Help me Pick out an R3, thanks

Okay so I got the R3 3d-screen with 460m sale a few weeks back and well it probably was a mistake for me to get but whatever I'll pass it along to another family member. But before I pull the trigger on system 2 can you guys go over the specs give me suggestions and perhaps tell me which one of the two systems I should perhaps go with? Thanks, the price are listed on the bottom. Oh and yes my guy was nice enough to waive the shipping and give me Next Day Shipping. So you can subtract that off as well

Again thanks in Advance.


Option 1:

Spoiler

225-0536 1 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black $1,390.77 $1,390.77
317-6602 1 Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-6116 1 MOD,DIMM,4GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X2G
331-1347 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-1935 1 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED
320-1939 1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
342-2218 1 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
331-1350 1 Custom Nameplate
330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-4655 1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-1400 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 Vista PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
410-1883 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0395 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-4541 1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
318-0424 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4019 1 Wireless 802.11 g/n
330-6348 1 Automatic Updates: On
939-0320 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-0340 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1721 1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL




Subtotal: $1,290.77
Shipping & Handling: $39.00
Tax: $96.50
Environmental Disposal Fee:
$0.00

Total Price w/Discounts: $1,426.27

Option 2:

Spoiler

225-0536 1 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black $1,514.25 $1,514.25
317-6602 1 Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-6116 1 MOD,DIMM,4GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X2G
331-1347 1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
320-1933 1 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
320-1939 1 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
342-2218 1 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
331-1350 1 Custom Nameplate
330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-4655 1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-1400 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 Vista PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
410-1883 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
318-0395 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
421-4541 1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
318-0424 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4019 1 Wireless 802.11 g/n
330-6348 1 Automatic Updates: On
939-0320 1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
939-0340 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
950-3337 1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1721 1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL




Subtotal: $1,414.25
Shipping & Handling: $39.00
Tax: $104.84
Environmental Disposal Fee:
$0.00

Total Price w/Discounts: $1,558.09

 

I kinda like Option 1 because it comes under 1500 and it's well speced IMO, Also Keep in mind I have the systems in my Sig as well, thus it isn't everything to me have the the highest res Screen.

 

If you want super high details on all games, pick Option 2.
If you don`t care about super high details on all games, pick Option 1. GTX 460M is more than capable to run new games fluetly with decent FPS. Even play Metro on Mid-High details. And that game is demanding as hell. Paired with a Sandy Bridge CPU as well you got yourself a nice rig.
See here for a quick view of what games the card can play under what settings
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-460M.33612.0.html

 

I hate that RGB is removed thus both are WLED and I don't know if I can tell a whole lot of a difference between the 2, it's possible I'd just jack the 6970 from this sytem and throw it into my R2, and then use the R3 as a portable laptop with no dedicated GPU or sell the barebone system on the board for like 1,000 dollars, however the reselll value would be better with the 1080 you feel?

 

I edited my post a little. You were too fast
Yeah i see R2 owners complaining about the lack of RGB on R3 thus hesitating to buy it. From what i have read the 6970M offers a pretty good battery life as well since it also have a system that can use IGP and save battery. I expect Optimus with 460M to be better though, but user have been reporting 4+ hours on the R3 with 6970M with IGP enabled. So it is awesome that way.

Is it possible to use 6970M in the R2 though??

 

What was wrong with the 460m machine?

 

I have alot of systems and nothing is wrong with the 460, however considering you're carrying a rather Large PSU the output of that GPU isn't convincing to me to carry around the same psu my R2 system uses with dual 5870's. I mean 3d is great, but it's quite gimmicy and doesn't serve a true purpose. I mean ok I can watch a movie in 3d, however I have a 55 inch LED display that I'd much rather prefer to watch 3d movies on over my dinky 17 inch screen. so comes back to gaming, well gaming in 3d hasn't been all that great for me so far with the 460 especially in comparison to my R2 system that literally sits right next to it.

EDIT** Apparently I can stack a coupon Atop my discount so the prices have come down just a notch, perhaps I'll go with Option 2 then**

 

Yeah it's confirmed that the 6970 works, but the fans don't work properly which can be fixed at my own risk using a Fan Software mod, I would NEVER buy an r3 if it was priced at the original r2 cost, however my discount appears to be pretty good thus I'm indulging, in fact Over-Indulging into this.

 

How did you get such low prices?

 

DR650SE has an ordering advice thread

However I built a subtle but stable relationship with my Rep, (I say this because the rep went out of his way to find me a coupon to apply onto the system, waive shipping, and then apply my employee discount) I just told him the parts I wanted and he made about 8 different quotes for me as I originally wanted an m11x actually, but at the prices the m17x had the highest value (Perhaps because the m17x doesn't already have a sale like the other systems).

 

Thanks for clarifying, if I were in your positon I would have come to the same conclusion. So you've decided on option 2?

 

Glancing at your thread I was only able to spot one difference really (screen rez). Although I value screen real-estate I doubt that's such a big factor for you I'm going to go ahead and say that it isn't that big of a deal for you since you have other systems, etc.

 

Yes but if you feel I should add something feel free to express that, I was thinking about getting the Intel wifi for the 3 antennas over 2 for better wifi strength but then I realized that wifi is strong everywhere I go. I was also thinking about ordering 2 identical systems and selling one on the boards here to pass along my discount to someone, but I fear that after Paypal Fees no one will want the system, cause I'm absolutely NOT going to take a hit if I offer the 2nd system on here, perhaps too much of a risk with low reward (And no I don't plan on picking up a profit or anything on the sale, I'm notorious for NOT trying to do that btw, lol)

 

The way that I built my system and I configure machines like these in general falls along the lines of, "Anything I cannot easily get a hold of, they can slap on." So I payed attention almost exclusively to the CPU and GPU by upgrading to the intel 2720QM and the AMD card. Beyond that the only real conscious choice I made was to bump the screen rez up to 1920x1080@60 (I couldn't justify the 120hz given that it's a decision that people are choosing in order to get the 3d option which gives me a headache so it was easy for me not to chose). However, the 120hz may be attractive in the future as I guess things are filmed in higher quality and whatnot but I don't really know much about that.

The ram I'm going to order when they ship the laptop from alienware so I can get it before I get my laptop.

The harddrive I opted to go with is the 320s in Raid0, I may upgrade later but not a huge priority for me. I'm thinking of waiting a few months out to watch chips drop a little in price.

The default wireless adapter is fine for me, I think that your surroundings(concrete, lead) and the quality of the router will have more of an impact than a card you can get.

I even opted out of the BD-Drive but I may pick it up later and install myself or maybe with some luck they may release a BD-R variant that may "fit" the chasis and entice me into picking it up.

tldr; Bump the CPU up, chose the AMD GPU, 1920x1080@60hz res is nice, but cut corners on the rest

 

ok Thank, but it should be noted as I don't think you do not realize this but the 120hz screen ONLY works with the 460, upgrading the GPU is not possible until a new Nvidia card is released thus the system instantly becomes Nvidia exclusive, at least until ATI offers a 3d solution. So that's why I'm ordering a new system otherwise I would have purchased the 6970 GPU and been done with it.

 

This...

Mine came to $2100 lol

EPP or some other discount ?

 

Oh, I didn't even bother since the AMD card and the 3d thing made my choice easier.

 

**UPDATE 4/6**

Delayed my order by a whole Week but upgraded the CPU and got the 1080 screen and 6970 all under 1,500..... Yeah Sager can suck my !%@!# Alienware/Dell Roxxors Get a load of this, lol.... See my Upgrades? yeah we can now scratch option 1 and option 2, when those fail go with Option 3!!!


Note** apparently this is what happened, I called once to get a quote from a dell Rep a few days back, then sat on the quotes for about 24-48 hours (and created this thread) , then decided on option 2 (Thanks everyone who helped me pick), paid for it and forgot about it.... Then I got a phone call from the rep this afternoon because apparently I had ordered the quote from a different rep (rep 2), I mean I didn't think that was possible sorry to Rep 1.... So Rep 1 then calls me back today leaving me a voicemail asking if I was still interested in buying blah blah, sale on monday, additional 30% off (I mean WHOA!!!! and free shipping? and an aditional 50 dollars off!!!) just for your company..... He then says "Dell Loves ______" (My company) Well (Good thing I didn't answer my phone today had my ringer off at lunch as I was with fellow forum member DR650SE lol) So obviously I cancel my order and was ready to re-order this upcoming monday, but they're like oh you're going to buy for sure anyways? Why not buy now, with that new price, so long and behold they took my order anyways but I got delayed from april 29th to May 2nd. But..... I'm quite happy with improvements and price

And without further delay I present you with **Drum Roll**
Option 3!!!!!!!!!!!:

Spoiler

 

With this type of company discount I should have ordered 2 systems and sold on the boards, however I've never been the type to try to do that (Just take a brief glance at any items I sell on the boards, lol)

But after paypal fee's and everything the risk is just too high for me to try to help out other people at almost no gain for myself, thus I only ordered 1 system. I'm limited to 5 so that leaves 4 more but the deals up by Tuesday.

 

That price is awesome! And thanks for lunch hahaha! Can't wait to see that system.

 

Damn!! That's almost exactly the same way the one I have on order is specced out except for the WiFi. I need an inside guy like that! haha

 

Getting that Employee discount helps alot I can see... lol

 

How did you do that?! That's an awesome price!

 

Now you have to update your sig.

 

Congrats darkloki, you are very shrewd. I wonder if DELL would take my POS in trade?? Only needs a KB, TP and a Battery LOL
Once I get it working properly I am giving it to my nephew, (I never did like him). Can I hire you as my purchasing agent when I make my move to a real gaming laptop? Best of luck with your new super computer! Josea