upgrade screens on the m17x R4....

Edit: I also went through the configuration process again on Dell's website and it didn't show the option to upgrade to 1920x1080

 

Well, look at people's signatures - there are definitely 1080p screens for the m17x r3 and r4. (The r2 was even better, with a 1200p RGB LED screen)

So if Dell isn't selling them anymore, I'd wait for the r5 to be announced, which should happen on the 10th.

 

So apparently what happened is with the refresh coming soon, they are sold out of the 1080p screens. She said they wont get them back in until next week...I'm going to try and use this to my advantage and try to get them to give me the upgrade for free or at least a discount. I was looking forward to getting it this weekend though lol.

 

Think you're right they are running down stocks. The 680 has gone from most sites worldwide and so has the 3D option completely (I was told 2 weeks wait). Have to wonder just what this R5 is going to contain if this is what is happening...

 

Yea and I was planning on buying tomorrow...that's what is frustrating. I talked to 2 sales reps, one said they discontinued 1080p and the other said they'll be back in a week.

 

thats so wierd i just bought mine about a week ago(coming next tuesday ) and i didnt hear any of this.

 

It's starting to get worse sadly :/ All of the sales reps are talking to me like I'm crazy and the option never existed. You're lucky you're getting yours

 

Within the past two weeks, the choices for M17's was changed from an option for 1920x1200 dpi to 1600 x 900. I want to use this machine for photography and am concerned about screen resolutions. Any thoughts?

Second thought is it better to step up to the M18 where the higher resolution is available?

Thanks in advance.

 

I've seen a LOT of people with the 900 display say it is rubbish and a plainly much poorer than the 1920x1080 (don't believe 1200 was ever an option on the m17x?). Looks like dell are trying to get rid of old (unpopular) stock before the R5 release - either wait or get the m18x

Good luck

 

Mickey
Thank you for the reply. I'm new to the Alienware realm and am not familiar with the R5 designation. Would you please enlighten me. And is that the designation for the machine coming our in a couple of weeks that was refereed to earlier?

That said, is the M18 a better consideration, if price is not an issue?

I agree about a 900 would be inadequate.

 

You're welcome. Yes the R5 is the next release of the m17x mooted for release around the 10th I believe. Quite a bit of chat around about exactly what it will be but dell are keeping the lid on it and all we know so far is it will contain the next generation of CPU (haswell).

If price is not a consideration the the only downside to the m18x is weight. You get the option for dual GPU's as well so can go for a more powerful configuration. I got one originally (dual GPU) and only the fact that it was incredibly noisy (people in another room came in asking what all the noise was!) when it got hot and all the fans kicked into high gear that put me off. Unfortunately it had a HW failure and I returned it

 

Mickey
Thank you for the reply. I'm new to the Alienware realm and am not familiar with the R5 designation. Would you please enlighten me. And is that the designation for the machine coming our in a couple of weeks that was refereed to earlier?

I just returned from Frys looking at the difference in screen resolutions on a 17" machine between 16x9 and 19x10. You are correct. Its a significant difference. The 16x9 reminds me of screens I had 15 years ago.

That said, is the M18 a better consideration, if price is not an issue? or wait for a higher resolution 17"?

 

Think I got all this in my earlier reply . I'd wait out what the new R5 offers since it's so close - unless you must have a machine now in which case m18x is best right now

 

Oh man... Sadly I didn't ever buy my m17x. I went a head with the car instead. So. My question now is, should I hold out for a new R5? Or do you think prices will drop on a r4 with a 680 in it? Either way I desperately need one now before the next school year. My M14x is just...too little for me, specially with company of hero's 2 almost out

 

Dunno which country your in but here in the uk the m17x r4 is no longer available to buy from dell.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

You probably won't be able to order an R4 now. This is what happens on the UK site:'Sorry, but this item is no longer available for purchase online. Please contact your sales representative for details on how to order.'

Unless there are resellers with stock.

Looks like you'll be checking out the R5 Monday night

https://alienware.moontoast.com/estore/embed/3110?fbId=51ac9cd696dc7

 

Part of me knows I'm just going to be holding out for the R5. I just hope the price isn't much different from what it was.

 

I did not see a thread for pre order configs for a R5, so i thought this could still be a good place to post and ask a question.

I am looking to get a R4/R5 very soon, i just wanted to know what if i should get a 64GB mSATA SSD Caching or a 256GB mSATA Boot. i see these two as options on dell's website. My aim is to get faster performance and boot times. I have read that most ppl say you can get a aftermarket ssd for a little cheaper than what dell sells it for.

I also wanted to know, if i should configure any hard drive as RAID 0 ? this is a noob question, i am just trying to make the best decisions with the best opinions.

 

The Alienware Social Media team is answering all kinds of questions about the new models in the http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/721403-official-alienware-launch-discussion-thread.html.

We also have this new http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ficial-alienware-17-owners-lounge-thread.html

As the current M17x is being phased out with limited remaining stock on hand, it is time to retire this trusty old thread. It has been fun...

For those of you in the enviable position of having placed an order for the new Alienware 17, we are looking forward to seeing your mini-reviews, photos and discussion on the product in the new Owner's Lounge.