Alienware M17x R4, 3 quick questions.

Hey guys, I was customizing the m17x online and I just had a few things I wasn't sure about..

1. If I choose the 750gb HDD + 128 gb mSATA boot drive, does that take up only 1 hard drive slot leaving the other empty for an upgrade later? or does it take both?
Also can the 128gb mSATA be used as a normal storage device? Something I can put maybe a few games in along with the Operating System?

2. Does anyone know if the optical drive is upgradeable? or is it one of those 'integrated' things?

3. I haven't seen people discussing the cooling system of the alienware m17x r4, any comments from current owners regarding the noise level, overheating etc?

Thanks!

 

1. The mSATA SSD is attached to an mSATA bus, which is essentially an extra mini PCI bus which is part of the motherboard, so the second HDD bay will be empty (its possible to have 2 HDDs and one mSATA drive). The SSD can be used for normal storage, but people generally use them for just a boot drive as SSD space is so expensive.

2. Upgradable how? The optical drive is removable and replaceable, but it is a pain to get to. But yes it can be swapped out for a bluray burner or something, but you would have to make sure it was a slimline slotload drive that you wanted to upgrade to.

3 Cooling should be fine (never had a problem with my R3, and the R4 is the same cooling wise), but if you do run into trouble keeping the back elevated generally fixes cooling issues. As a general rule you should elevate the back slightly while gaming, my bro uses coke bottle lids to hold is machine up slightly, so its pretty simple to deal with.

 

Simple and accurate answers, thanks chris

 

Hey great input! +1 Rep for the good answers.!