First Gaming Laptop

So, i broke down and ordered up my very first gaming laptop. never been into the gaming laptops because i've always had a desktop, and every laptop i have had has just been a basic model with integrated graphics.

i made a career change, and i'm doing alot more traveling if you wanna call it that (military), and i cant haul my desktop around to every hotel and desert location i go to. currently in the sand right now infact.

ordered up the M17X, went through the base exchange website since they do shipping to APO's, but i didnt have the options i would have if i were in the US. i had to stick with the 6870, and the 2630M, 4gb ram, and only a single 320gb 7200rpm HD. not that huge of a deal for me, as i got it at just a tad under 1100$. couldnt find any other laptops in this price range with decent options worthwhile.

i'm not looking for the "zOMG my graphics are insane" setup, as i'm perfectly fine turning down settings a notch to achieve decent gameplay.

but here's one question for anyone who travels alot and doesnt have a backup computer available to them:

incase of emergencies, what do you use to keep backups and restores? i was thinkin about carrying a spare 32 or 64gb USB 3.0 flash drive for this, or even an external. DVD's would be nice i suppose, but i find them a bit of a pain to carry around, and label, and a flash drive seems so much more compact and less prone to damage. this is one of the reasons for me upgrading, i'm currently running an HP G71-340US, and any time i run anything other than basic desktop programs like firefox, even the most simplest of games, i get BSODs probably due to heat and HD failure. i've had to re-install Win7 twice now, and its been somewhat of a pain.

i do plan on upgrading to a OCZ vertex3 SSD at some point, probably a 120gb, as well as tossing in some more ram, maybe going with a larger internal 2nd hard-drive, or getting an external USB 3.0 for storage. tho i'll wait until i get back into the states, as shipping out here is ridiculously long for no reason... laptop just shipped out yesterday, and its not scheduled for delivery until the 7th of july.

how much bloatware does the M17X come with?
what should i get for a decent case?

 

Congrats on your purchase I just made the dive a few days ago as well and am extremely thankful that I happened to find out about the discount through AAFES, Army here.... m17x R3 almost fully loaded for $1457!?!!?

Your ship date may be alot shorter than that, its a purposefully extended ship date to account for any complications in parts order etc.

As far as cases go, are you looking for as small as possible or is big ok?

 

Good luck with your purchase! A follow-up question: is m17x's shell made of aluminium or plastic? I thought it was painted ALU.

 

It says aluminum, but I think it may just be plastic.

If it is aluminum its very thin.

Also depends on if your asking about the R1, R2, or R3

 

It's definitely NOT plastic man

 

The R3 IS definitely plastic...

For backups, I suggest an external USB 3.0 2.5" hard drive. The USB 3.0=FAST, and the 2.5" means you do not need to plug the drive into A/C outlet. I have a WD Passports SE 1 TB and I love it. Up to 100 MB/s transfer speeds with my M17X R3.

 

I think i read it was magnesium with a coated layer of plastic( or whatever that soft stuff is), but yeah a thin layer.

 

Ok, i got the review from Review Alienware M17x R3 (GTX 460M, i7-2630QM) Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

It says it is magnesium alloy, then coated with the layer that looks like pastic.

First of all, we noticed the new R3 lost weight compared to its older brother, 1.19 kg to be specific. The older M17x R2 weighed in at a whole 5.5 kg, measured without the power supply (R3 also weighed without power supply). The causes of the weight loss are the light SSD weighing 55 grams (instead of 2 x 2.5" HDDs), the single GPU (instead of Crossfire HD 4870 X2 incl. 2 heat sinks) and the magnesium alloy instead of heavy anodized aluminum. The base unit, moreover, has become thinner due to the lack of second GPU slot (SLI/Crossfire) which also reduced the weight a bit as well.

 

first of all, congratz!
secondly, its not plastic... BUT if you want it not to peel off i suggest you keeping the originally shipped soft cover, i put it on anywhere I travel (and I travel a lot and distances are huge)
thirdly, wonder what do you need backup for, but nevertheless, get a usb 3.0 1tb external storage (can be bought anywhere) and enjoy it. usually speed of file transfer is around 90 mb/sec. and drive is easy enough to keep in a backpack

 

Yeah what I ment was it felt no sturdier than plastic lol.

Was a long night ;-)

 

oh sweet. wish i could have had those options. think it might have been because of the oconus shipping that it limited my options? i dunno. either way i'm fine with it.

as far as cases, i was thinking a hard case, but i saw a targus case that looked decent enough. medium sized, like the size of a breifcase with a shoulder strap would be fine. too big would be a problem, i'm an enlisted flyer, so i have to carry alot of bags as it is. but if i have to sacrifice a bit of size or storage space for protection, thats fine.

 

Check with AAFES, they have killer deals on good Alienwares

 

oh and i need the backup, because i've had bad experiences lately with hard drives, i've had 4 hard drives fail within the passed month. the one in this laptop is about to go too, due to the fact that the HP G71 has some incredible heat issues when pushed into anything more intensive than movies or surfing the net.

plus, i plan on goin with a SSD at some point, and i know those can tend to be a bit finicky, so i want to be able to clean install windows at a moments notice, which is why i was thinkin grab a 32 or 64gb flash drive to keep in a pocket of one of my bags so i can do a clean install quick n easy. its alot easier than carrying around a disk. right now i have a kubuntu live-dvd i used to help me restore this laptop and identify some problems with the HD. i find the dvd to be kind of annoying because it takes up a bit more space than a flash drive, doesnt have a ton of options like i cant change anything on it, and i cant use it as an alternative to backup say some important text documents. optimally i could upload them, but with the speeds of hotel internet and desert internet, its quite hard to do that all the time.

but of corse, i'll prolly just end up goin with a usb 3.0 2.5" sata external, because the speeds on those look more promising with far more space so i can toss some movies and backup game files too, so i dont have to attempt downloading 5gb of game, 28 kbps at a time(or less sometimes). lol.

 

thats where i got mine, bought it through the AAFES website. the BX here tho, since its a *somewhat* remote location, doesnt have anything more than your basic netbooks/laptops like what i currently have. and of course they're marked up here.

i had to order mine through the AAFES website, which brought me to the OCONUS alienware custom m17x page, and the *only* options i had were between win7 home vs premium (went with home), and weather or not i wanted their free 30 day antivirus, which i declined since i use ESET.

everything else only had 1 option. i was surprised, but i wanted to place my order ASAP to get it here, and honestly, the price point for everything else i was looking at, it seemed to be the best option. nothing else had the 17" screen, everything else was all 15.4" or less.

 

Ok, go to usstandardissue.com

Then go to other gear on the left side

Next click on Kitchen Sink, and hit order, that is the best case you will get for a 17" laptop. And with it being oakley and usstandard its about 75% off.

Just bought over $1000 worth of glasses, bags, gloves etc for $180.

 

nice. hell, i really like that SI Computer Bag.
not sure if i wanna go backpack or shoulder/briefcase handle bag.
kitchen sink shows backordered.

 

Its back ordered but ships within a week. Mine did anyways, also got the Icon in multicam, had to since it isnt available to civilians lol.

That was 2 weeks before I decided I wanted a 17" laptop.... Now It wont fit...

 

I really suggest calling AAFES and canceling and reordering over the phone. I seriously bet you can get the better features if you talk to someone. An alienware without the highest end graphics is a waste, IMO.

 

I can give you some advice since i'm in the desert right now and i have been facing the dust issue that you will eventually face over there. Keep at hand, thinking that were you will be you won't find any, some brush (possibly antistatic), some can of compressed air and a tube or two of thermal compound (this is just in case). Desert sand is horrible, will enter every where. Especially during sand storm the quantity of fine dust in the athmosphere is unbelievable...
Store it on the puch that came with the laptop everytime you don't use it.

Good luck over there, and 'njoy your purchase.

Xaba

 

Only issue is I wont be able to re order it untill monday, and im on a time crunch before I leave for my mini deployment. Where I wont be able to get mail due to it being a secure location...... So..... Idk. I may just wait for the 6970 to drop in price a tad and order it myself.