Any regrets over getting M17x over M18x?

I'm quite happy with my m17x r3 as it performs what I've thrown at it well. Still, I am catching myself second guessing myself over not going with the m18x instead - only for the dual cards. With some recent promos, the costs seem to be closer than before. Any thoughts/perspective from people who have owned both?

I realize cost, portability, etc are all variable factors. I am thinking more from a bang for your buck perspective.

 

R2 here, not at all, now has everything i want.

 

I just wished I had enough money for the M18x! Sooo wanted an SLI laptop...

 

i always prefer a single card system, but thats just me.

 

any reason?

 

If they made an uber 15inch, then I'd be down. I just don't like the look of Sager's 15" one.

 

I couldn't imagine lugging around the 18", at that point the mobility of the laptop just didn't fit my needs.

Completely happy with my R3 17"

 

That's true. It was hard enough to find a backpack that fit the R3

 

I needed to be able to carry my m17x r3 so dragging a m18x wasnt a option.

Very happy with system.

 

Yup, no regrets, especially with the 5+ hours of battery life on full charge.

 

I agree with this, having owned SLI systems, it can be a pain at times to get games to actually use both cards properly, things are getting a lot better in terms of this though. Obviously though if your comparing one gtx 560 to 2, id take 2 of them.

 

If I was in the market for a new laptop, it'd probably be the M18x. After having tasted the sweet nectar of Dual Video Cards, there is no way I will be going back to a single card system.

I'm just glad I was able to breathe new life into my R2 with dual 6970's.

 

i don't really game that much anymore, so sli/cf would be overkill for me. plus sli/cf can be a pain to deal with sometimes.

 

I do think why didn't I wait for the M18. Although I agree that SLI/Crossfire can be a pain. And of course it's another risk of a card going wrong!

My main dissapointment is missing out on the slightly larger screen. As a I don't move my M17 about, it sits on the same desk a bigger screen would of been a boost.

Am not too bother about the lack of crossfire but when I ordereded my machine the best card option available was the 6970m. I would of rather had the 6990m of course so I longingly look at peoples specs who have it. But I can't be bothered or afford the whole upgrade process.

My biggest regret though, is not getting a SSD drive but the costs seemed huge on what was already a really expensive machine. I find my boot times frustrating, taking a couple of minutes plus from off to a usable windows. I know respawn, mcafee etc all have their own impact on slowing my boot but an SSD would of been great. Maybe when I finish paying this machine off in a couple years I will make sure SSD is in my machine - hopefully they will be more cost effective by then!

 

I'm pretty sure ssd's will stay expensive for quite a while.

 

Hmmm...I am happy...M18x is overkill, oversized..and the only thing its great for is being a lock, loaded and ready to ship form. Its not something you would want to move from one location otherwise. If i did not need a lock , loaded and ready to move system, I would simply invest in an awesome alienware or any other desktop gaming rig not a desktop replacement. A 17 inch is the true desktop replacement platform. 18 inch desktop replacement is an abomination HAHAHAHAHAH!!..

 

Nver regret at all i love my m17x r3. M18x is too heavy for me.

 

You do have a point, but here is my counter argument When cross fire becomes a PITA, disable crossfire and now your running solo, problem solved.

If one card dies, you got back up, I had one card die on me my last few weeks in Iraq, So I pulled the master out, swapped the slave into it's place, and my system was still good until I was able to get home and get dell to replace it. But it sure killed my benching spirit, just as I was making some serious headway too

 

There isn't such a thing as overkill on high end performance hardware

that being said... Custom R2 FTW!!!!

 

Agree 100% on all accounts, Especially the Custom R2

 

Yes for XM support. 100% considered trying to do a return it was less than 30 days when I sent it in but more than 21. Would have been a lot of work.

 

Captain you sure sound like a russian " The bigger the better = Tsar Bomba ".

I concur I would have gone for something bigger in case of high end performace hardware...but it would have been something thats along the lines of liquid cooled juiced up Alienware Desktop. The mobility GPU cards have to start cutting down in physical size and yet increase in performance beyond the current dimensions. Beyond the current crop of mobility GPU, increasing Laptop dimensions in order to accomodate their heat productions and power etc would simply be counter productive to the term " high end performance hardware ". Otherwise building a 30 inch Alienware laptop with the latest " bleeding edge" desktop GPU hardware can also be termed as high end performance hardware. We already have some extreme heavyweight examples from other manufacturers which I believe is the actual target for Alienware M18x where performance and mobility divorce once another. 16 or 17 inch is a very ideal point in performance oriented mobility laptops.

 

Bought SLI with the R1, now stuck with single with the R3.
The system is gaming fine but I still get that annoying feeling of wanting something more.

 

We get that with every purchase we make. We're also stuck in that age old tradition of highly anticipating something, and when it comes and we buy it, we either A) regret it, or B) want more. Dilemmasssssssssssss!

I certainly never regretted my purchase though. It does everything I want it to do and much, much more.

 

I'm with Inap on this one, I'm all for CF or SLI in a desktop but I have honestly yet to see it running in laptops without some sort of issue (personal experiences). A single GPU is just easier to manage. Plus a 580M and 6990M can spank most games now and for a few years down the line until this gen. of consoles die.

 

Question to the 18x owners. Most say it almost never leaves your desk, I have to ask why you bought a laptop gaming system to begin with? A very expensive one to boot.

If I didn't travel so much, and everything in my life needing to be portable/packable... I would have just build an awesome desktop system with a larger (>18") screen. For less then what a 18x costs also. Guess I'm just confused why anyone would want a gaming laptop if they never move it from the desk top.

 

I kinda do. i love the R3. ts brillliant, but double the firepower? Does make me jealous.

 

It's hardly double, sure you have 2 GPUs but it's almost never double in performance. In a SLI or CF laptop, I'd say 20-30% extra frames at most. It's highly dependent on drivers though.

 

Good points. But, some may want a DTR cuz they can take it to a buddy's house, or if they're a macho, big guy then they can go anywhere. Or maybe one wants to play in the living room on a hot day, rather than be stuck in his unventilated bedroom. As long as one can carry it or find a suitable case, it doesn't matter what size the lappy is.

Remember, I'm 5'4" and small, so the R3 might seem a bit big/heavy for me. But it's not. After this purchase, I've learned that size is merely a number, and is completely subjective. The old saying that people always use works here: "It depends." LOLZ.

Personally I wouldn't get the 18x either though, cuz I'd rather build a cheap desktop as well. There is 1 good thing about the 18x and a 17x over any other lappy on this planet though: HDMI-In. Works with everything and you can go console-game anywhere without taking your tv.

 

I have no regrets at all with my R3. I thought about the 18x for about a day, but the overall size changed my mind. To me the R3 is the perfect size for a portable/desktop replacement machine.

 

I originally bought my R3 for the HDMI INPUT. I loved playing my Xbox on my 1080p R3 screen, then I got good at gaming with a mouse (Yea, I dominate ) and haven't looked back. I don't think I have played my Xbox in almost 2 months, my console buddies hate me

 

LOL at the russian thing!

Anyway i totally agree with you about the 17" being the sweet point for portability/performance

 

Not an M18X owner, but the M17X is almost as heavy so I hope I'm qualified to answer

I don't travel much. It just happens that I stay and work on a different country for at least a year or two, so buying the DTR saves a lot of hassle for those location-changes.

 

That was the case with Dual gpu setups of old. CFX/SLI today is a completely different story. The scaling on the current gen AMD and NVIDIA gpu's is practically 100% (extremely high 90's). As a result in games which can take advantage of SLI or CFX (which is most of the relevant games) you indeed will see close to a doubling of your FPS with the addition of a second card.

My framerates went up 80-100% depending on the game when I got my second 6970.

 

Lol true, which is exactly why I said it's all highly dependent on the set of drivers. I still remember when the desktop 400 and 500 series first came out, SLI was horrible until proper drivers were released. And you are right, it is highly dependent on the game as well, some just don't take to CF and SLI as well as others.