Investing in my dream laptop. R2 or R3 (Configs Inside)

So I finally have come across the money to buy the laptop of my dreams. I've wanted an Alienware for 7 years and now I can afford it. I just want to make sure I'm making the right choice.

My first decision is to buy refurbished, so overall specs may change slightly. This allows me to get the most bang for my buck, and I've heard pretty good things about them (please tell me if you have other experiences).

Total Price: $1500-2500 *I will most likely spend 2500 total regardless of spec for upgrades to lower models(SSDs, better video card, RAM, Accessories).

Things to note:

• I would love 3D, however the 460Ms performance scares me. I don't mind getting the 460M if I have an almost certain chance they will release support for a 485 or 580 that I can put in a a later dater, but I don't feel that I can count on that. I could buy a Sager with a 485M right now with 3D, and the thought is still on my mind.
  
• With that last point being said, I don't think I need to play every game in 1080p in 3D. Im sure it would be something that I play on for a few hours at a time tops and show off to friends and co workers. Would the decent settings at 900p that the 460M could handle on most games be sufficient for these purposes?
  
• The RGB screen on the R2 seems to be a huge selling point for it. However either screen upgrade is better than my current setups. Overall build quality of the R2 really excites me.
  
• It's been years since I've done any overclocking myself, long enough that it would be like starting over. I hear the 940XM has amazing potential when unlocked but does that out wiegh the risk of OCing. And is it any less future proof than the 2820 or 2720?
  
• I plan on doing video capturing and webcasting live video games with it. Will there be a noticeable difference between the 2630/2720/2820/940XM processors for these tasks.
  
• I will have this laptop for a long time hopefully. I am scared that the R2 is older tech and therefor may be less supported by game I may want to play in the future. Future upgradability and compatability is a huge issue for me. Inform me prease.
  
• I plan on this being my main computer. I will mostly have it hooked up so mobility and battery life aren't too high on my list of needs. I do need a config that runs at a reasonable temp and will be safe being left on for long hours of gaming(with proper cooling of course )
  
  

Approximate Configurations:

R3 (3D 460M, 2720 or 2820)

R3 (6970M, 2720 or 2820)

R2 (CF 5870, 940XM, RGB)

Maybes:

Sager NP8130 / Clevo P151HM1 #D with 485M/580M

M18x CF 6970M, 2630/2720/2820,


That's about it. I thank you ahead of time for your advice and observations.

 

My vote is R2 with a possible upgrade to 6970s in the future. It offers the most OC flexibility and has a gorgeous display. I dont see it being bogged down by games for quite sometime. Exceptional build quality, and the best dollar for dollar value as you can get it from the outlet. Just get a warranty. If you have too many problems you May be upgraded in the future. For me Its all in the display. Easily one of the best part of the system. Since i look atthw display 100% of the tome Im Im on the notebook, its possibly the most important aspect to me.

 

1) 460M performs about the same as 6870M. It depends on what games you play. The card is not that future proof though.
2) Most games should be ok at 1080p without 3d, but with 3d you will get low fps on a lot of games. I cant really answer this question to a 100% as I do not own the 460m card.
3) R2 has superb build quality and screen. That itself would make me take it over a R3
4) The i7 940xm is actually better than the i7 2820M as it can turbo on all four cores with throttlestop.
5) All those processors should be equivalent for that task.
6) R2 is a beast, there is no need to worry about the performance for the next few years.
7) Temp is not an issue with the R2, but the R3 has better temps in general. Here is a link to a screenshot of my temps (R2)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...ktop-3d-mark11-thread-3dmark11-simplified.jpg

Out of those 3 alternatives I would go for the R2, because of the build quality.

I have never been a fan of refurbs though. I have never bought a refurb myself as I see it as buying other peoples trash (no offense).

 

My vote is for the R3.

Specs:
-2720qm, is best price/performance ratio.
-320 HDD, upgrade this to a SSD yourself. SSD is day and night differance!!!
-4GB RAM, upgrade this yourself.
-6970m/580m, the 580m is expensive but its available.
-FHD screen.
-Stock wifi you can always upgrade it yourself.

And a blu ray optical drive if you want.

Above config new from Dell: 2050 dollars, with 580m 2400 dollars, blu ray adds 150 dollar to each config. Blu rays do look amazing!!

 

You would regret not getting sandy bridge. Really the CPU doesn't matter as the difference is negligible. upgrade HDD yourself. Upgrade ram yourself to 16GB!

GET THE 6970m! CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!
FHD Screen goes without saying
Get the default wifi, the intel 6300 is only 25ish off ebay -__-
don't buy the blu ray drive from dell, get a slot loading internal blu ray burner from ebay for the same price

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the Outlet machines; mine is just like new (R3) and every machine I've ordered from them was as well. There are always a few stories floating around about getting a bad one but you'll have the option to return and at least a year warranty behind you.

As I found out today by accident, my R3 has two years of NBD & XPS support so that's nice.

 

Not going with a sandy bridge processor would severely restrict you in multiple ways:

First, the sandy bridge processors are all far superior to their previous generation counterparts. Refer to this (be sure to sort by passmark cpu mark):
PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs
2720QM has a rating of 7215
940XM has a rating of 4620

No amount of turbo would make up for that kind of difference and that's the simple truth.

Second, resale value: The sandy bridge processor will sell for far more, it is the current gen which puts you more than a year ahead of the first gen processors. Also, many people looking to purchase (or repurchase) an Alienware may know that they want an i7 but not necessarily what the different numbers mean after them, but I promise you they will know that an R2 is older than an R3.

3D or not is your call, it may increase resale, but do you plan on actually using it? The 6970m is a far superior card to the 460m, and if you want to stay on top of the most current releases, it will provide you the most benefit, and considering that laptop cards are already crippled compared to their desktop counterparts, going with the most powerful card available to you is a wise decision.

 

I really wanna say m17X R2...but might as well get new tech. If you can wait a little longer then get m17x - r3 with ati 6990! Get everything stock and upgrade parts like ram, hard drive etc... M18x costs too much for your budget unless you use AAFES. Military program. Good luck

 

i own a r3 gtx 460m with 3d 2720qm sandy bridge. ive played crysis 2, portal 2, the witcher 2 and more games just released at max specs with 3d ON and i dont feel any performance leaks.

i actually use the mod nvidia driver found on this forum from DARCODER (works like a charm)

and my review of this is.. 3D is worth it!

 

Yeh, I was in the same boat as you.

I ended up choosing the R3, with a Sandy Bridge. Those older i7's perform pretty weak and are actually worse than the desktop Phenom II's.... These new Sandy Bridge's perform on par with the desktop counterparts. Now people say that "oh you can overclock the older XM i7's"....Well, sure you can, but you will never reach the performance of the new Sandy Bridges, not only that but then you are creating even more heat for the system.

Not only that, but the 6970m performs the same as the CF 5870's and actually better in some console ported games. Not only that, but you won't have to worry about microstutter and garbage like that, which is caused by dual card systems. You could also overclock a single card much easier..dual systems are messy.

Go with the R3....6970m version, it is more future proof and the 460m is too weak (-50%) and the 3d may give you headaches, as it does to me.

 

I have had multiple R2s and R3s and experienced them for the last several months. In order here is how I rank them.

1. R2. Mine is 5870xfire, 256ssd, 920xm, rgb,bluray, silver.
Quite simple the best machine Ive had to date. The lcd destroys the r3 offerings. and I mean DESTROYS. anyone with an m17/18 will make excuses to make themselves feel better. I dont. Thats why I sold them multiple times.

2. R3 w/gtx 460. Favourite I had was i7-2820, 256 ssd, 3d pack
Great machine. Much lighter than R2 but build quality clearly isnt the same. Keyboard isnt as good (illumination especially). touchpad is better feel than r2 but looks much cheaper for sure. Media buttons work better but again are cheaper (flimsy piece of metal vs glass). The 3D (i have never used 3d and never will) has 120 hz and it is noticeable for me. The lcd panel itself is brighter and looks WAY WAY better than the 6970 lcd.

LAST and not an option: 6970 R3. I wont even give it a 3rd. The lcd on full brightness isnt even HALF as bright as the 120hz LCD. I made youtube videos to show this. what an embarassment. I wont lie in saying almost every day I pressed the function+screen brightness buttons thinking that it was set on super low. It just isnt as bright and I hated it. 6970 was strong. fps was way higher. but when you're talking over 60 frames any higher isnt even noticeable to the eye so imo its a complete waste of money.

I have many more pics comparing all 3 and/or dont mind going into more detail if you ask

my BOTTOM line that I tell everyone is what component of a laptop are you using 100% of the time?? THE LCD ! unless you are connected to an external then heck go for gpu power. Movies, pictures, web browsing, video editing.. blah blah blah.. everything I do the RGB panel makes it look way better period. DOnt forget 1200p vs 1080.

 

Gonna back DR650 and Emm3 on this one.

- 2nd gen i7 mobile, though fast, isn't that mega-step from the first gen i7 mobile

- The R2 has a better screen than the R3

- Gaming performance wise, the R2 will always be potentially more powerful than the R3 since now you can upgrade the R2 with two Radeon 6970Ms (and possibly other cards) since the R3 only has room for 1 GPU

- R3 doesn't have an Expresscard slot

- And from what I'm hearing from people who have owned both the R2 and R3, the R2 has better build quality.

 

Hey Ichime, Is this true what [email protected] said "the 6970m performs the same as the CF 5870's and actually better in some console ported games."? Nate can you shows a link to this claim? Btw Ichime are you going to test the 6990's on the m17x-r2 in the near future?

 

and remember, not only that!

 

In games that can only use 1 gpu, the 6970m will have a very big advantage.
Games that use both gpus, the 5870m setup will have quite a lead.

If you look in the benchmark thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienware-m17x-benchmark-thread-part-4-a.html . You will see that DR650SE (2x 5870m oc) with a total of 6385p has 2000 3dmark11 points more than the overclocked R3's.

My 3D mark11 score is 4137p (2x 5870m without oc) which is on par with peoples overclocked 6970m. If we compare stock vs stock, not stock vs oc the 5870m XF does have a lead.

A sandybridge CPU will absolutely destroy the previous gen cpus up to the i7 840QM. In the previous gen the XM cpus could be pushed to double the speed of the QM processors. The i7 920xm and 940xm can match the i7 2820QM. Take a look at the vantage cpu scores in http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienware-m17x-benchmark-thread-part-4-a.html by clicking on the image links.

In the benchmark thread the vantge cpu scores are:
Highest i7 940xm 23016 vantage cpu points
Highest i7 2820QM 22270 vantage cpu points

 

I probably won't be testing the 6990Ms anytime soon. I'd probably test an nVidia option before getting to another AMD option (6990M or future AMD high end cards).

 

@Sw33tDPS: I've got a M17x-R2 with xfire 5870's and a 940xm for sale if you are interested in an R2. I'll cut you a deal...PM me