Buying an m17x, possible refresh?

Hey,

So I'm buying my first alienware computer and can't wait, I'm spending around $6000 getting it maxed out so I'm pretty excited. One thing I always worry about is buying a computer and then the product gets refreshed with better parts and sometimes cheaper, seeing as I'm spending so much for this computer I really would hate for that to happen. I just wanted to know when the last refresh happened and has anyone heard anything about it happening again? I know it's going to happen I just don't want it to happen a month after I buy it. =]

I'm buying this computer for Game Development and College, moving from iPhone/iPad to PC (UDK, CryEngine3/2, Adobe Master, AutoDesk tools, etc). Plus to play awesome games. =]

Thanks for any help,
-Mike

PS: Have been reading the forum a lot and think it's great.

 

Well I bought mine a little more than 2 months ago. The refresh is going to happen, it's the way computer technology evolves at a pretty fast pace. Hence I am reluctant to spend a lot of money on a single computer - it becomes obsolete within a few years (especially when it comes to something like gaming) + the chance that it will break down increases as well.

On a bright side, laptop with top specs now (quad core CPU + crossfired 5870s) will probably last for quite a bit. The "refresh" for m17x - if you want to call it like that, happened 2 months ago when they released 5870 mobility cards in crossfire.

I'd buy a car for that money.

 

@unreal25: It's true, what you said about technology, I'm just trying to avoid buying then less than a month later theres something new =].

Luckily for me, I live downtown and need no car. =D

Thanks,
-Mike

 

Don't see anything really fast coming not untill first of the year. Then I dont see anything that would be earth shattering either. Your talking about maxed out, even the next gpu or cpu are not going to be that far ahead, not really a little maybe. If you need the cutting edge then you'll never be happy anyway. But it will be in the top dog list for a long time. This is cutting edge. Good Luck

 

Yep, I agree there. I do not think anything major will come until Q1 2011 with Sandy Bridge.

 

I know you can't always have cutting edge, i just wanted to avoid wishing I had waited a month because this computer will be around for several years. =]

Thanks a lot everyone,
-Mike

 

Yeah I was in the same boat you were I was afraid of spending all this money on the laptop and then have a refresh done to it only a month or so later. But all in all if you think about it waiting for technology will only be replaced by newer technology. It's a vicious cycle. The longer we wait the more it gets upgraded. Congrats on your purchase though and I see no reason why the m17x should become outdated anytime soon. Quad core and crossfire is awesome and can handle just about anything you throw at it.

 

I avoid feeling *as* stupid when a refresh comes out by only getting what I have to get from Alienware initially. Get the best GPUs they offer, and the RGB LED, of course. Buy more RAM, bigger HDD, better CPU aftermarket. A 940XM ES CPU is $650 on Ebay. A 920XM from Alienware is over a thousand dollars.

 

The longer you wait, the longer your without? My first purchase was the R1 (in my sig) after issues I recieved a R2 (in my sig) as a replacement and have never looked back! Like everyones saying, Hyper threaded Quad core + top of the line CFX GPU = Happiness!

 

Hey I do know what you are afraid of. Back when I bought my first Alien I had no idea what I was doing and had never heard of this fine place to get advice. My mistake was buying a fully loaded M17x for $3800. Then not even a month later is when the They came out with the Dell/Alienware M17x with the total rebuild. Man I felt ripped because of my stupidity of not researching what was coming out.

 

this is the nature of the game with electronics, particularly computers...something better is always being released...

 

Absolutely. If you wait for the next cool widget to become available, someone will have announced a better one. Then you wait for that, and an even better one is announced.

The only thing you can do is to pick a point in time and get the best you can afford. Sure, there will be something better available in 6 months, but you'll still have a really good machine.

 

Need help spending that $6000?

Are you buying 2 m17x or something?

 

just a suggestion:
you can max out your lappy with aftermarket parts for much less than 6K.
I bet you took two 256GB SSDs and th 920XM processor + a BDRW drive and 8GB of memory.
You can buy much cheaper and much better SSDs later, same with the CPU and memory.

If i were you i'd go for the i520 cpu with the smallest available HDD, 5870CF, 6300 WIFI,RGB LED, 4gb 1066DDR.
That's 2,734$ before epp/discounts etc.
Now all you need to buy is a
940XM processor (650$)
Kingston/Crucial or any other good brand of 8 GB DDR3 1333 Memory (not sure you need it but whatever... 350-400$)
two X25-M 160GB SSDs (i'd go for one + hdd for storage but whatever 700$)

That's : 2,734$ + 650$ + 400$ + 700$ = 4484$

The only downside is that those aftermarket parts are not under Dell's warranty, and you need to make sure you buy them from reputable sellers.

You can buy me a beer with the money you save

 

Thanks for all the advice! This place is great!

I know in 6th months there will be something new, that doesn't bother me, that's just how things work. I just don't want it to be less than a month, like when I got an iPhone 3g and then they released the 3Gs 20 days later.

I thought about buying the parts from various places but from dell they are all covered so if my SSD's blow up I can get dell to fix them, or if something gets spilled on it they will replace what's fried at my apartment and I don't have to go to several different places trying to get the parts meanwhile I am falling back on work.

So it IS overpowered and IS over priced but it makes my life easier. =]. I did order it and it'll be here next week. I'll be happy to post benchmarks of a stock maxed out m17x if anyone is interested.

Anyway, thank you all for the input,
-Mike