Help Buying m17x r3 with future in mind

Is the m17x r3 gonna be discontinued soon?

I ask this because in 2009 i bought an m17 r1 (not m17x) and just 3 months later the price dropped significantly and sson was discontinued... I dont want to make the same mistake again...

That being said, is the harddrive from the m17 compatible with the m17x series? And can i use a 17inch 1900x1200 sceen with the m17x?

 

No, the latest Alienwares just came out. I don't forsee a refresh until Sandy Bridge, but ALL laptops follow this cycle. That's why Ebay and NBR Marketplace are flooded with Alienwares and that is the downside of buying such a high end gaming laptop, is that next year or two there is always a new shiny toy out.

And no a WUXGA 1920x1200 screen will not fit in the R3, it is 16:9 and 17.3" whereas the old standard was 17.1"

 

i believe the next gen of intel cpu will be released next year so it be a wee bit till the next one comes out i think.

and by the looks of it they are gonna use the m18x line for the dual gpu series. so i dont think the r4 be out anytime soon

 

Hmm, not too bad.

As for the monitor, thats lame.
Note to anyone: dont buy from ztronics horrible return policy.

 

just look around for dell deals to get the best value, ordered an r3 with 190 euros off last week on an offer. saves some money or find some coupons n stuff.

tbh u never know what they are realy up to, they might release an r4 just for the sake of releasing something but i doubt they will as there is no reason in the nearby future to make a new once tech wise.

the m18x will prolly get a r2 version at some stage i reckon, do they actualy have 3d on that now ?

 

No 3D on the m18x yet.

 

3d on the m17x r3 if i read the site correctly.

Another question is: is the harddrive from the m17 compatible with the m17x? Or is there a way i can data transfer (note the m17 is dead/dying/being a punk)

 

If it's the same size to fit in the hdd bay, it should be compatible. Just a guess though.

 

m17x r1 was sata aswell i think no ? if so they should fit

 

Yes it is SATA. Vista/7 should boot fine but you may occur freezing/BSOD errors. Best to do a clean install.

 

The soonest the next M17x will be announced is January 2012, but even then it might be another month or two, or even more, until you could actually buy one.

Even then, the same cycle that's repeated itself every year will continue, where the initial release gets refreshed yet again after a few months. The R3 recently got the 560M/580M/6990M GPUs over the 6870M/6970M/460M, and you can expect something similar for the R4.

So you can basically either wait and hop on the R4 bandwagon when it first comes out, or pick up a refreshed R3 now.

 

in all fairness u will alway run into the same issue, u get one and they bring out a new one or the u get one with a nice offer and just before u get it they bring out a better offer

just noticed they got a 10% off on top of the original offer here in holland -.-

 

I bought a default m17x and waiting for it to arrive now.
I think the processor seems a bit of a downgrade aside from its turbo mode (dont know howd that would work), and the RAM is upsetting too...

Which brings me to another question about compatibility: can i use my 8gb RAM that i used with my M17 (dumb question ;/)?

And, if my m17s harddrive isnt compatible, what are my options regarding data transfer (how, what i need, what does it cost, etc.)?

 

Ya i noticed that too. I was forced to get thw defaulted parts because how overpriced the upgeades were...and just a day later, at least half of the upgrade parts dropped in price -...-

Oh well... $80ish tax, and 7 day shipping which actually printed as 14 day...nice luck me ;(

 

even tho the base speeds on the new cpu seem to be a tad low, their a fair bit better as the previous generation at lower cost.

with a more improved turbo mode.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Sandy-Bridge-Quad-Core-processors.43714.0.html

benchmarks first gen and 2nd gen core i series cpu

so better performance for a cheaper cpu wich results in the end to a fair bit cheaper laptop aswell.
the r3 doesnt have dual video cards like the previous m17 laptops but its still a beast.

if u want dual gfx cards then m18x is the way to go now although thats fairly newish prolly best to wait on the r2 for that one.

 

W/o duals its still just as good ( if not better?)? Or is it pretty much the same?

Edit: Ah, if i read the link correctly-- its the same if its not in turbo. Im guessing this is just to save power and process information more efficently rather than giving everything equal shares? Seems like a good move for the most part.

 

AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

benchmarks on the 6990 and comparisons to other cards.

to give u an idea on their performance.

the r1 is fairly outdated and a single 6990/580 will outperform the dual cards it has on top of the fact the cpu is better.

the r2 well ppl managed to put dual 6990 in there although thats diy stuff but the original dual 5870 should outperform a 6990/580 no sweat but the r2 was and is quite expensive but very modable.

single cards these days are quite powerfull, ofc 2 is better as one.

if u realy want 2 cards again the m18x will be a better choice although i would wait for the r2.

m17x r3 is a beast and will keep owning at games for a good while and as new cards come out u can swap your current to keep up.

dual gfx will be able to keep up a tad longer tho.

in the end whatever u get will be old a few weeks after u buy it, just the way it goes.