Alienware m17x buying advice

Hallo everyone!

Now first of all I'm new to this site, well not totally. I've read alot on this forum. I got alot of good infomation about Alienware and there company, and aswell how Dell can be a pain in the sometimes.

Now to the thread I have made. I'm new to the alienware series. I have read and heard about them, but never really thinking on buying one. But my thinking ended for some time ago, and I wanted to buy a Alienware m17x laptop for 2-3 months ago.
At that time. I got an advice from my uncle to wait for the 5870 in crossfire to release, since he knew they would come before summer... So i did.

Now that the 5870 crossfire is around the corner these days. I'm thinking on buying one when they release. BUT im in need of advice to what i should pick for my system!

Now Denmark (where i live) aren't really as cheap as America. So there will be a line at some point.

I like to point out something about the price. The system i really want costs around 30000 kr.- (Danish money) that will be around 5555$ !

That is alot of money. But because i got alot of them atm. And because im in love with the alienware look and how i can configurate it, I'm gonna go for it

First of all this will be a gaming laptop. I'm not a photoshop guy that need insane processor power or memory. I want games to run smooth and Le awesomeness to my machine. I do have some movies and alot of music. But i like to keep that on my extern harddisk

As it stands now I'm going with:

Lunar Silver!
Intel® Core™ i7-processor 620M (2,66 GHz, 4 MB cache)
Original Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - Danish
Crossfire 1GB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 (When they release)
17in Wide UXGA (1920x1200) - Beyond HD (1200p) RGBLED
4096 MB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM on 1333 MHz
256 GB Solid State SATA-harddisk
8X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)

This will be around: 24000 kr.- on the website. (will be around 4387$)

But since i got a nice family with some good friends in Dell, i get it cheaper. I'm not 100% sure how much it will be. But around 15% (658$)

Now i like to know what You guys think about this:

- Is the processor okay? do I really need a 820?
- Do I need more RAM?
- Should I buy SSD? I really like SSD, but I'm not sure about buying it from Dell. Or to pick one up myself and install it.
- Do I need blu-ray? I don't use CDs very offen.

I like to hear you opinions and some good advice that could help me with my purchase.

Edit: Going for Intel X25-M SSD 160GB 2,5 instead, with a 500GB HDD.

Cheers

- Sevrez

 

It looks almost exactly like the config I want, apart from the SSD (which I'll skip for now). Everything else exactly my choice, even the color!

Btw, sounds like a lot of money... can you try calling and haggle for more % off?

 

Yes it is alot of money, but that's how stuff goes in Denmark

Anyhow, yes I'm going to try get more off. He is a "business" friend of my parents, so maybe I'm lucky.

But if I can't get the price down after a talk with him, I'm still happy for the closly 15% off he offered me in the start.

 

My advice would be to buy a new alienware m17x off of eBay international perhaps. Thats what i am doing, Intel quad core 2.8ghz 8gb ram and i forgot the graphics card but i think it is a GTX 260m

 

Just ignore the last poster, he'll be banned soon enough. If i were you I'd consider buying an aftermarket ssd such as the intel x25-m 160 for your system drive and a large hdd for data. Those ssds from Dell are really not your best bet. Everything else looks good to me.
One more thing you could consider is buying from Dell USA, have a read at the thread in my signature.. Good luck!

 

I agree with mfractal. I have two intels and two dell samsung SSDs. Better off going with a nice SSD, and a large second HDD. If you want max space, newegg has a 750GB HDD that fits. Not sure if you can order from newegg, but you might be able to find it near you.

OT, what got thorn banned? lol

 

sounds good.

So it would be possible for me to buy an intel SSD on 160gb and install it on my own, with the 500gb HDD I buy from the start?

- But is there space for both of them?
- Can I have an SSD as my main harddisk and then a raid 0 HDD?

It would be awesome if you could give me a link to an intel SSD website. A site you trust and have tried before maybe. And hopefully they sell to Europe aswell.

 

Check the NBR Marketplace for SSDs. You can't have a single RAID 0 HDD. But you can have an SSD as your boot drive and a 500GB as a storage drive for all your music, vids, pictures, documents, ect. Programs would be installed on the SSD, and saved data on the 500GB. There are two hard drive bays in the M17x.

 

So basicly, I can just start with the HDD I buy in the start. And then when I buy an intel SSD, I can just open my computer and plug it in?

How do i then get the SSD to be my main harddisk? And then the harddisk from the start to just be my Secondary?

 

You'll have to insert the SSD into the HDD0 slot and reinstall windows and all drivers and programs. Then you can save the data on your 500GB HDD to an external, format it and then transfer everything back onto it as far as files go.

You'll have to make sure you computer has a second HDD caddy and interposer. They should ship with the system, but in case they don't you can just call dell support and let them know your system didn't ship with the parts and they will send them out.

 

That doesn't sound to be that hard at all.
Well then I'm thinking on getting a Intel X25-M SSD 160GB 2,5 with 500 gb HDD as my secondary then.

Now i have only reinstalled windows before on a XP system. But when you get your system, you get a CD with it on right?

 

Correct, and you should get a resource CD with all the drivers. It's easy to do. May want to bookmark this thread and go through the first page in order to optimized you SSD installation.

 

Also, when I'm gonna install the SSD.

Should I place both of the harddisks (160gb SSD and 500 HDD) in when I want to reinstall windows? Or just the SSD and then later on the HDD?

 

Either way, doesn't really matter, just make sure you install to "Disk 0" during the install. You'll start the install process and DISK 0 will be one big unallocated space. Click "New", then "Apply" and you'll now have two partitions. Windows will create a diagnostics 100MB partition. Thats normal. then you can take you install from there. It should looks something like this.

Unallocated space




After clicking "New" and "Apply" You will install to "Disk 0 Partition 2"





Images courtesy of stamatisx in the Installing an SSD? tips/tricks/benchmarks

 

I'm going to follow this guide: Fresh & clean Install of Windows 7 on a new hard drive

And ty for the info. I'm going to read the threat you linked to me and get the full Potencial out of the new SSD i get.

Another thing, do I lose the warranty if I do all of this?

 

Nope, Dell won't cover the SSD, since it's a 3rd party drive, but it will be under manufacturer warranty. Hard drive is user changable and will not harm your warranty in anyway.

 

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I started looking at a fully spec M17X but after reading posts on this forum I've realised that I would never see the benefit of a fully specked M17X as all I'll be using it for is gaming mostly.

I had started to sway towards the ASUS G73 due to the lost cost and high spec it is but after searching online stores in Europe, the laptop is around €2,300 so I might as well get an Alienware.

I'm now looking at tis spec for the M17X:

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 620M(2.66GHz,4MB cache)
17in Wide UXGA (1920x1200) - Beyond HD (1200p) RGBLED
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) Slot Load Drive
Dual 1GB ATI® RADEON™ HD 4870 Graphics Card

I'm not sure about which hard drive to buy. At the moment, I can't afford an SSD. WHich is my best option for gaming? Is the processor I've chosen the best for gaming? I know I could pick a faster processor but from reading posts here it seems I'd never notice the difference unless I was doing heavy video editing etc which I won't be. DELL recommends me getting 6GB of Ram. Do I need it for gaming?

 

I'm not really sure on the CPU, I'm sure others can comment on that in regards to gaming. But Have you tried looking in the market place for a G73? Chances are you can buy one there for much cheaper then what can be had in the country.

As far as HDD goes. The faster the drive, the better it will be for gaming. Really the only part the HDD plays in gaming is your load times. SSD obviously are best since they have fast read speeds thus reducing your loading times. Other than that a 7200RPM drive is your next best bet since it will offer faster load times than a standard 5400RPM drive.

 

- You don't really need more RAM. 4 is fine atm and should be your best choice for gaming.
- About the video card, wait for the 5870 CF as I am. Will be around the same price as 4870 CF. And should hopefully be release withing the next 2 weeks.
- SSD is just a speed boost to your computer, it will not perform better in games. Load times will just be faster, if we only talk about games.
- About your processor, it is a nice processor for games and I'm going for it.

If you aren't going for CF or SLI in a alienware m17x laptop, buy another laptop. If it should be alienware, buy a m15x and replace the video card with a 5870. The guys at http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/ can do it for you, if you don't want to open your laptop on your own.

 

Perfect. And what about the processor? I can always upgrade my RAM later if I need to and my hard drive but can I upgrade the processor later?

Will the processor I've chosen be perfect for all the latest games and games like Crysis and soon Crysis 2?

 

Processors doesn't really increase your fps in games. But the 620M is a good choice, if you want a good gaming processor.

Edit: And after what i have heard about Crysis 2 they really work on the graphics, so it doesn't kill your machine. so with 5870 CF you should be able to play it on high. And with a 620M it's a beast of a laptop really haha

 

Cool. U were saying about SLI. Have I chosen that? Sorry for the stupid question, I'm only learning the jargon as I go along. I'll definitely wait for the new graphics card. Is that wat you were tlkin about?

 

Nvidia goes with SLI.
ATI goes with Crossfire.

It's just a way to say there is 2 video cards in your machine. So if you got 4870 x2, it is 4870 in crossfire.

 

Yes you can.

 

Sweet! Now all I have to do is sell my MacBook Pro and I'm set!

 

Hey guys just a quick question here. I want to get a m17x but not sure if the standard config which comes with a single 5870 is able to upgrade to 5870x2 later on? Cause I don't wanna get 4870 in crossfire and then have to get rid of them to go for 5870x2. So to be on the safe side go for a single 5870 and then add another 5870 later on would save the trouble right? So is it possible for an upgrade like that? BTW i need an answer with 100% sure . Thanks guys

 

I've been wondering the same thing but the thing is nobody is sure if the single 5870 in the Alienware will have a CF connector so that it can be upgraded later on to Dual 5870s in Crossfire. Nobody in this forum seems to have received their Alienware with a 5870 yet so any confirmed reports will come after somebody actually gets their system and opens it up to see if there is a possibility for a 5870 CF.

Btw, if you're interested in learning more about this discussion, here's the thread link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/481939-single-5870-vs-dual-4870-crossfire.html#post6224993