Choice?

Hi everyone,

Just after advice, which system would you by for gaming, vmware etc,

system 1

COLOUR CHOICE Alienware M17x MLK Gaming Laptop - Nebula Red edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 840QM (1.86 Ghz, 8MB, 4C) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English edit
SERVICES AND SUPPORT 3Yr Next Day Hardware Support edit
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE PROTECTION No Accidental Damage Support edit
GRAPHICS CARD CrossFire™ Dual 1GB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 edit
LCD 43cm (17") Wide UXGA (1920x1200) - Beyond HD (1200p) RGBLED edit
MEMORY 8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096] edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) Slot Load Drive edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB (7200 RPM) Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 "Stripe" Dual HDD - (2x500GB) edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module - Europe edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel® Wireless LAN 6300 3x3 802.11a/b/g/n card (EUR) edit
PRIMARY BATTERY 9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion battery edit

System 2
COLOUR CHOICE Alienware M17x Nebula Red edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2820QM (2.30Ghz, 6MB, 4C) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English edit
SERVICES AND SUPPORT 3Yr Next Day Hardware Support edit
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE PROTECTION 3 years Accidental Damage Support edit
GRAPHICS CARD 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M w/ Optimus Technology edit
LCD 17.3" 120Hz w/ 3D Bundle WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD edit
MEMORY 8192MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x4096] edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read and write) Drive edit
HARD DRIVE 1.5TB (2x750GB) SATA Raid 0 "Stripe" (7,200rpm) Dual HDD edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Card - EUR edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel Wireless LAN 6300 3x3 (802.11a/b/g/n) Card - EUR edit
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 9 cell Li-Ion Default Base Battery edit

 

There aren't any benchmarks for the R3 yet, so it's hard to tell. If you're looking for absolute gaming performance, like your post says, I would tell you to wait until some legitimate benchmarks come out from a reputable NBR member.

 

Cheers, i am having my laptop replaced and i need to make a discussion on what i think would be best.

 

Imho (but it's just me) i don't believe that a 460m will beat CF 5870, doensn't matter how powerfull and new the cpu on it can be. Not in this world at least.

So even if you want to wait for somebody to chime in and post some R-3 bench, (wich may take a long time given the new system) don't expect it to beat (game wise) the R-2 anytime soon, at least not with the current VGA configuration available.

 

Yup, we have to remember that gaming is mostly gpu bound (some are cpu intensive such as crysis, gta and metro) so even tho the R3 has SB cpu's, its limited by gpu performance currently until some solid gaming tests are done....

But, 5870 c/f on paper, is better than a 480m / 6870....time will tell to see how 485m (maybe) and 6970 perform but my moeny is still on c/f 5870 out-performing any gpu thats put in the R3 as i will still be only a single gpu at best.

 

if you want mobility and great battery life get the R3, or if you want maximum gaming performance sacrificing battery life get the R2. It's a no brainer.

 

System 1 (with crossfire 5870s) is considerably faster than system 2 with the 460M. I wouldn't accept the deal, especially with the loss of RGB LED.

 

Dont know if this helps but Dell still advertises the R2 as the more powerful 17" laptop. Dell doesnt make that claim with the R3.

 

The did during the CES show. Dell called it the most powerful system ever.

 

Dell isn't trying to pull the wool over our eyes boys, I promise you this. They're marketing to folks who don't know any better.