Alienware Questions

I'm thinking of taking great advantage of the new M17x R3 to be released but not in the way most of you would think, with this new laptop coming out people will be trying to get rid of their R1s / R2s for any price ( i've already seen a spike in Ebay UK of Alienware sales ) and I will be there to get one at a cheaper price. However I have a few questions prior to this.

1) Is the Intel 6300 wireless card important? does it give a great benefit over the stock one?
2) How hard is it to switch warranty over from one person to another?
3) I know already 1920 x 1200 RGB Led is important already but how much of a FPS dip do you take because of the higher resolution?
4) how good really is the cooling? all my previous laptops feel hot enough to cook a full english breakfast on games such as L4d2, I would want mine to handle more and with lower temps.
5) are there any other dual GPU counter parts that come at around the same price to compare with?
6) I like to always use my mouse trackpad, is the m17x's any good? I have seen a few complaints on here about them.

 

I will answer what I can -

2) I have read on here that Dell will accept a transfer of ownership but it is up to the EBay seller to do it, and shockingly many of them disappear and neglect to do this once they have your money. Be very careful who you buy from off Ebay.

3) Get the RGB screen no matter what, it's so worth it.

5) Sager/Clevo.

I think you're very smart to buy an R1 or R2 now. I also took advantage of the discounts to buy an R2, though I bought directly from Dell. You may not have the most cutting-edge system on the planet, but you get Alienware quality for a somewhat less outrageous price.

 

Yeah man I'm with you about buying the R2 right now. There are some terribly tempting discounts right now for max specs and I find myself at home less. My rig is crazy but it's also a huge monster lol. I'm going to get rid of it and get a R2 with 285s (don't care about DX11, love nvidia!)

 

Regards to some of your other points:

Cooling: AW has one of the best cooling systmes out there, it can be improved upon following some modification guides here on NBR....left stock, its pretty damn efficient if you ask me....obviously the hotter components get, the louder the fans become, but thats a tradeoff for a very high performance laptop - it NEEDS extreme cooling LOL

Mouse Trackpad: Its now sorted, there was a small fix in a BIOS release which improved the polling rate....i dont notice any problems in using the trackpad, though I hardly ever do!

 

1) The Intel 6300 wireless card important because it can perform better on Wireless N networks. It uses an extra antenna. If you dont have Wireless N you can skip it, but it is a great future proof option. You can also install it yourself later.
2) Can answer, shouldnt be hard. There should be a form online.
3) Depends on the game. Going to 1920x1200 is anywhere between 10-50% drop in FPS. That is where crossfire or SLI helps.
4) it is VERY good cooling. the best on the market.
5) Clevo brands are the closest competitors. There are lots of resellers out there to choose from. But they can be alot louder, and allot uglier.
6) The trackpad is not the best, but it will work fine for day to day use.

 

thanks for your replies ^^, I believe my home network is a Wireless N Network, so I may just go for a Intel 6300 anyway, what is the quality of the speakers? any good? As well as a good screen music is mighty important to me I spend probably a quarter of my day listening to music.

 

The speakers arent bad for a laptop - seperate subwoofer and not bad given the size....i would suggest hooking it up via another speaker source if music is a must....afterall, its got 5.1 outputs so you can connect it to a decent set of speakers or maybe an amp.....

 

done some more research but don't know how good the source is ( Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News - Notebookcheck.net) and comparing the GTX 285 sli and 5870 xfire seems to be small differences, the GTX 285 SLI is Direct X 10.1 and 5870 is Direct X 11 if i'm wrong correct me, is the GTX 285 SLI for M17x R1 or R2? Are drivers for it stable? does it have known issues?

 

Double check warranty but from what i heard the best warranty is a 3 or 4 yr COMPLETE CARE warranty which gives you accidental and worldwide support. I think the regular warranty 1 yr is not transferrable outside of US. If you are buying it in UK check the rules to see how basic warranties transfer and how extended warranties transfer. The process it self is very simple and usually you can do it on your own if you have the sellers basic info and if not try to find a good seller who is willing to work with you. Warranty is very important especially if you are buying and older used model that might have been abused with overclocking and such. Get yourself a nice 3 yr warranty so incase something goes downhill after a year or 2 and dell might get you a nice R3 or even a R4 at that time.

 

I was going to opt for Complete Care even if the current warranty did not cover it, i've read around here that you can update the warranty at your will? how much is it usually per year the Complete Care.

 

upgrading warranty after the purchase can get very expensive usually 1.5-2x the price of it during purchase if not higher. It just depends on how much warranty you have left on the system and the rep you are working with. if you have like 7 months left and find a rep who is wanting to make a sale they will see you have plenty of time left to buy a warranty and will offer you a good deal to make you ugprade right away. I would buy a computer that has the warranty already on it since it will be cheaper in the long run. Do your research on warranty prices and transfer since it is very important.


Your order of items to consider

RGB...Warranty...CROSSFIRE...Intel 6300